Geiger field, now known as Spokane International Airport (IATA: GEG, ICAO: KGEG, FAA Location identifier: GEG) was an airfield established by the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. The airfield was originally known as Sunset field before it became a military airfield and in 1946 it was transferred to Spokane to become a commercial airport.
History[]
Known as Sunset Field before 1941, it was purchased from the county by the War Department and renamed Geiger Field after Major Harold Geiger, an Army aviation pioneer who died in a crash in 1927.
During World War II, Geiger Field was a major training base by Second Air Force as a group training airfield for B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombardment units, with new aircraft being obtained from Boeing near Seattle. It was also used by Air Technical Service Command as an aircraft maintenance and supply depot; Deer Park Airport and Felts Field were auxiliaries.
Geiger was closed in late 1945 and turned over to War Assets Administration (WAA), then transferred to Spokane County and developed into a commercial airport. The airport hosted USAF Air Defense Command interceptor units during the Cold War for air defense of Hanford Nuclear Reservation and Grand Coulee Dam. Built in 1942 as the Spokane Air Depot, Fairchild Air Force Base is four miles (7 km) to the west.
It became Spokane's municipal airport in 1946, replacing Felts Field, and received its present name in 1960, after the City of Spokane was allotted Spokane Geiger Field by the Surplus Property Act.[1] The airport code is still GEG, for Geiger Field.
The current terminal complex opened in 1965 and was designed by Warren C. Heylman and William Trogdon.[2]
Entrance to the A and B concourse ticketing area.
Occasional non-stop flights to southern California since the 1970s have been among the first to be suspended during economic downturns.
See also[]
- Washington World War II Army Airfields
- Western Air Defense Force (Air Defense Command)
- 9th Air Division
References[]
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.
External links[]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Category:Spokane International Airport. |
- Spokane International Airport, official site
- Spokane International Airport at WSDOT Aviation
- FAA Airport Diagram (PDF), effective April 18, 2024
- FAA Terminal Procedures for GEG, effective April 18, 2024
The original article can be found at Geiger Field and the edit history here.