|
Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport , formerly Birmingham Municipal Airport and later Birmingham International Airport, is a joint civil-military airport serving Birmingham, Alabama, United States and its metropolitan area including Tuscaloosa. It is located in Jefferson County, five miles northeast of downtown Birmingham,〔 near the interchange of I-20 and I-59. Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport averages 301 aircraft operations a day, including 136 flights to 43 airports in 40 cities.〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Non-Stop and Direct Flights )〕 BHM served 2,598,428 passengers in 2014, and is the largest and busiest airport in the state of Alabama by passenger volume. The airfield can handle all aircraft types. The main runway is long.〔. Federal Aviation Administration.〕 The secondary runway is long. A Category II ILS allows operations in visibility as low as a quarter-mile. The airport was renamed in July 2008 after Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth. The Southern Museum of Flight is on Airport Authority property, on the east side of the North-South runway. == History == Commercial air service to Birmingham began in 1928 by St. Tammy and Gulf Coast Airways, at Roberts Field on the west side of Birmingham on a route from Atlanta, Georgia to New Orleans, Louisiana.〔Dodd, Don "Birmingham Aviation: From Fairgrounds Air Shows to the Southern Museum of Flight”, Alabama Review, January 2004.〕 Delta Air Service began service to Birmingham in late 1929 with six seat Travel Air airplanes along a route from Love Field in Dallas, Texas to Birmingham.〔(Georgia Encyclopedia, Delta Air Lines )〕 When American Airways (now American Airlines) began their Atlanta, Georgia to Fort Worth, Texas route, Birmingham was not included because their Ford Tri-Motors could not land at Roberts Field. So Birmingham began construction of what is now Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 75th Anniversary Timeline )〕 The airport opened on May 31, 1931 with a two-story, white, Georgian style terminal and a single east-west runway. The terminal was just east of the later 1962 and 1971 terminal complexes.〔(US Geological Survey, Aerial Photo; Birmingham Airport, Alabama; March 9, 1951 )〕〔(Aerial Photo, Birmingham Airport, 1967, University of Alabama collection )〕 No remains of the 1931 terminal or landscaping are visible. With the addition of American Airlines in 1931 and Eastern Airlines in 1934, air traffic increased enough to warrant a second runway.〔 World War II saw the airport leased to the United States Army Air Forces for $1 a year to support national defense. Birmingham Army Airfield was a section assigned to the Third Air Force as a fighter base, operated by the 310th Army Air Force Base Unit. The Army Air Force considerably improved the airport with land acquisitions, paving of additional taxiways, and construction of a control tower and an aircraft modification center south of the terminal (this is now operated by Pemco).〔 After the airport returned to city control in August 1948 Southern Airways began service.〔 By March 1951 four runways were in use, Runways 5/23 (now designated 6/24) and 18/36, and runways at about 45/225 degrees north of Runway 5/23 and 85/265 degrees mostly south of Runway 5/23. Runway lengths were about to . The runway at 45/225 degrees is now largely removed, though a paved portion remains crossing taxiway F near the Alabama Air National Guard facilities, used for airport equipment and helicopter landing/parking. The runway at 85/265 is also mostly removed, with remaining segments making up taxiway A5 and a portion of taxiway F east of Runway 18/36.〔〔Federal Aviation Administration Airport Diagram, Birmingham International (BHM), SE-4, June 5, 2008〕 (1954 ) and (1969 ) airport diagrams By 1959 Runway 5/23 was and service was started to Birmingham by Capital Airlines with British-made Vickers Viscounts. The first scheduled jets were Delta 880s in October 1961, flying ATL-BHM-MSY-LAX and back. (Birmingham then had nonstops to Newark and Washington, but no other nonstops beyond Charlotte, Memphis and New Orleans, and no nonstops to Florida.) By the late 1960s Douglas DC-8, Douglas DC-9, Convair 880 and Boeing 727s were all scheduled to BHM. During the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion, pilots and crews from the Alabama Air National Guard's 117th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing at Birmingham were selected to train Cuban exile fliers in Nicaragua to fly the Douglas B-26 Invader in the close air support role. Although the 117th was flying the RF-84F Thunderflash, it had only recently retired its RB-26C Invaders, the last squadron in the Air Force to do so; thus the 117th was seen as the logical choice for the CIA's secret mission. Seven of the volunteer aviators participated combat operations during the final day of the invasion, on August 19, 1961. Birmingham natives Leo Baker, Wade Gray, Riley Shamburger, and Thomas "Pete" Ray were killed when their (two) aircraft were shot down. While American involvement had been suspected since before the invasion even began, Pete Ray's frozen body was kept as concrete proof of U.S. support. Continued growth in passenger traffic by 1962 resulted in the construction of a second passenger terminal and a new air traffic control tower,〔 built west of the original 1931 terminal. This was dedicated on February 11, 1962 as the Birmingham Air Terminal. Charles H. McCauley Associates was the supervising architect and Radar & Associates was the designing architect.〔Birmingham Air Terminal dedication plaque; 1973 Terminal 2nd Floor〕 It consisted of a single story building of repeated bays with steeply pitched roofs, which flanked a wider, higher center bay at the south end of the building for ticketing. A long, flat roofed northern section comprised the ground-level aircraft gates.〔〔 The south portion remains today for various airport support functions. In 1973 the current semi-circular terminal was completed west of the 1962 terminal and air traffic control tower. It had 15 aircraft gates and a 1,600 space parking deck. Allegheny Air (now US Airways) began service from Birmingham to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the late 1970s. Deregulation of the airline industry saw airlines such as Comair, Florida Express, People Express, Air New Orleans, L'Express Airlines, and most importantly Southwest Airlines enter the Birmingham market.〔 With the introduction of flights to Canada and Mexico, the official name of the airport was changed to Birmingham International Airport on October 20, 1993.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 About BHM: History )〕 Also in 1993, the airport marked the completion of a $50.4m terminal renovation.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport )〕 In the early 1990s Runway 18/36 was extended to 7,100 feet, allowing use by airline jets. By the early 2000s Birmingham had constructed a new tall control tower and completed improvements to the air cargo areas, including a new facility at the far west end. The 1960s blue air traffic control tower was demolished in 2001. In 2006 Birmingham International Airport celebrated its 75th year. In July 2007 an eastward extension to Runway 6/24 was completed. Now in length, Runway 6/24 allows a fully loaded Boeing 747 to land or take off.〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Birmingham International Airport )〕 On June 23, 2008 Birmingham city mayor Larry Langford announced his proposal to rename the airport as the Fred L. Shuttlesworth International Airport, in honor of civil rights activist Fred Shuttlesworth. On July 16, 2008, Mayor Langford and the Birmingham Airport Authority voted to change the name of the airport from the Birmingham International Airport to the Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport after the former civil rights activist. The name change cost about $300,000. The FAA approved the name change and signage of the airport took place on April 3, 2009. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|