
Aviation Archaeology: The unusual stories behind 2,317 abandoned and little known Airfields
By Pierre Kosmidis
Photos © by Paul Freeman, used by permission
October 2018 update: Thanks to historical material contributed by Bret Kepner, Bill Grasha, Kevin Walsh, Mike Denja, Brian Rehwinkel, and hundreds of other aviation history buffs, entries for an additional 105 airfields have been added to the “Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields” website in the past year.
This brings the site’s coverage to a total of 2,317 airfields, across all 50 states. It includes new additions describing former airfields such as Spanaway Airport WA, Cole Airport TX, Gulf Coast Airport TX, Original Carmi Municipal Airport IL, Ashtabula-Conneaut Airport NJ, Vineland Airport NJ, Utica Airport MI, Dahio Trotwood Airport OH, and updates to many others.
Paul Freeman describes his website as “a labor of love”. Love for aviation and history, love for the abandoned airfields, which led him to document no less than 2,317 of them, spanning all across the 50 U.S. States and ranging from pre-WW2 aerodromes, to more recent ones, which are sadly being lost to redevelopment or simply overpopulation and neglect.
“As a pilot, a particular interest of mine has always been the abandoned airfields that dot the landscape of much of this country.
For their potential safety value to a pilot in an emergency and also for their sometimes fascinating history, this particular topic has always held my curiosity.
When I’m a passenger on commercial flights, I’ve always found myself looking out the window, constantly looking for airfields below. When I fly as a pilot myself, I’ve always tried to land at as many airports as possible, to learn a little about each one.”
www.ww2wrecks.com has reached out to Paul Freeman, in order to feature his astonishing work on long forgotten airfields that were once busy aviation hubs.





