Cincinnati–Blue Ash Airport

Cincinnati–Blue Ash Airport
Preparing to land on Runway 24
IATA: none ICAO: KISZ FAA LID: ISZ
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	City of Cincinnati
Serves	Cincinnati, Ohio
Location	Blue Ash, Ohio
Opened	1921 (1921)
Closed	August 29, 2012 (2012-08-29)
Passenger services ceased	1990s
Elevation AMSL	856 ft / 261 m
Coordinates	39°14′48″N 084°23′20″W / 39.24667°N 84.38889°W / 39.24667; -84.38889Coordinates: 39°14′48″N 084°23′20″W / 39.24667°N 84.38889°W / 39.24667; -84.38889
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 6/24 3,499 1,066 Asphalt
Statistics (2006)
Aircraft operations 35,000 Based aircraft 136
Source: Federal Aviation Administration

Blue Ash Airport (ICAO: KISZ, FAA LID: ISZ), also known as Cincinnati–Blue Ash Airport, was a public airport located in Blue Ash, Ohio, United States, but owned by the City of Cincinnati. Located 16.5 miles (26.6 km) northeast of downtown Cincinnati, it served as a general aviation reliever for the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

Established in 1921, the airfield was one of the first in operation in the United States, and it became Ohio's first municipal airport when Cincinnati purchased it in 1946. For decades, it was eyed as a potential future site for Cincinnati's primary commercial airport, spurring construction of Cross County Highway, but efforts to develop the site repeatedly failed. In the 1970s, much of the property around the airfield was converted into an industrial park and golf course. Cincinnati eventually sold about half of the remaining airfield to the City of Blue Ash and permanently closed the facility on August 29, 2012, despite local efforts to keep it operational.

Although most U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA, Blue Ash Airport was assigned I77 and later ISZ by the FAA but had no designation from the IATA.

Blue Ash Airport's history began in 1921 with a dirt runway located off Cooper Road, in then-unincorporated Sycamore Township, on land that has since been converted into an industrial park. The first Cincinnati-Chicago airmail flight took off from this field. On August 5, 1922, it was dedicated as Grisard Field, after Cincinnati-area pilot Lt. John K. Grisard, who was shot down in France during World War I. The following year, the Grisard Field Company leased the field to Maj. Hugh Watson, a barnstormer and former Army flight instructor, and his brother Parks. They were joined by John Paul Riddle and, in 1924, T. Higbee Embry. The company owned two Curtiss JN-4 biplanes. In its early days, the airfield's grass runways served general aviation, airmail operations, and the 359th Army Reserve Observation Squadron.