Liberal Mid-America Regional Airport

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Coordinates: 37°02′39″N 100°57′36″W / 37.04417, -100.96

Liberal Mid-America Regional Airport

IATA: LBL – ICAO: KLBL – FAA: LBL
Summary
Airport type		Public
Owner		City of Liberal
Serves		Liberal, Kansas
Elevation AMSL		2,885 ft / 879 m
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
4/22	5,721	1,744	Concrete
17/35	7,105	2,166	Concrete
Statistics (2006)
Aircraft operations			43,550
Based aircraft			63
Source: FAA^[1] and airport web page^[2]

Liberal Mid-America Regional Airport (IATA: LBL, ICAO: KLBL, FAA LID: LBL), formerly known as Liberal Municipal Airport, is a city-owned public-use airport located two miles (3 km) west of the central business district of Liberal, a city in Seward County, Kansas, United States.^[1] It is mostly used for general aviation, but is also served by one commercial airline. Service is subsidized by the Essential Air Service program.

The airport also hosts the Mid-America Air Museum.

1 History
2 Facilities and aircraft
3 Airline and destinations
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

During World War II, the facility was known as Liberal Army Airfield and was used as a United States Army Air Forces Second Air Force B-24 Liberator training base from 1943 to 1945. Newly minted multi-engine graduates were shipped to Liberal to transition to the Liberator, then sent to 1st Phase bases to be joined up with a crew for combat training.

Before April 1944, Liberal was home to a Twin Engine Flying Training Group with four squadrons (60, 63, 1029, 1030), the 527th Base Hq & Air Base Sq, 324th Sub Depot, 444th (later 744th) AAF Band, and 396th Aviation Sq.

Afterwards, these units were merged into the 2425th AAF Base Unit (Pilot School, Specialized, Four Engine)

[edit] Facilities and aircraft

Liberal Mid-America Regional Airport covers an area of 2,005 acres (811 ha) which contains two concrete paved runways: 4/22 measuring 5,721 x 150 ft. (1,744 x 46 m) and 17/35 measuring 7,105 x 100 ft. (2,166 x 30 m).^[1] It also has several other runways that are now inoperative.

For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2006, the airport had 43,550 aircraft operations, an average of 119 per day: 90% general aviation, 7% scheduled commercial, 2% air taxi and 1% military. There are 63 aircraft based at this airport: 68% single-engine, 21% multi-engine, 10% jet and 2% helicopter.^[1]