| Keystone Heights Airport | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| USGS aerial photo, 5 February 1999 | |||
| IATA: none – ICAO: none – FAA LID: 42J | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Owner | City of Keystone Heights, Florida | ||
| Location | Keystone Heights, Florida | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 196 ft / 59.7 m | ||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 4/22 | 5,044 | 1,537 | Asphalt |
| 10/28 | 4,899 | 1,493 | Asphalt |
Keystone Heights Airport (FAA LID: 42J) is a public airport located within the city limits of Keystone Heights, Florida.
The airport is adjacent to Camp Blanding, the Florida National Guard Reservation and "Fly through History" Military Museum and Memorial Park. This museum at Camp Blanding is dedicated to the World War II units that trained there during the early 1940s.
Keystone Heights Airport employs one full-time clerk and one part-time maintenance workers. The airport is home to Express Air, a fixed wing flight training school, the European Rally and Performance Driving School, Wings of Dreams Aviation Museum and Warbird Restoration Center and 3 FAA certified airframe and power plant mechanics. The businesses located on airport property employ approximately 80 people.
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The airport was constructed in 1942 as Crystal Lake Airfield, and was commissioned in December 1942 as Keystone Army Airfield (AAF) by the United States Army Air Forces. It was used as part of the Air University's Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics (AAFSAT) tactical combat simulation school in Central and Northern Florida.
Headquartered at Orlando Army Air Base, the school's mission was to develop tactics and techniques of aerial warfare and to establish technical and tactical proficiency requirements for combat units to effectively engage and defeat enemy air forces. This was done with a wide variety of aircraft, including heavy strategic bombers; tactical fighters; medium and light bombers; reconnaissance and dive bombers, based at different airfields of the school.
It was a base for the 432d Tactical Reconnaissance Group. The 432d moved to Keystone from Alachua AAF on February 23, 1943 as the operational training unit (OTU) of the Army Air Force School of Applied Tactics. The group trained aircrews and provided reconnaissance training to assist fighter, bombardment, and ground units. Aircraft assigned were P-39 Airacobras, B-24 Liberators and P-47 Thunderbolts.
The 423d was assigned to Keystone Heights until November 1, 1943, when the aircraft and personnel of the group were assigned to the Army Air Forces Tactical Center. The 423d was then reassigned without equipment or personnel to Shaw AAF, South Carolina.[1]
It was replaced by the 13th Fighter Squadron which flew P-40 Warhawks (17 November 1943-28 January 1944). After the end of World War II, the facility was turned over to the City of Keystone Heights in 1947.
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.