Allentown Queen City Municipal Airport

Allentown Queen City Municipal Airport Queen City Airport
USGS aerial image, 2006
IATA: none – ICAO: KXLL – FAA LID: XLL
Summary
Airport type		Public
Owner		Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority
Serves		Allentown, Pennsylvania
Elevation AMSL		399 ft / 122 m
Coordinates		40°34′13″N 075°29′18″W / 40.57028°N 75.48833°W / 40.57028; -75.48833
Map
KXLL Location of C. David Campbell Field
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
7/25	3,949	1,204	Asphalt
15/33	3,159	963	Asphalt
Statistics (2008)
Aircraft operations			54,220
Based aircraft			95
Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1]

Allentown Queen City Municipal Airport (ICAO: KXLL, FAA LID: XLL) is a public use airport located in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, United States. The airport is located on Lehigh Street, two nautical miles (3.7 km) southwest of the central business district of Allentown, Pennsylvania.^[1] It is owned by the Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority.^[1] Also known as Queen City Airport, it is home to the Civil Air Patrol Squadron 805 and Lehigh Valley Aviation Services, a fixed base operator (FBO).^[2]

On July 31, 2008, the FAA airport identifier was briefly changed from 1N9 to JVU. However, after seeking approval for an identifier associated with the area, the FAA approved the change to XLL (Little Lehigh Executive, in honor of the local Little Lehigh Creek) effective November 20, 2008.

Although most U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA, this airport currently has no designation from the IATA.^[3]

History

In mid-December 1942, it was announced that Allentown was the site of a new aircraft production plant. Vultee Aircraft and Consolidated Aircraft announced that Consolidated Vultee (later known as Convair) would lease Mack Truck's Plant 5C for production of the Consolidated Vultee TBY-2 Sea Wolf Torpedo Plane for the United States Navy. In addition to 5C, Consolidated Vultee would build an office building, a hangar, an airport and a highway linking 5C with the new airport complex.

Mack officials were initially reluctant to give up Plant 5C because they considered it essential for Truck war production, however the War Production Board and the Navy overruled them.

Convair Field, as the airfield was originally named, was dedicated on October 10, 1943. ^[4] When the plant reached full production, it employed several thousand people, over half of which were women. Consolidated Vultee became Allentown's second largest industry, handling over $100,000,000 in war contracts. By the end of 1943, the facility was producing TBY-2 Sea Wolves as well as components for the BT-13 Valiant Trainer and B-24 Liberator Bomber.

Along with the airfield and manufacturing facilities, an entire new neighborhood of homes was built for the aircraft workers and their families. In December 1943, the National Housing Center approved the construction of 250 units for Vultee workers on a tract bounded by Twelfth, Fourteenth, Harrison and Wyoming streets by the Allentown Housing Authority. This neighborhood, containing streets named "Liberator Avenue", "Catalina Avenue", and "Vultee Street", still exists.

With the end of the war in 1945, aircraft production was shut down. Plant 5C was returned to Mack Trucks and the remainder of the facility was declared surplus by the War Assets Administration. The property was obtained by General Electric to manufacture small appliances, particularly toasters. In 1962 the facility again was closed and the property was obtained by the city. ^[5]

It is currently owned and operated by the Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority. LNAA also manages the Lehigh Valley International Airport and Braden Airpark. In 2006, the airport received an award for the General Aviation Airport of the Year by the Eastern Region of the Federal Aviation Administration. ^[6]

Facilities and aircraft

Allentown Queen City Municipal Airport covers an area of 201 acres (81 ha) at an elevation of 399 feet (122 m) above mean sea level. It has two asphalt paved runways: 7/25 is 3,949 by 75 feet (1,204 x 23 m) and 15/33 is 3,159 by 75 feet (963 x 23 m).^[1]

For the 12-month period ending June 10, 2008, the airport had 54,220 aircraft operations, an average of 148 per day: 97% general aviation, 2% air taxi and 1% military. At that time there were 95 aircraft based at this airport: 78% single-engine, 16% multi-engine and 6% helicopter.^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} FAA Airport Master Record for XLL (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2009-07-02.
2. ^ Queen City Airport page at Lehigh Valley Aviation Services (FBO) website
3. ^ Great Circle Mapper: KXLL - Allentown, Pennsylvania - Allentown Queen City Municipal Airport
4. ^ "Pennsylvania Airport History". http://www.dot.state.pa.us/Internet/Bureaus/pdBOA.nsf/History?OpenPage. Retrieved 2007-07-17. 
5. ^ Allentown 1762-1987 A 225-Year History, Volume Two, 1921-1987. Mahlon H. Hellerich, editor, Lehigh County Historical Society, 1987.
6. ^ "Queen City Airport Designated General Aviation Airport of the Year by the Federal Administration Eastern Region". 2006-03-02. http://www.lvia.org/info_booth/news_room/030206.html. Retrieved 2007-07-17. 

External links

• Queen City Municipal Airport at PennDOT Bureau of Aviation
• Civil Air Patrol Squadron 805
• FAA Terminal Procedures for XLL, effective 3 May 2012
• Resources for this airport:
  • AirNav airport information for KXLL
  • FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
  • NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
  • SkyVector aeronautical chart, Terminal Procedures