| TSTC Waco Airport | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| IATA: CNW – ICAO: KCNW | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Operator | Texas State Technical College | ||
| Location | Waco, Texas, USA | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 470 ft / 143.3 m | ||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 17L/35R | 8,600 | 2,621 | Asphalt |
| 17R/35L | 6,292 | 1,918 | Concrete |
TSTC Waco Airport (IATA: CNW, ICAO: KCNW) is an airport located within city limits, northeast of central Waco, Texas. Before 1968, it was known as James Connally Air Force Base.
It is currently used as an industrial airpark operated by Texas State Technical College System as well as its Waco campus.
George W. Bush during his Presidency flew in and out of the airport on Air Force One during visits to his home at the Prairie Chapel Ranch.
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The airport opened May 5, 1942 as Waco Army Air Field and was the headquarters Army Air Force Central Instructors' School during World War II. It was deactivated after the war in 1945 but was reactivated in 1948 as a pilot training base under the Air Training Command. It was named for Colonel James T. Connally who had been killed in Japan in 1945. The airport was initially called Connally Air Force Base but the name evolved to also include his first name.
In 1957, the base became the headquarters of Twelfth Air Force (12 AF) and concurrently concentrated on providing navigator flight training under the cognizance of the Air Training Command.
In 1968, as part of a nation-wide reduction in air force bases and naval air stations to stay within congressional funding limits while continuing to prosecute the war in Vietnam, James Connally AFB was closed. All navigator training consolidated at Mather Air Force Base, California and 12th Air Force relocated to Bergstrom Air Force Base in Austin, Texas. At this point, the facility was conveyed to the State of Texas by the General Services Administration (GSA).
The airport and the base facilities were used as a technical school while General Dynamics remained as a tenant performing modification work on various military aircraft. The General Dynamics facility was later sold and renamed Chrysler Technologies Airborne Systems. Chrysler subsequently sold the operation to Raytheon which renamed the facility Raytheon Aircraft Integration Systems. In 2002, Raytheon sold the facility to L-3 Communications and it is currently known as L-3 Communications Integrated Systems / Waco Integration and Modification Center. [1]
In 1991, TSTI was renamed Texas State Technical College (TSTC).