Fighter Wing Gets 23 Acres for Aircraft

By Bob Caylor, The News-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Ind.

Apr. 22–The Indiana Air National Guard’s Fort Wayne-based 122nd Fighter Wing will get an additional 23 acres to accommodate a larger contingent of aircraft.

The board of the Fort Wayne-Allen County Airport Authority on Monday approved the lease of the land, which lies immediately south of the guard’s facilities at the airport. The additional space is necessary to accommodate an increase in the aircraft based there. A 2005 review of military bases around the country called for moving aircraft from Terre Haute and Springfield, Ill., to the Fort Wayne base.

Board member Jerry Henry Jr. questioned the lease price of $1 for the land, but board member Tim Haffner pointed out that the airport and the community derive a number of benefits from the fighter planes based here: landing fees, jobs, a stronger case for receiving federal appropriations and increased firefighting capability.

The 122nd now has 161 acres of land at its disposal under a long-term lease. Another 67 acres adjacent to the Guard’s operation also could be available for its use, Airport Authority Executive Director Tory Richardson told the board.

–Also Monday, the board approved a one-year lease of a maintenance hangar at Smith Field Airport to Ivy Tech. The community college, which will pay $1,245 a month for the hangar, will use it for an aircraft-maintenance education program. The lease could be renewed for as long as six years.

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