Garden City Regional Airport - History

History

During World War II, the United States Army Air Forces used Garden City Airport as a training airfield by the Army Air Forces Flying Training Command, Gulf Coast Training Center. The facility was known as Garden City Army Airfield.

The main Garden City Army Airfield and it's auxiliaries were closed at the end of the war in November 1945, and were declared excess by the military on 18 May 1947. Civil authorities developed the main airfield into Garden City Regional Airport.

Garden City Regional Airport's former status as Garden City AAF helped it serve an important role during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. When orders were dispatched to ground all domestic flights, three large jets were ordered to land at GCRA as it was the closest airport with runways that could accommodate the planes. Since planes of such size don't normally use the airport, the passengers had to be evacuated with the aid of ladder trucks from the Garden City Fire Department.

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