Hesler-Noble Field

Hesler-Noble Field is a public use airport in Jones County, Mississippi, United States. It is owned by Laurel Airport Authority and located three nautical miles (6 km) southwest of the central business district of Laurel, Mississippi.

This airport is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a general aviation facility. There is no scheduled commercial airline service.

History
Laurel Airport was first opened in April, 1940, having been constructed by the Works Project Administration, providing commercial airline service to the area.

Alarmed by the fall of France in June 1940, Congress funded an increase in the strength of the United States Army Air Corps from 29 to 54 combat groups. The quickest way for the Air Corps to obtain additional bases was to utilize existing civil airports. The Air Corps signed an agreement to lease Laurel Airport, but because of technicalities in the land transfer, construction did not begin until mid 1942.

Once begun, a large construction program was needed to turn the civil airport into a military airfield. Construction involved runways and airplane hangars, with three concrete runways, several taxiways and a large parking apron and a control tower. Several large hangars were also constructed. Buildings were ultimately utilitarian and quickly assembled. Most base buildings, not meant for long-term use, were constructed of temporary or semi-permanent materials. Although some hangars had steel frames and the occasional brick or tile brick building could be seen, most support buildings sat on concrete foundations but were of frame construction clad in little more than plywood and tarpaper. On December 18, 1942, Laurel Army Airfield was opened and assigned to the Third Air Force. The 473d Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron was the host unit at the airfield

Initially, the mission of the new Air Force field was to fly antisubmarine patrols over the Gulf of Mexico, with the 69th Observation Group flying light aircraft (Douglas O-38, Douglas O-46, North American O-47) from November 1942 until March 1943.

In Mid-1943, Laurel AAF's mission changed to training medium and light bomber crews (B-25 Mitchell, A-20 Havoc) as well as photo reconnaissance units for deployment overseas. Known units that trained at the airfield were:


 * 71st Reconnaissance Group, March 31 - September 24, 1943
 * 416th Bombardment Group, November 1943 - January 1, 1944
 * 410th Bombardment Group, January - February 8, 1944

In early 1944, a phase down of training activity was begun, and plans were made to convert Laurel AAF into a specialized storage facility. Most activities at the airfield were moved to Jackson Army Air Base and Laurel was transferred to Air Technical Service Command on 1 July 1944. Large numbers of aircraft were sent to Laurel, both from other training bases, and later from returning overseas units after the War.

Excess aircraft were sent to reclamation facilities after being processed at Laurel. The airfield was placed on inactive status May 31, 1946 and returned to civil control.

Hesler-Noble Field returned to being a civil airport until the early 1970s, when commercial airline service was shifted to Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport in May 1974. Since then it has served the general aviation community.

Facilities and aircraft
Hesler-Noble Field covers an area of 1,350 acres (546 ha) at an elevation of 238 feet (73 m) above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 13/31 with an asphalt surface measuring 5,513 by 150 feet (1,680 x 46 m).

For the 12-month period ending April 19, 2012, the airport had 22,975 aircraft operations, an average of 62 per day: 95% general aviation and 5% military. At that time there were 43 aircraft based at this airport: 58% single-engine, 21% multi-engine, 9% jet, 7% ultralight, and 5% helicopter.