Airborne Airpark

Airborne Airpark
USGS aerial image as of 22 March 1994 (only one runway at the time)
IATA: ILNICAO: KILNFAA LID: ILN
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner DHL
Location Wilmington, Ohio
Elevation AMSL 1,077 ft / 328 m
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
4L/22R 10,701 3,262 Concrete
4R/22L 9,000 2,743 Concrete
Statistics (2006)
Aircraft operations 71,000
Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1]

Airborne Airpark[1] (IATA: ILNICAO: KILNFAA LID: ILN) is a public-use airport located two nautical miles (3.7 km) southeast of the central business district of Wilmington, a city in Clinton County, Ohio, United States. While DHL had privately owned the property while operating from the facility, the company agreed to donate the property to the Clinton County Port Authority.[1]

The airport was formerly known as Clinton County Air Force Base.

Contents

History

The airport opened in 1929 and a small hangar was built in 1930. The landing strip was approved by the Civil Works Administration in 1933. In 1940, the Civil Aeronautics Authority took control of Wilmington Airport for use as an emergency landing field. In 1942, the Army Air Corps took over the airport, renaming it Clinton County Army Air Field. The base was decommissioned in 1972 and the Community Improvement Corporation (CIC) began developing the area as the Wilmington Industrial Air Park (WIAP). It also became home to the Great Oaks Joint Vocation School. In 1977, the Southern State Community College opened, using old barracks buildings as classrooms. In 1980, Midwest Air Charter was acquired by Airborne Freight Corporation, resulting in Airborne Express, which became the largest tenant at WIAP and resulted in the airfield being named Airborne Airpark.[2]

In 2003, as part of the merger of DHL and Airborne, DHL kept Airborne's ground operations and spun off its air operations as ABX Air. The facility, sometimes referred to as ABX Airpark, was a major sorting center for package delivery service DHL Express between 2005 and the sorting center's closing in July, 2009, following then Deutsche Post-owned DHL's cessation of US domestic delivery services.

Facilities and aircraft

Airborne Airpark covers an area of 2,000 acres (810 ha) at an elevation of 1,077 feet (328 m) above mean sea level. It has two concrete surfaced runways: 4L/22R is 10,701 by 150 feet (3,262 x 46 m) and 4R/22L is 9,000 by 150 feet (2,743 x 46 m).[1]

For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2006, the airport had 71,000 aircraft operations, an average of 194 per day: 96% scheduled commercial and 4% general aviation.[1]

Future of the Property

On January 19, 2010, DHL agreed to turn over the airport, including its two runways, control tower, buildings and cargo storage facilities to the Clinton County Port Authority. While no concrete plans have been set, the port authority plans to work with local and state officials on redeveloping the property.[3]

References

United States Air Force portal
Military of the United States portal
World War II portal

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

  1. ^ a b c d e FAA Airport Master Record for ILN (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2009-08-27.
  2. ^ ABX Air: Air Park History
  3. ^ "DHL agrees to donate airport to group for redevelopment". Dayton Daily News. 2010-01-18. http://www.daytondailynews.com/business/dhl-agrees-to-donate-airport-to-group-for-redevelopment-499157.html. Retrieved 2010-01-18. 

External links