Drake Field Airport

In Washington County, Arkansas, three miles south of Fayetteville, there is a public airfield called Drake Field. Formerly known as Fayetteville Municipal Airport, it is also called Fayetteville Executive Airport. The City of Fayetteville is the owner and operator of Drake Field. Dr. Noah Drake assisted in the establishment of Drake Field in 1929. The property needed to build the city's airport was purchased for $3,500 by the geology professor at the University of Arkansas. In order to build the airport at its current location, the people of Fayetteville voted a $20,000 bond in 1936 to purchase a half-mile-square area of property one mile south of the original location. In honor of Dr. Drake, the airfield was formally renamed Drake Field on April 14, 1947.

Drake Field provided commercial aviation service to the people of Northwest Arkansas for fifty years. Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport built in 1999 to meet the demands of the state's rapidly expanding northwest region by providing a more spacious and contemporary facilities for commercial aircraft. Drake Field now serves the general aviation community in Fayetteville, Northwest Arkansas, as well as the rest of the globe. Drake Field, a first-rate airport for business and pleasure, has grown into a stunning and exceptional airfield that respects the aviation heritage of its past while keeping a sharp eye on the future. Community airport is still expanding and doing well, adding a lot of new services and amenities. Drake Field, located near Fayetteville, has successfully assumed the position of being Northwest Arkansas's top general aviation airfield.

Situated at 1,251 feet above sea level, the airport spans 631 acres. There is only one runway, and there used to be a historic fire station there. Located near the airport is the Arkansas Air & Military Museum, which houses a portion of its collection in a 1940s hangar that is registered as historic and has a number of aircraft on exhibit outside. At the airport, 24,907 aircraft operated on average per day in the year ending December 31, 2020: 86% were general aviation, 8% were air taxis, 6% were military, and less than 1% were airlines. The airport once housed 96 aircraft, including 2 helicopters, 7 multi-engine, 14 jets, and 73 single-engine aircraft.