Cut Bank Municipal Airport is three miles southwest of

Cut Bank A cut bank, also known as a river cliff or river-cut cliff, is the outside bank of a curve (meander) in a water channel (stream), which is continually undergoing erosion.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Ed, Stephen Marshak Cut banks are found in ab ...

, in Glacier County,

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

, United States. It is owned by Cut Bank and Glacier County. The airport's website calls it Cut Bank International Airport. Its first flight was on 1 June 1941.

Facilities

Cut Bank Municipal Airport covers at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

of 3,858 feet (1,176 m). It has two

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

s: 5/23 is 5,300 by 75 feet (1,615 x 23 m) and 14/32 is 5,300 by 75 feet (1,615 x 23 m). In the year ending July 27, 2023, the airport had 8,250 aircraft operations, average 23 per day: 93%

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

, 6%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. History The concept of air taxis existed as early as the 1910s. This concept goes back as early as 1917 with Glenn Curtiss’ prototype, the auto-plane. Furthermor ...

and 2% military. 18 aircraft were then based at the airport: 17 single-engine, and 1 multi-engine.

History

During World War II Cut Bank Army Air Field was used by the

Second Air Force The Second Air Force (2 AF; ''2d Air Force'' in 1942) is a USAF numbered air force responsible for conducting basic military and technical training for Air Force enlisted members and non-flying officers. In World War II the CONUS unit defended ...

as an auxiliary heavy bomber training airfield, being controlled by Great Falls Army Air Base. Several squadrons of groups training at Great Falls in

B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engined heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). A fast and high-flying bomber, the B-17 dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during ...

es trained at Cut Bank. Known squadrons were: * 2nd Bombardment Group, 429th Bomb Squadron, November 1942-March 1943 * 385th Bombardment Group, 550th Bomb Squadron, March–June 1943 * 390th Bombardment Group, 569th Bomb Squadron, June–July 1943 * 401st Bombardment Group, 613th Bomb Squadron, July–October 1943 During the Cold War Cut Bank AFB was an interceptor base, part of

Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command (military formation), command of the United States Air Force, responsible for air defense of the continental United States. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air De ...

. The Cut Bank Municipal Airport and Army Air Force Base, on Valier Highway in

Cut Bank, Montana Cut Bank is a city in and the county seat of Glacier County, Montana, Glacier County, Montana, United States, located just east of the "cut bank" (gorge) along Cut Bank Creek. The population was 3,056 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 censu ...

was built in 1942. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2008. The listing included eight

contributing buildings In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic dist ...

, 27 contributing structures, and four contributing sites on . It was built by the Army Corps of Engineers and includes World War II temporary buildings. It has also been known as Cut Bank International Airport.

References

External links

* * * 1943 establishments in Montana Airports established in 1943 Airports in Montana Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Montana Historic American Engineering Record in Montana National Register of Historic Places in Glacier County, Montana Transportation in Glacier County, Montana Airports on the National Register of Historic Places World War II on the National Register of Historic Places Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Montana {{Montana-NRHP-stub

Facilities

History

See also

References

External links