Henry Post Army Airfield | |||||||||||
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Summary | |||||||||||
Airport type | Military | ||||||||||
Owner | U.S. Army ATCA-ASO | ||||||||||
Location | Fort Sill, Oklahoma | ||||||||||
Built | 1917 | ||||||||||
Occupants |
Air Service, United States Army World War I (1917-1918) United States Army World War II (1942-Present) |
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Elevation AMSL | 1,189 ft / 362 m | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 34°38′59″N 098°24′08″W / 34.64972°N 98.40222°W | ||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||
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Source: Federal Aviation Administration
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Henry Post Army Airfield (IATA: FSI, ICAO: KFSI, FAA LID: FSI) is a military use airport located at Fort Sill in Comanche County, Oklahoma, United States. This military airport is owned by United States Army. Established as Post Field in 1917, it was one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established after the United States entry into World War I in April 1917.
Henry Post Army Airfield was the first home of all Army Aviation Training after World War II before moving to Fort Rucker, Alabama in 1954. It is a very historic airfield. There is still a balloon hangar, transported by railcars from Moffett Field (Navy) in California and reassembled at Fort Sill in 1935. The balloon hangar is now the home of Fort Sill Museum Aviation Annex and is listed as a Historic Landmark. The old Harrison Aviation Clinic is next to the field, it also is listed as a Historic Landmark.
Henry Post AAF has one runway designated 17/35 with a concrete surface measuring 5,001 by 200 feet (1,524 x 61 m). There are no permanently assigned Army aviation units, and the facilities are operated as a military airport. The primary users of the airfield are USAF training aircraft from Sheppard AFB, Wichita Falls, TX and Dyess AFB, Abilene, TX.
The field was named in honor of pioneer aviator 2d Lieutenant Henry Post (1885–1914). Post was assigned to the 25th Infantry, and reported for aeronautical duty at the Signal Corps Aviation School, Rockwell Field, San Diego, California on 26 May 1913. On 18 December, Post set an altitude record for Air Service aviation, attaining a height of 10,500 feet. On 9 February 1914, while at Rockwell Field, he was killed in an airplane crash, after reaching an altitude of 12,140 feet.