Majors Airport

Majors Airport
Majors Army Airfield

2008 USGS airphoto
IATA: GVT – ICAO: KGVT – FAA LID: GVT
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner City of Greenville
Serves Greenville, Texas
Elevation AMSL 535 ft / 163 m
Coordinates 33°04′04″N 096°03′55″W / 33.06778°N 96.06528°W / 33.06778; -96.06528Coordinates: 33°04′04″N 096°03′55″W / 33.06778°N 96.06528°W / 33.06778; -96.06528
Map
KGVT

Location

Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
17/35 8,030 2,448 Asphalt
Statistics (2007)
Aircraft operations 35,640
Based aircraft 39

Majors Airport (IATA: GVT, ICAO: KGVT, FAA LID: GVT) is a city-owned airport five miles southeast of Greenville, in Hunt County, Texas.[1]

Originally named Majors Field, it is home to an L-3 Communications facility that modifies aircraft.

History

Majors Airport, named for Lieutenant Truett Majors, the first Hunt County native to perish in World War II, began operations on June 26, 1942, as a training center for the United States Army Air Forces. Lt Majors was killed in the 1942 Battle of the Philippines in January 1942. Greenville was chosen as a site for the USAAF basic flight-training center due to the efforts of the influential politician Sam Rayburn, the base was dedicated and named on 5 January 1943.

Majors Army Airfield was assigned initially to the Gulf Coast Training Center (later Central Flying Command), the airport was at one point the home to approximately 5,000 pilots, support personnel, and civilian employees. Majors also was a major training base for Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP)s. Flying training was performed with Fairchild PT-19s as the primary trainer. Also had several PT-17 Stearmans and a few P-40 Warhawks assigned.

Majors Army Air Field 1944 Classbook

In addition to training United States Army pilots, the airfield was the training site for Escuadrón 201 of the Mexican Air Force. The training center was reassigned to Second Air Force on 30 November 1944 as a group training center, primary for the assignment of replacement personnel to combat squadrons in Overseas theaters.

Majors AAF was inactivated on 18 July 1945 after the defeat of Germany; the city of Greenville then took ownership, then leased the site to TEMCO (later L-3 Communications).

The airport had airline flights (Central DC-3s) for a year or two around 1952.

On 5 March 2014 a regional American Eagle jet heading from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport made an emergency landing after the pilot reported smoke in the cockpit. Flight 3400 was bound for Moline, Il., when it was diverted about 9 p.m. to Majors Airport in Greenville. Jim Hogan, a passenger from Iowa City, Iowa seated in the exit row, opened the door and led the way for the other passengers to disembark.[2]

Facilities

Majors Airport covers 1,525 acres (617 ha) at an elevation of 535 feet (163 m). Its one runway, 17/35, is 8,030 by 150 feet (2,448 x 46 m) asphalt.[1]

In the year ending April 30, 2007 the airport had 35,640 aircraft operations, average 97 per day: 92% general aviation and 8% military. 39 aircraft were then based at the airport: 90% single-engine and 10% multi-engine.[1]

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Majors Army Airfield.
  1. 1 2 3 4 FAA Airport Master Record for GVT (Form 5010 PDF). Federal Aviation Administration. Effective 8 April 2010.
  2. ↑ "American Eagle pilot reports smoke in cockpit after leaving D/FW; plane makes emergency landing". The Scoop Blog. Retrieved 2016-01-26.

Other sources

  •  This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.
  • Shaw, Frederick J. (2004), Locating Air Force Base Sites History’s Legacy, Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, Washington DC, 2004.
  • Manning, Thomas A. (2005), History of Air Education and Training Command, 1942–2002. Office of History and Research, Headquarters, AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas ASIN: B000NYX3PC
  • Thole, Lou (1999), Forgotten Fields of America : World War II Bases and Training, Then and Now - Vol. 2. Publisher: Pictorial Histories Pub, ISBN 1-57510-051-7


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