Perryville Municipal Airport (also known as McBride Airport) is a city-owned public-use
airportAn airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
located nine nautical miles (17 km) north of the
central business districtA central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...
of
PerryvillePerryville is a city in Perry County, Missouri, United States. The population was 7,667 at the 2000 census. The 2008 estimated population is 8,172. It is the county seat of Perry County.-Governance:...
, a city in
Perry CountyPerry County is a county located in Southeast Missouri in the United States. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the county's population was 18,132. In 2008 the population was estimated to be 18,743. Its county seat is Perryville. The county was officially organized on November 16, 1820 from Ste...
,
MissouriMissouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Facilities and aircraft
Perryville Municipal Airport covers an area of 351 acres (142 ha) at an
elevationThe elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface ....
of 372 feet (113 m) above mean sea level. It has one
runwayAccording to ICAO a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft." Runways may be a man-made surface or a natural surface .- Orientation and dimensions :Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally one tenth...
designated 2/20 with a
concreteConcrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
surface measuring 7,003 by 100 feet (2,135 x 30 m).
For the 12-month period ending August 13, 2008, the airport had 5,900 aircraft operations, an average of 16 per day: 86%
general aviationGeneral aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...
, 8%
militaryMilitary aviation is the use of aircraft and other flying machines for the purposes of conducting or enabling warfare, including national airlift capacity to provide logistical supply to forces stationed in a theater or along a front. Air power includes the national means of conducting such...
and 5%
air taxiAn air taxi is an air charter passenger or cargo aircraft which operates on an on-demand basis.-Regulation:In the United States, air taxi and air charter operations are governed by Part 135 of the Federal Aviation Regulations , unlike the larger scheduled air carriers which are governed by more...
. At that time there were nine aircraft based at this airport: eight single-
engineAn aircraft engine is the component of the propulsion system for an aircraft that generates mechanical power. Aircraft engines are almost always either lightweight piston engines or gas turbines...
and one
helicopterA helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
.
History
The airport was built in 1942 by the
United States Army Air ForcesThe United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
as a primary (stage 1) pilot training airfield assigned to AAF Flying Training Command, Southeast Training Center (later Eastern Flying Training Command). It was named
Chester Army Airfield and consisted of two parallel 2000' runways aligned NNE/SSW (02/20).
Flight training was provided by Anderson Air Activities to the aviation cadets assigned to the airfield and
Fairchild PT-19|-See also:-Bibliography:* Mondey, David. American Aircraft of World War II . London: Bounty Books, 2006. ISBN 978-0-7537-1461-4....
s were the primary trainer used. Pilot training at the airfield apparently ended on 30 May 1944, with the drawdown of AAFTC's pilot training program. The airfield was turned over to civil control at the end of the war though the War Assets Administration (WAA).
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