Newport Municipal Airport (Newport, Arkansas)

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FAA Identifier: M19

The airport was opened in December 1942 as Newport Army Airfield and was used by the United States Army Air Forces as a training base during World War II which conducted training as part of the 70,000 Pilot Training Program. Four thousand Army pilots received basic training at Newport field from Dec. 25, 1942, to June 21, 1944. Some 425,000 hours were flown during the time, with only 20 fatalities. Two known auxiliary airfields, Erwin and Milltown, were used by the flight school at Newport AAF.

The United States Marine Corps began to utilize Newport beginning in May of 1944. The field was renamed Marine Corps Air Facility Newport and was home to Marine Aircraft Group 34 (MAG-34) and its SBD Dauntless aircraft and Marine Aircraft Group 62 (MAG-62) and its PBJ squadrons. One of Newport's shortcomings was a lack of local bombing and gunnery ranges which at the end of the war led to the Marine Corps deeding the airport to the City of Newport. None of the temporary structures built by the USAAF or USMC remain today. The few that survived the war were destroyed by a tornado in 1953