DeRidder Army Airbase
| Beauregard Regional Airport DeRidder Army Air Base |
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USGS aerial image as of 2006
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||
| Owner | Beauregard Parish | ||||||||||||||
| Serves | De Ridder, Louisiana | ||||||||||||||
| Location | Beauregard Parish, near De Ridder, Louisiana | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 202 ft / 62 m | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 30°49′54″N 093°20′24″W / 30.83167°N 93.34000°W | ||||||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||||||
 KDRI
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Source: Federal Aviation Administration
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| Aircraft operations | 14,400 |
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| Based aircraft | 21 |
Beauregard Regional Airport (IATA: DRI, ICAO: KDRI, FAA LID: DRI) is a public use airport in Beauregard Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is owned by Beauregard Parish and is located three nautical miles (6 km) southwest of the central business district of De Ridder, Louisiana. The airport serves the general aviation community, with no scheduled commercial airline service.
The present Beauregard Regional Airport has a long and colorful history, which began prior to its use as an airfield. The airport property includes most of what was once the Graybow Community. In 1912 Graybow was an active community and the location of the Galloway Sawmill.
The sawmill had been built along the Santa Fe Railroad tracks with the planer mill on one side of the tracks and the big mill, commissary, and office on the other side of the tracks.
Two decades later the nation was experiencing the effects of the Great Depression. To counteract the unemployment caused by the depression, work projects were activated across the country. One such project was begun in 1934, 3 miles (4.8 km) west of DeRidder under the Auspices of the Emergency Relief Authority which later became the WPA. This project in a stump littered field provided employment for about 400 men, who worked to clear what had once been a densely wooded region. They constructed two earthen runways on 160 acres (0.65 km2) of land leased from the owner. The field was used very little. Barnstorming pilots would occasionally visit and offer rides for $2.00.
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Wikipedia