Yeager Airport

Yeager Airport {{airport codes|CRW|KCRW}} is a commercial airport located northeast of Charleston, West Virginia. The airport has 2 runways.

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During World War II, Charleston's airport at that time, Wertz Field, closed when the airport's approaches were blocked once the federal government built a synthetic rubber plant next to the airport. This left the city without an airport. However, there were plans before the war to build a new Charleston airport; Wertz Field was already becoming commercially obsolete.

Related Topics:
World War II - Wertz Field

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The city started construction of its new airport in 1944; the facility opened in 1947 as Kanawha Airport. The airport received its current name in 1985, honoring Chuck Yeager, a native of nearby Lincoln County who piloted the first supersonic flight.

Related Topics:
1944 - 1947 - 1985 - Chuck Yeager - Lincoln County

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First-time passengers who watch their planes approach the airport may feel uneasy; the airport sits on a hilltop over 300 feet above the valleys of the Elk and Kanawha Rivers, and the hill drops off sharply on all sides. Some pilots who regularly fly into the airport liken landing at Yeager to landing on an aircraft carrier, even keeping in mind the fact that aircraft carriers move with the seas while Yeager is stationary.

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The airport's construction was one of the most remarkable engineering accomplishments of the 1940s. The original topography of the area where Yeager Airport now stands consisted of three hilltops on a ridge overlooking the Elk River. In order to create enough flat land for an airport, it was necessary to shear off the tops of all three hills, and use the spoil to fill in the valleys in between. At that time, the construction of Kanawha Airport was reportedly the second-largest earth-moving project in history, behind the construction of the Panama Canal.

Related Topics:
1940s - Panama Canal

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