Ottumwa Regional Airport
| Ottumwa Regional Airport | |||||||||||||||
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| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||
| Owner | City of Ottumwa | ||||||||||||||
| Serves | Ottumwa, Iowa | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 845 ft / 258 m | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 41°06′24″N 092°26′53″W / 41.10667°N 92.44806°W | ||||||||||||||
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 OTM
OTM
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Source: Federal Aviation Administration
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| Aircraft operations (2015) | 16,450 |
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| Based aircraft (2017) | 25 |
Ottumwa Regional Airport (IATA: OTM, ICAO: KOTM, FAA LID: OTM), formerly known as Ottumwa Industrial Airport, is a public airport located five miles (8 km) northwest of the central business district of Ottumwa, a city in Wapello County, Iowa, United States. The airport is owned by the City of Ottumwa and is operated by the Airport Advisory Board. It is listed as a general aviation airport in the National Plan of Integrated Airport System (NPIAS) and as an Enhanced Service Airport in the Iowa Aviation System Plan.
NAS Ottumwa (a.k.a. Ottumwa Naval Air Station) was constructed as a Naval Training Center shortly after America's entry into World War II. The Navy, faced with providing aviators and support personnel for a two-front war, began a massive campaign of rapid expansion. On April 15, 1942 the U.S. Navy Site Selection Board met with Ottumwa city officials and determined a 1,400 acre tract of land a few miles north of the city would be a suitable location for a primary flight training facility. Based on their recommendation, Navy Secretary Frank Knox approved the location on July 9, 1942, and on August 6, 1942 groundbreaking for the base was held. The first group of Naval Aviation Cadets arrived at the base on March 10, 1943 and flight training officially began four days later. Another first for NAS Ottumwa occurred on May 30, 1943 when the first group of U.S. Navy WAVES arrived. At its peak, NAS Ottumwa was averaging one thousand flight hours per day, and over 600,000 flight hours logged by the time the base was closed. Aircraft used in flight training were mostly the SNJ, the N3N Canary, and the N2S Kaydet. Around sixty buildings—hangars, control tower, barracks, classrooms and sundry others—were built for the Navy's use. The base avenues were named for U.S. Navy aircraft carriers that served early in World War II: Enterprise, Hornet, Langley, Lexington, Wasp and Yorktown. Streets were named for U.S. Navy Admirals Dewey, Farragut, Moffett, and Sims along with Marine Corps General Smedley Butler and American Revolutionary War naval hero John Paul Jones. One thing that set NAS Ottumwa apart from most other temporary Naval air training facilities around the nation was the quality of materiels used in construction. Wood-frame, clapboard-sided buildings were the norm at most bases, However concerned about the poor quality of wood available for base construction due to a nationwide shortage and the delays that might ensue at NAS Ottumwa, the base commander instead sought out other construction materiels. Ottumwa Brick and Tile, a factory located not far from the NAS Ottumwa site, provided high-quality, durable brick for the base construction. Because of that, several of the buildings, approximately fourteen in various states of disrepair, remain. A series of 19 auxiliary landing strips, mostly unpaved, were also established within a 25-mile radius of Ottumwa.
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