McKinnon St. Simons Island Airport

31°09′07″N 081°23′29″W

St. Simons Island Airport at McKinnon Field
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerGlynn County
ServesBrunswick, Georgia
LocationSt. Simons Island
Elevation AMSL19 ft / 6 m
Website
Map
SSI is located in Georgia
SSI
SSI
SSI is located in the United States
SSI
SSI
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
4/22 5,800 1,768 Asphalt
16/34 3,313 1,010 Asphalt
Statistics (2007)
Aircraft operations47,750

St. Simons Island Airport at McKinnon Field (formerly Malcolm McKinnon Airport) (IATA: SSI, ICAO: KSSI, FAA LID: SSI) is six miles east of Brunswick, in Glynn County, Georgia.[1]

Located on St. Simons Island, it is also known St. Simons Island Airport at McKinnon field. The airfield was named after Malcom B. McKinnon, chairman of the County Commission when construction started in 1935. The airport opened on May 28, 1938, seven months after his death.[2] During World War II, it operated as Naval Air Station St. Simons Island and was eventually home to the Navy Radar Training School. Although NAS St. Simons Island remained an active air station following the war, its activities were eventually merged into nearby NAS Glynco and by 1947 it was finally closed as a naval air station and became a civil airport.[3]

The airport is on the site of Mulberry Grove Plantation, which was owned by the Demeré family from the 1750s until the Civil War.

Previous airline service

Delta Air Lines served Brunswick, Georgia (which it listed as Sea Island in its timetables) from 1945 through the 1960s.[4] In 1946 a Delta Douglas DC-3 was scheduled Chicago - Cincinnati - Knoxville - Asheville - Greenville, SC - Spartanburg, SC - Augusta - Savannah - Brunswick - Jacksonville - Miami.[5] In 1969 Delta Convair 440s flew nonstop to Atlanta and Jacksonville.[6] Delta moved its Brunswick flights to Naval Air Station Glynco (now the Brunswick Golden Isles Airport) where it flew McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30s in the early 1970s.[7]

Eastern Airlines served Brunswick from 1945 until 1964.

Facilities
Installations of the Naval Reserve Training Station, mid-1940s
Aircraft at St. Simons in the 1970s

The airport covers 320 acres (130 ha) and has two asphalt runways: 4/22 is 5,800 x 100 ft (1,768 x 30 m) and 16/34 is 3,313 x 75 ft (1,010 x 23 m). In the year ending August 7, 2007 the airport had 47,750 aircraft operations, average 130 per day: 98% general aviation and 2% military.[1]

References
  1. FAA Airport Form 5010 for SSI PDF, effective 2007-10-25
  2. McKinnon St. Simons Island Airport History Archived 2014-10-31 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Flights from Saint Simons Archived 2014-10-31 at the Wayback Machine
  4. http://www.timetableimages.com, Delta timetables from Feb. 15, 1946 to April 27, 1969
  5. http://www.timetableimages.com, Feb. 15, 1946 Delta timetable
  6. http://www.timetableimages.com, April 27, 1969 Delta timetable
  7. http://www.departedflights.com, March 1, 1973 Delta timetable
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