Charleston Air National Guard Base


 * See: Yeager Airport for civil airport information

Charleston Air National Guard Base is the home base of the West Virginia Air National Guard 130th Airlift Wing.

Overview
Charleston Air National Guard Base is home to the 130th Airlift Wing which provides staff and operational support for an eight primary authorized aircraft C-130H unit to airdrop or airland forces. Contingency capability is maintained for European, Asian, and South American theaters while operating independently from forward operating or collocated base.

Charleston Air National Guard Base is located at Charleston, West Virginia and has a total of 74.8 acres under lease. Of this total, 43 acres are located on top of the hill on which the airport was built. Most of this area has been developed. Any expansion requires relocation of existing buildings to other areas, using vehicle parking areas, or acquiring additional land. The lower portion of the base has been developed along the access road to the airfield. This section contains approximately 33 acres. Development has been on benches made from leveling hill tops or cutting into the side of hills. The developed area in this lower section covers 9.3 acres. The remainder is made up of hillsides and ravines which are expensive to develop. The apron and taxiway at Yeager Airport were built in 1949. The first facilities built were Building 101-Base Supply, Building 107-Maintenance Hangar, and Building 102-Headquarters in 1951. The base currently has 31 buildings with a total square footage of 295,051. There are currently eight C-130 aircraft at this installation.

When opened in 1947, the airport had approximately 225,000 square yards of paving on runways, taxiways and loading ramps; 27,000 linear feet of electric cable for field lighting; 60,000 linear feet of drainage pipe ranging from 6 to 30 inches; and 15,000 feet of telephone conduit. An idea of the magnitude of the Airport project may be gathered from the following facts: 360 acres of mountainous land were cleared and grubbed before the excavation was started. The paving on taxi-ways, runways and aprons, if converted into 20-foot roadways eight inches thick, would have approximated 30 miles of highway. In moving the more than 9,000,000 cubic yards of earth and rock, 2,000,000 pounds of explosives were required.