Columbia Metropolitan Airport
| Columbia Metropolitan Airport | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||||||||||||||
USGS aerial image - 2006
|
|||||||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||
| Owner/Operator | Richland-Lexington Airport District | ||||||||||||||
| Serves | Columbia, South Carolina | ||||||||||||||
| Location | Lexington County, near Springdale, South Carolina | ||||||||||||||
| Hub for | UPS Airlines | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 236 ft / 72 m | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 33°56′20″N 081°07′10″W / 33.93889°N 81.11944°W | ||||||||||||||
| Website | www.columbiaairport.com | ||||||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||||||
 KCAE
|
|||||||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
| Helipads | |||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
| Statistics (2015) | |||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
|
Source: Federal Aviation Administration
|
|||||||||||||||
| Commercial Passengers | 1,102,011 |
|---|---|
| Scheduled Departures | 12,324 |
| Freight/Mail (lb.) | 130,000,000 |
Columbia Metropolitan Airport (IATA: CAE, ICAO: KCAE, FAA LID: CAE) is the main commercial airport for Columbia and the Midlands region of South Carolina. The airport is five miles (8 km) southwest of Columbia, in Lexington County. The airport is a regional cargo hub for UPS Airlines.
The airport was built in the 1940 as Lexington County Airport. In 1940 the United States Army Air Corps indicated a need for the airfield as part of the buildup of its forces after World War II began in Europe. The earliest recorded Air Corps use of the airport was when the 105th Observation Squadron began flying Douglas O-38 and North American O-47 light observation aircraft on 24 September.
In 1941 the airport came under formal military control and an immediate program began to turn the civil airport into a military airfield. On 8 December 1941, as the Columbia Army Air Base, Columbia Army Airfield's mission was a training base for B-25 Mitchell crews.
One of the earliest units to train at Columbia AAB was the 17th Bombardment Group, which arrived on 9 February 1942. When the group arrived in Columbia its combat crews were offered the opportunity to volunteer for an "extremely hazardous" but unspecified mission which ultimately turned out to be the famous Doolittle Raid on Japan. Contrary to popular belief, the volunteers who made up the crews of the Doolittle Raid did not train for the Raid itself at Columbia.
...
Wikipedia