Published: March 04, 2008 08:12 pm            

Regional airport coming to Miami?

The fact that Grissom Air Reserve Base will soon be open to private airplanes is great news not just for Miami County but for surrounding counties as well.

Montgomery Aviation of Zionsville will take over day-to-day civilian operations at the former Air Force base near Peru. The company will provide aviation fuel, maintenance and other aircraft services under a five-year contract with the Miami County Economic Development Authority.

Authority board members see the contract as the first step toward making Grissom a regional airport. That would be a welcome development.

Grissom, which was downgraded to an air reserve base in 1994, has the longest runway in the state at 12,500 feet. It is home to the 434th Air Refueling Wing, which flies KC-135 refueling tankers.

Grissom, named for Indiana astronaut Virgil “Gus” Grissom, is one of four Air Force Reserve Command bases in the nation. It opened in 1942 as Bunker Hill Naval Air Station, serving as a training base for thousands of Navy, Marine and Coast Guard pilots.

The base closed after World War II, but the Air Force reopened it during the Korean War, making it home to the 4433rd Air Base Squadron and the 323rd Fighter-Bomber Wing.

At the height of its operations, the base was home to one active duty and two Air Force Reserve wings, 60 KC-135 Stratotankers and 18 A-10 Thunderbolt II fighter aircraft.

Though the region took an economic hit when Grissom was downgraded to a reserve base, the facility remains a significant part of the regional economy. With more than 2,000 civilian and military jobs, the base is the largest employer in Miami County and the third largest in the region.

Transforming it into a regional airport can’t help but make that impact even greater.

Congratulations to the Miami County Economic Development Authority on getting the project this far. Communities throughout the region should join in supporting the authority’s efforts.

– Pharos-Tribune, Logansport, and Kokomo Tribune

        

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