Columbus Municipal Airport
Columbus Municipal Airport has carried more names than almost any airfield in Indiana, and each one tells a different chapter of the same 2,000-acre property northeast of Columbus.
From Camp Atterbury's Airfield to a Combat Training Base
In June 1942, officials announced a new airfield would be built near Camp Atterbury, a military training camp roughly 12 miles north of Columbus. The site was first called the Columbus Air Support Command Base, then renamed Atterbury Army Air Field in 1943, honoring Brigadier General W.W. Atterbury, a Yale graduate who later became president of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
During the war, the base trained medium-range C-46 and C-47 troop carrier crews and glider pilots, along with B-25 Mitchell and B-26 Marauder bomber crews, before closing in 1946.
Reactivated as Bakalar Air Force Base
The base didn't stay closed for long. It reopened as Atterbury Air Force Base, and on November 13, 1954, it was formally renamed Bakalar Air Force Base, honoring First Lieutenant John Edmond Bakalar, a Columbus native killed in combat over Europe in 1944.
Through the Cold War, Bakalar served as an Air Force Reserve training base for troop carrier, tactical airlift, and special operations units, twice hosting the 434th Troop Carrier Wing, from 1949 to 1952 and again from 1953 to 1969. The base finally closed for good in January 1970.
From Military Base to Municipal Airport
The City of Columbus received the property in 1972 and initially named it Bakalar Municipal Airport, later known as Columbus Bakalar Airport. In 1981, the city dropped the Bakalar name entirely, settling on the airport's current identity: Columbus Municipal Airport.
Today the airport spans 2,000 acres with two concrete runways, functioning as a first-class general aviation facility. Some original World War II and Air Force buildings still stand and remain in use, and the site's military legacy lives on through the Atterbury-Bakalar Air Museum and the historical markers scattered across the grounds honoring the Tuskegee Airmen, WWII glider pilots, and the units that once called the base home.
More information on Columbus Municipal Airport; Click here https://web.facebook.com/columbusmunicipalairport/
For more airfields click here: https://www.crossroadspowersports.com/category/airfields/