Malden Regional Airport is a city-owned, public-use

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

located three nautical miles (6 km) north of the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the " cit ...

of Malden, a city in

Dunklin County Dunklin County is located in the Bootheel of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population was 28,283. The largest city and county seat is Kennett. The county was officially organized on February 14, 1845, and is named in ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, United States. This airport is included in the

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. NPIAS was developed and now maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It identifies existing and proposed airports tha ...

, which

categorized Categorization is the ability and activity of recognizing shared features or similarities between the elements of the experience of the world (such as objects, events, or ideas), organizing and classifying experience by associating them to a ...

it as a ''

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation service ...

'' facility. It was previously known as Malden Municipal Airport and is located on the site of the former Malden Army Airfield and Malden Air Base.

History

Acquired in 1941; construction proceeded throughout 1942 and was activated as Malden Army Airfield on January 6, 1943 by the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

. Assigned to Eastern Flying Training Command as a basic (level 1) flight training airfield. Flying training was conducted by 319th Aviation Group (Basic). Squadrons were 1069; 1070; 1071 and 1072 Flight Training Squadrons, equipped with

Fairchild PT-19 The Fairchild PT-19 (company designation Fairchild M62) is an American monoplane primary trainer aircraft that served with the United States Army Air Forces, RAF and RCAF during World War II. Designed by Fairchild Aircraft, it was a contempora ...

s as the primary trainer used. Also had several

PT-17 Stearman The Stearman (Boeing) Model 75 is a biplane formerly used as a military trainer aircraft, of which at least 10,626 were built in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s. Stearman Aircraft became a subsidiary of Boeing in 1934. Widely know ...

s and a few

P-40 Warhawk The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time an ...

s assigned. Malden also had five local auxiliary airfields in vicinity for emergency and overflow landings. Conducted contract flight training and flying training until inactivated and the facility being transferred to I Troop Carrier Command 15 June 1944. Under I TCC, the mission was to train Troop Carrier Groups for missions in the Pacific Theater and the planned Invasion of Japan. However I TCC never began training operations with end of war with Japan in August. Inactivated on September 30, 1945. and turned over to Army Corps of Engineers on February 1, 1946. Transferred to War Assets Administration who conveyed facility to the local government as an airport in 1948. Reactivated as Malden Air Base on July 11, 1951 under USAF

Air Training Command Air Training Command (ATC) is a former United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command designation. It was headquartered at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, but was initially formed at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. It was re-designated as A ...

. Mission of Malden was to train pilots caused by shortages due to expansion of the Air Force during the Cold War. Anderson Air Activities of Milwaukee, Wisconsin conducted basic contract flight training under 3305th Pilot Training Group (Contract Flying). With pilot production decreasing, the ATC commander suggested closing Malden, in early 1959. However, it wasn't until late December 1959 that Headquarters USAF approved the ATC request. The last primary class graduated on June 29, 1960, and one day later ATC terminated Anderson's training contract. On July 26 the command discontinued the 3305th Pilot Training Group (Contract Primary) with the implementation of USAF Consolidated Pilot Training. Shaw, Frederick J. (2004), ''Locating Air Force Base Sites, History’s Legacy'', Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, Washington DC.

Facilities and aircraft

Malden Regional Airport covers an area of 2,740

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ...

s (1,109 ha) at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic 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 surface (see Geodetic datum § ...

of 294 feet (90 m) above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value ( magnitude and sign) of a given data set. For a data set, the '' ari ...

. It has two

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

s with

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term ...

surfaces: 18/36 is 5,011 by 100 feet (1,527 x 30 m) and 14/32 is 4,999 by 80 feet (1,524 x 24 m). For the 12-month period ending June 14, 2010, the airport had 9,000 aircraft operations, an average of 24 per day: 94%

, 3%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) ...

, and 2%

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distin ...

. At that time there were 19 aircraft based at this airport: 74% single-

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...

and 26% multi-engine.

References

External links

Airport page
at City of Malden website

Aerial image as of April 1996
from

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

The National Map ''The National Map'' is a collaborative effort of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to improve and deliver topographic information for the United States. The purpose of the effort is to pro ...

'' * *
{{USAAF Training Bases World War II Airports in Missouri Transportation in Dunklin County, Missouri Buildings and structures in Dunklin County, Missouri Airports established in 1943 Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Missouri USAAF Central Flying Training Command American Theater of World War II 1943 establishments in Missouri

History

Facilities and aircraft

See also

References

External links