Simmons Army Airfield

Simmons Army Airfield
USGS aerial image - 4 March 1999
IATA: FBG ICAO: KFBG FAA LID: FBG
Summary
Airport type	Military
Owner	U.S. Army ATCA-ASO
Location	Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Elevation AMSL	244 ft / 74 m
Coordinates	35°07′55″N 078°56′11″W / 35.13194°N 78.93639°W / 35.13194; -78.93639
Website	www.bragg.army.mil/SAAF/
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 9/27 4,650 1,417 Asphalt
Source: Federal Aviation Administration

Simmons Army Airfield (IATA: FBG, ICAO: KFBG, FAA LID: FBG) is a military use airport located in Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is located on the southeast portion of Fort Bragg and supports the aviation needs of the XVIII Airborne Corps, the 82nd Airborne Division, Special Operations, U.S. Army Reserve and U.S. National Guard aviation units.

As part of Exercise Test Drop in August 1952, the 406th Engineer Brigade constructed an airfield in the vicinity of Smith Lake on land acquired by Fort Bragg. The field originally known as Smith Lake Airfield.

In June 1952 the 6th Transportation Company (Helicopter) arrived with 21 Sikorsky H-19C Chickasaw and two Bell H-13 Sioux helicopters; it deployed to Korea in December 1952 as the first combat helicopter company.

On May 1953 Fort Bragg engineers completed final plans for an expanded field and started construction the next summer. In August 1954, the runway was repaved, aprons improved and the floor was laid for field's first hangar.

On June 21, 1955, the airfield was renamed in honor of Warrant Officer Herbert W. Simmons, Jr., a pilot killed on November 3, 1953, when two H-29B helicopters collided near the field.

During the mid-1950s, the Helio U-10 Courier aircraft was tested at Simmons. Most of the Army's U-10s were stationed at Fort Bragg and in the Panama Canal Zone. The first U-10 from Fort Bragg is now in the Army Aviation Museum at Fort Rucker in Alabama.