North Carolina - Wilkes County Airports




North Carolina - Wilkes County Airports

Airport Name	At / Near Town	Type	FAA LID	Year Opened	Year Closed	Comments
1) North Wilkesboro Airport	North Wilkesboro	Defunct	-	c.1928, c.1946	1941, 1963	The earliest directory listing of North Wilkesboro Airport was in The Airport Directory Company's 1933 Airports Directory. It described North Wilkesboro as a commercial airport, measuring six acres in size. The turf field was said to be oblong in shape, and to measure 1,200' x 300'. The field was said to have a hangar. The North Wilkesboro Airport was evidently temporarily closed at some point between 1938-41, like many other small civilian airports, due to wartime security concerns. The airport apparently re-opened at some point between 1945-48, as the 1948 Winston-Salem Sectional Chart depicted North Wilkesboro Airport as having a 1,500' unpaved runway. North Wilkesboro Airport was listed among active airports in the 1962 AOPA Airport Directory, with a 2,300' turf runway, and the operator listed as Woodruff R. Wallace. At some point between 1962-63, the North Wilkesboro Airport was evidently replaced by a new Wilkes County Airport (one mile to the southwest), which had a paved runway, see below.
2) Wilkes County Airport (Original)	Wilkesboro	Defunct	-	1962	1990	Between 1962-63, the North Wilkesboro Airport (1 mile to the northeast) (see above) was evidently replaced by this new Wilkes County Airport. The April 1964 Winston-Salem Sectional Chart depicted the new Wilkes County Airport as having a 3,600' hard-surface runway. The 1982 AOPA Airport Directory described Wilkes County Airport as having a 4,250' paved Runway 6/24, and listed the operator as Wilkes Aviation Center Inc. The original Wilkes County Airport was closed at an unknown date (between 1987-90), when it was replaced by a newer and larger Wilkes County Airport at a different location to the northeast. This original Wilkes County Airport was located at the end of Stokes Street, northwest of Route 268.
3) Wilkes County Airport (Current)	North Wilkesboro	General Aviation	UKF	1990	-	The current Wilkes County Airport is the successor of two previous airfields in Wilkes County - the original Wilkes County Airport (see above) and the North Wilkesboro Airport (see above). Per AirNav - activated 6/1990. Owned and operated by Wilkes County.