Tuscaloosa National Airport is 3.5 miles northwest of Tuscaloosa, in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. The airport is owned and operated by the City of Tuscaloosa. The FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2019–2023 categorized the airport as a general aviation facility. The City of Tuscaloosa changed the name of the airport that had formerly operated under the name Tuscaloosa Regional Airport, in March 2019, to reflect the FAA's official designation as a national airport, one of only 89 in the nation.
Tuscaloosa National Airport had 2,400 commercial passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2017. Most of this traffic was athletic charters from the University of Alabama. The Tuscaloosa Industrial Park is next to the airport.
Much of the airport property is bordered by the city limits of Northport, Alabama. In fact, the airport and the neighboring Industrial Park are the only areas included in the Tuscaloosa city limits west of Alabama Highway 69 and north of the Black Warrior River.
Facilities
Tuscaloosa National Airport covers at an elevation of 170 feet (52 m). It has two asphalt runways: 4/22 is 6,498 by 150 feet (1,981 x 46 m) and 11/29 is 4,000 by 100 feet (1,219 x 30 m). Runway 4 has an Instrument Landing System and approach lights, allowing landings in visibility as low as a half mile.
In the year ending June 30, 2022 the airport had 38,697 aircraft operations, average 106 per day: 76% general aviation, 16% military, 7% air taxi, and <1% airline. 108 aircraft were then based at the airport: 74 single-engine, 17 multi-engine, 12 jet and 5 helicopter.
The airport has two full-service FBOs: Hawthorne Global Aviation Services and Dixie Air Services.
History
Origins
In 1939 Oliver Parks was brought to Alabama to set up a Civilian Pilot Training Program, CPTP, for the University of Alabama. A brick hangar was built on the property and the first class of students were licensed before the end of 1939.
The airport was opened in April 1940 as Van De Graaff Field. It originally consisted of four turf runways: 00/18 (2500 by 500 feet), 04/22 (3777 by 600 feet), 09/27 (4082 by 600 feet), 13/31 (5208 by 600 feet).
World War II
During World War II, the field was revamped to include a single main runway (the current 11/29). The rest of the field was usable as an all-way field.
The Civil Aeronautics Administration designated van de Graff Field as an intermediate field (#59). It operated as a United States Army Air Forces primary (phase 1) pilot training field by a detachment of the 51st Flying Training Group, Greenville Army Airfield, Mississippi. In addition to the main field, the following known sub-bases and auxiliaries were used: Albright Auxiliary Field (undetermined location) Foster Auxiliary Field Knauer Auxiliary Field Moody Auxiliary Field Rice Auxiliary Field
Pilot training was provided under contract by the Alabama Institute of Aeronautics, Inc. Flying training was performed primarily with Fairchild PT-19s, in addition to PT-17 Stearmans and a few P-40 Warhawks. Beginning in June 1943, Free French Air Force flight cadets began to arrive at the school for Primary flight training, having graduated from the preflight screening school at Craig Field.
Military operations were inactivated on September 8, 1944, with the drawdown of AAFTC's pilot training program. Free French training was transferred to the Hawthorne School of Aeronautics, Orangeburg, South Carolina. The airfield was turned over to city control at the end of the war though the War Assets Administration.