Newport Municipal Airport (Arkansas)

Newport Municipal Airport
USGS aerial image, 2006
IATA: none ICAO: none FAA LID: M19
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	City of Newport
Serves	Newport, Arkansas
Elevation AMSL	239 ft / 73 m
Coordinates	35°38′16″N 091°10′35″W / 35.63778°N 91.17639°W / 35.63778; -91.17639Coordinates: 35°38′16″N 091°10′35″W / 35.63778°N 91.17639°W / 35.63778; -91.17639
Map
M19 Location of airport in Arkansas
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 4/22 5,002 1,525 Concrete 18/36 5,002 1,525 Concrete
Statistics (2009)
Aircraft operations 10,000 Based aircraft 25
Source: Federal Aviation Administration

Newport Municipal Airport (FAA LID: M19) is a city-owned public-use airport located five nautical miles (6 mi, 9 km) northeast of the central business district of Newport, a city in Jackson County, Arkansas, United States. It is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a general aviation airport.

Newport was chosen as a site for an Army Airfield during World War II through the encouragement of Congressman Wilbur D. Mills. The flat land already lent itself to airport usage as most trees had been cleared and the ground had been drained for farming. The project was announced in the middle of May 1942 and construction began almost immediately. Thirty-four farm families were displaced from the main site, along with those living at the auxiliary sites. Construction was rapid given the emergency wartime conditions and within three months the post was to be in full operation. The airfield consisted of four concrete runways 4907x150(N/S), 5004x150(NE/SW), 5000x150(E/W), 5000x150(NW/SE), plus associated taxiways, landing aids, and an extended length parking apron.

After the war, it reverted to civilian use.

After war’s end, the Newport airfield was declared to be government surplus, and eventually, most of the main field was turned over to the City of Newport to be used as a civilian airport facility and industrial park. While many of the base’s buildings were sold off, some were used by civilians who occupied much of the housing. The large hangar-type buildings were all gone by the early 1960s, and there are no longer any military buildings remaining at the airfield. All the auxiliary airfields were disposed of and none of the temporary structures built by the USAAF or USMC remain today. The few that survived the war were destroyed by a tornado in 1953.