Aviation in Alabama

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Aviation in Alabama
Aviation in the United States
Alabama
Alabama State Flag
Airports
Commercial – primary5
Commercial – non-primary1
General aviation65
Other public-use airports24
Military and other airports9
First flight
10 March 1910

Alabama's first aeronautical event was on 10 March 1910 with the flight of a Wright biplane flown by Orville Wright in Montgomery, Alabama.[1]

Events[]

  • 1909: E.T. Odum brings an aircraft to the Alabama State Fair.[2]
  • 15 March 1910: Orville and Wilbur Wright establish the nation's first civilian flying school in Montgomery, Alabama.
  • 1931: Steadham Acker starts the National Air Carnival series of air shows at Birmingham Municipal Airport.
  • 10 July 1991: L'Express Airlines Flight 508 crashed at Birmingham Municipal Airport.

Aircraft Manufacturers[]

Aerospace[]

73,000 jobs are based in Alabama in support of aerospace.[4]

Airports[]

Colleges and Universities[]

  • Auburn University is home to the nation's oldest continually operated flight school and is the only 4-year aviation degree in the State of Alabama. Recently, Auburn University created the Auburn University Aviation Center.[when?] The Aviation Center's objective is to, "...create a robust, visionary aviation program that creates opportunities for students and fosters economic development in the state."

Commercial Service[]

  • Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport provides air service with 1.4 million operations annually.

Government and Military[]

Overhead view of Maxwell Field in 1937
  • All flight operations in Alabama are conducted within FAA oversight.
  • Maxwell Air Force Base is the headquarters of Air University (United States Air Force).
  • The Redstone Arsenal supports missile and space operations.
  • The Marshall Space Flight Center supports NASA operations.
  • The U. S. Army Air Corps' Tuskegee Airmen were trained at Tuskegee, Alabama
  • The Alabama State Trooper Aviation Unit was formed in 1975 using four Bell H-13 Sioux and one Cessna 182. The unit currently operates one Bell 206L, one Bell 407, seven OH-58 helicopters and three Cessna 182’s, a Piper Navajo and King Air 200.[6]
  • Cullman City Police Department operates two OH-58, Dale County Sheriff's Office operates 3 OH-58's, Etowah County Sheriff's Office operates one OH-58 and one Cessna 172, Jefferson County Sheriff's Office operates two OH-58's, Limestone County Alabama Sheriff's Office operates one OH-58, Morgan County Sheriff's Office operates one OH-58, Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Aviation Unit operates two OH-58's, Tuscaloosa Alabama Police Department operates two OH-58's[7]

Museums[]

See also: Category:Aerospace museums in Alabama

Gallery[]

  • James Meissner, World War I flying ace and Birmingham resident

  • A group of Tuskegee Airmen posing with a P-40 during World War II

  • Aircraft at the Redstone Army Airfield in Huntsville

  • Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport

  • Lockheed A-12 at the Southern Museum of Flight in Birmingham

  • Wernher von Braun posing with the Saturn V's S-IC engines in Huntsville

  • Space Shuttle Pathfinder at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville

References[]

  1. ^ "encyclopedia of Alabama". Archived from the original on June 21, 2010. Retrieved October 14, 2011.
  2. ^ Don Dodd, Amy Bartlett-Dodd. Deep South Aviation.
  3. ^ "Alabama". Retrieved November 1, 2015.
  4. ^ "Aerospace". Archived from the original on June 18, 2013. Retrieved October 14, 2011.
  5. ^ "Continental Motors Group To Assemble Diesel Kits In U.S." Retrieved April 17, 2015.
  6. ^ "Alabama State Troopers Aviation Unit". Retrieved October 14, 2011.
  7. ^ "Police Helicopter Unit". Retrieved October 14, 2011.
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