Roswell International Air Center

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For the military use of this facility prior to 1967, see Walker Air Force Base.
Roswell International Air Center

IATA: ROW – ICAO: KROW – FAA: ROW
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner City of Roswell
Serves Roswell, New Mexico
Elevation AMSL 3,671 ft / 1,119 m
Coordinates 33°18′06″N 104°31′50″W / 33.30167, -104.53056
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
3/21 13,001 3,963 Asphalt/Concrete
12/30 7,425 2,263 Asphalt/Concrete
17/35 9,999 3,048 Asphalt
Statistics (2007)
Aircraft operations 43,990
Based aircraft 46
Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1]

Roswell International Air Center (RIAC) (IATA: ROW, ICAO: KROW, FAA LID: ROW), also known as Roswell Industrial Air Center, is a city-owned public-use airport located three miles (5 km) south of the central business district of Roswell, a city in Chaves County, New Mexico, United States.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

From 1941 to 1967, the facility was known as Roswell Army Airfield during World War II, and Walker Air Force Base during the Cold War. At the time of its closure, it was the largest base of the United States Air Force Strategic Air Command. Roswell International Air Center was developed after the closure of Walker Air Force Base on 30 June 1967.

Walker AFB was named after General Kenneth Newton Walker, a native of Los Cerrillos, New Mexico. He was killed during a bombing mission over Rabaul, New Britain, Papua, New Guinea. on January 5, 1943. Though intercepted by enemy fighters, his group scored direct hits on nine Japanese ships. General Walker was last seen leaving the target area with one engine on fire and several fighters on his tail. For his actions, General Walker was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943.

The base was renamed in his honor on January 13, 1948. Walker Hall, at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, home of the College of Aerospace Doctrine Research and Education, is also named after the general.

In 1966, the Air Force announced that Walker AFB would be closed. This was during a round of base closings and consodations as the Defense Department struggled to pay the expenses of the Vietnam War within the budgetary limits set by Congress.

It is also known for the Roswell UFO incident, an event that supposedly happened on 4 July 1947. It is alleged that a "flying disk" crashed during a severe thunderstorm near RIAC at Corona, New Mexico.

[edit] Facilities and aircraft

Roswell International Air Center Airport covers an area of 5,029 acres (2,035 ha) which contains three paved runways:[1]

  • Runway 3/21: 13,001 x 150 ft. (3,963 x 46 m), Surface: Asphalt/Concrete
  • Runway 12/30: 7,425 x 200 ft. (2,263 x 61 m), Surface: Asphalt/Concrete
  • Runway 17/35: 9,999 x 100 ft. (3,048 x 30 m), Surface: Asphalt

For the 12-month period ending October 31, 2007, the airport had 43,990 aircraft operations, an average of 120 per day: 51% general aviation, 31% military, 18% air taxi and <1% scheduled commercial. At that time there were 46 aircraft based at this airport: 76% single-engine, 17% multi-engine, 4% jet and 2% helicopter.[1]

[edit] Airline and destinations

[edit] Other uses

The RIAC is also home to a fireworks factory; a plastic manufacturer; Novabus Inc. has a bus factory located there; a candy manufacturer and the Roswell Municipal Airport. Eastern New Mexico University has a campus located there, and various aircraft repair and refurbishing companies have a great many airliners are stored on site.

RIAC also is the home of the New Mexico Rehabilitation Center.

A New Mexico National Guard unit also uses some of the buildings of the facility.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d FAA Airport Master Record for ROW (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2007-12-20

[edit] External links

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