Departure
95%
vs 95% ▼ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Topeka Regional Airport, seven miles south of downtown Topeka, Kansas, is a joint civil-military field built on the site of the former Forbes Air Force Base. It offers a pair of long, lit concrete runways with an ILS approach, making it an interesting stop for simulator pilots exploring Kansas General Aviation and its Air National Guard heritage.
Topeka Regional Airport, formerly Forbes Field, is a joint civil-military public airport owned by the Metropolitan Topeka Airport Authority. It sits on the grounds of the old Topeka Army Air Field and later Forbes Air Force Base, and today shares its runways with the Kansas Air National Guard's 190th Air Refueling Wing and Kansas Army National Guard aviation units. For a simulator pilot, the field offers long, well-equipped runways, an ILS approach, and a mix of general aviation, charter and military traffic against a backdrop of Cold War-era airfield history.
The airport lies in Shawnee County, Kansas, about seven miles south of downtown Topeka, the state capital. It is served by an air traffic control tower and ground control, reflecting its status as a joint-use field handling military tanker operations alongside general aviation and charter traffic.
The airport has two physical runways. Runway 13/31 is 12,784 feet long with a hard surface and runway lighting, and is equipped with an ILS on the 31 approach. Runway 03/21 is 6,994 feet long, also hard-surfaced and lit. Field elevation is 1,053 feet.
Air traffic control tower and CTAF operate on 120.8 MHz, with ATIS available on 128.25 MHz and Ground on 121.7 MHz. UNICOM is on 122.95 MHz, and Wichita Radio can be reached on 122.45 MHz. Runway 31 is equipped with an ILS for instrument approaches.
The airfield originated as Topeka Army Air Field, later becoming Forbes Air Force Base, a Strategic Air Command installation that passed through Second Air Force, Continental Air Forces, Air Materiel Command, Strategic Air Command and Tactical Air Command control between 1942 and 1973. Forbes AFB closed in 1973, but a Kansas Air National Guard presence remained as Forbes Field Air National Guard Base, home today to the 190th Air Refueling Wing flying the Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker. Most of the former base was transferred to the city of Topeka and Shawnee County in 1976, at which point airline flights moved from Philip Billard Municipal Airport to the newly established Forbes Field, with the original Frontier Airlines operating the first jet service, a Boeing 737-200, on 1 June 1976. The Combat Air Museum was established on the airfield shortly afterward. A new $5 million passenger terminal was completed in 1985. Scheduled airline service at Topeka dates back to the early 1930s with United States Airways, followed in the 1940s and 1950s by TWA, Braniff, Continental and Ozark, and later by Central Airlines and the original Frontier Airlines. The Metropolitan Topeka Airport Authority renamed the facility Topeka Regional Airport and Business Center in 2012, while retaining Forbes Field as the airfield's name.
Topeka Regional Airport remains a joint civil-military field. The Kansas Air National Guard's 190th Air Refueling Wing operates KC-135R tankers from the airport, and the Kansas Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 108th Aviation Regiment is also based there. The field continues to support general aviation, charter flights, including University of Kansas athletics charters, and military traffic, though it has had no scheduled airline service since 2014.
