Roswell International Air Center

IATA: ROW
ICAO: KROW
FAA LID: ROW

Summary

Airport type

Public company

Owner

City of Roswell

Serves

Roswell, New Mexico

Elevation AMSL

3,671 ft / 1,118.9 m

Coordinates

33°18′5.6″N 104°31′50″W / 33.301556°N 104.53056°WCoordinates: 33°18′5.6″N 104°31′50″W / 33.301556°N 104.53056°W

Website

Official Website

Map

ROW

ROW

Location of airport in New Mexico / United States

Runways

Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
3/21	13,001	3,963	Asphalt/Concrete
17/35	9,999	3,048	Asphalt

Statistics (2012)

Aircraft operations	76,286
Based aircraft	46

Source: Federal Aviation Administration

Aircraft operations	76,286
Based aircraft	46

Roswell International Air Center (RIAC) (IATA: ROW, ICAO: KROW, FAA LID: ROW) (Roswell Industrial Air Center) is an airport seven miles (11 km) south of Roswell, in Chaves County, New Mexico.

The airport was Roswell Army International Airfield during World War II, and Walker Air Force Base during the Cold War. When it closed it was the largest base of the United States Air Force Strategic Air Command. Roswell International Air Center was developed after the closure of Walker Air Force Base on June 30, 1967.

Walker AFB was named after General Kenneth Newton Walker, a native of Los Cerrillos, New Mexico. He was killed during a bombing mission over Rabaul, New Britain, Papua, New Guinea. on January 5, 1943. Though intercepted by enemy fighters, his group scored direct hits on nine Japanese ships. General Walker was last seen leaving the target area with one engine on fire and several fighters on his tail. For his actions, General Walker was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943.

The base was renamed in his honor on January 13, 1948. Walker Hall, at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, home of the College of Aerospace Doctrine Research and Education, is also named after the general.

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Wikipedia