Smyrna Airport

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Smyrna Airport
IATA: MQY - ICAO: KMQY
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		Smyrna / Rutherford County Airport Authority
Serves		Smyrna, Tennessee
Elevation AMSL		543 ft (165.5 m)
Coordinates		36°00′32.32″N, 86°31′12.27″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
14/32	8,037	2,450	Asphalt
1/19	5,546	1,690	Asphalt
Helipads
Number	Size		Surface
Number	ft	m	Surface
H1	40	12	Concrete

Smyrna Airport (IATA: MQY, ICAO: KMQY) is a public airport in the town of Smyrna in Rutherford County, Tennessee, USA. It is the "reliever" airport for Nashville International Airport, located twelve nautical miles to the north. Smyrna Airport is the third largest airport in Tennessee and is the state's busiest general aviation airport.

Smyrna Airport currently operates as a joint use training facility with the Tennessee Army National Guard helicopter unit, Army Aviation Support Facility #1 (AASF#1) which operates 60 helicopters with 300 full time National Guard personnel. The airport also serves as a C-130 training facility for the 118th Air Wing of the Tennessee Air National Guard from Nashville as well as C-141 training from Memphis Air National Guard. The Tennessee Army National Guard leases part of the airport to maintain the Grubbs/Kyle Training Center and 24 different units, 1,270 assigned National Guard personnel, 162 of which are full time, and numerous aircraft.

[edit] History

Smyrna Airport was constructed in 1942 and served as home of the Army Air Force Combat Crew School, which trained troops to fly B-24 and B-17 aircraft. It was deactivated with the end of World War II, then reactivated in 1948 by the United States Air Force. Renamed Sewart Air Force Base in 1950, it served various Troop Carrier Wings until 1970, when the base was again deactivated. The Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority assumed control until 1991, when the airport was transferred to the Smyrna/Rutherford County Airport Authority.