Departure
97%
vs 95% ▲ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Malden Regional Airport (KMAW) is a city-owned, public-use general aviation field three nautical miles north of Malden, Missouri, built on the site of a former World War Two US Army Air Forces and later USAF pilot training base. It offers two lit hard-surface runways of around 5,000 feet, uncontrolled operations on a common CTAF/UNICOM frequency, and a small museum recalling its military past.
Malden Regional Airport lies just north of the town of Malden in southeast Missouri and is owned and operated by the City of Malden. It began life as a wartime military flight training field and today functions as a general aviation airport supporting local business, medical, agricultural, military and corporate flying. For a simulator pilot the field is notable both for its unusually long runways for a small rural airport and for its layered history as an Army Air Forces basic flying school and later a Cold War-era Air Force pilot training base.
KMAW is a public-use airport located about three nautical miles north of the central business district of Malden, in Dunklin County, Missouri. There is no control tower on the field, so it operates as an uncontrolled aerodrome with traffic self-announcing on the common frequency.
The airport has two paved, lit runways. Runway 18/36 is 5,010 feet long with a hard surface, and runway 14/32 is 4,992 feet long, also hard-surfaced and lit. Field elevation is 292 feet above mean sea level. There is no ILS at the airport.
Traffic works the common CTAF/UNICOM frequency of 122.8 MHz. An AWOS-3 automated weather observation is broadcast on 119.825 MHz. Memphis Center can be reached on 133.65 MHz, and a remote radio outlet for St Louis is listed on 111.2 MHz. The airport's own information notes that both runways are served by LPV approaches, giving satellite-based instrument approach guidance despite the absence of a ground-based ILS.
The airfield was acquired by the government in 1941, with construction proceeding through 1942, and it was activated as Malden Army Airfield on 6 January 1943 under the United States Army Air Forces. Assigned to Eastern Flying Training Command, it served as a basic (level one) flight training airfield operated by the 319th Aviation Group (Basic), whose four squadrons flew Fairchild PT-19s as primary trainers, supplemented by PT-17 Stearmans and a small number of P-40 Warhawks. Five local auxiliary airfields supported emergency and overflow landings. Flying training continued until the field was transferred to I Troop Carrier Command on 15 June 1944 to prepare Troop Carrier Groups for the Pacific theatre and the planned invasion of Japan, though this training never began before the war ended. The base was inactivated on 30 September 1945, passed to the Army Corps of Engineers in February 1946, and was conveyed to local government as a civil airport in 1948 via the War Assets Administration. The field was reactivated as Malden Air Base on 11 July 1951 under USAF Air Training Command, with contract basic flight training delivered by Anderson Air Activities of Milwaukee under the 3305th Pilot Training Group (Contract Flying) to help meet Cold War pilot demand. As training requirements eased, Air Training Command sought closure in early 1959, approved by Headquarters USAF in December that year; the last primary training class graduated on 29 June 1960, the contract was terminated the following day, and the 3305th Pilot Training Group was discontinued on 26 July 1960 with the move to consolidated USAF pilot training.
Today the airport is a public-use general aviation field with two 5,000-foot runways served by LPV instrument approaches, supporting general aviation, business, medical, agricultural, military and corporate flying, and it adjoins the Malden Industrial Park. No landing or tie-down fees are charged. The terminal building includes a pilots' lounge with a seating area, restrooms and vending machines, and also houses a military museum maintained by the Malden Army Airfield Preservation Steering Committee, reflecting the field's wartime origins.
