VC Bird International Airport

VC Bird International Airport
Characteristics
ICAO code	TAPA
IATA code	ANU
Coordinates	17 ° 8 '12 " N , 61 ° 47' 34" W Coordinates: 17 ° 8 '12 " N , 61 ° 47' 34" W.
Height above MSL	19 m (62 ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center	8 km northeast of Saint John's
Basic data
opening	1945
operator	Antigua and Barbuda Millennium Airport Corporation
Start-and runway
07/25	2744 m × 45 m asphalt

The VC Bird International Airport is the international airport of the island state Antigua and Barbuda . It is located near Coolidge about eight kilometers northeast of Saint John's .

history

Coolidge Air Force Base (Coolidge Airfield)

The airport was built as the Coolidge Air Force Base for the United States Army Air Forces during World War II .

Hamilton Coolidge, 94th Aero Squad, 1918

Because of the submarine war that was spreading across America, the Americans wanted a defense base to protect the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico . Antigua, which lies on the open Atlantic, seemed ideally suited for this. As part of the Destroyer for bases Agreement (Destroyer Deal) from September 2, 1940 agreed the British government in a US military base. The North Sound was chosen, which was ideal as a shallow, sheltered bay. On the Crabbs Peninsular was Naval Air Station built, and opposite the Falmouth Harbor , at Barnacle Point , an airport as air support. The airfield was named after Captain Hamilton Coolidge (1895-1918), a US aviator during the First World War.

The proposed land included mostly sugar cane fields, scrubland or wetlands, but also the village of Winthorpes . Its inhabitants were resettled, which was not without problems. The villagers were temporarily still isolated on the fenced-off base that was already in operation, and it was not until 1942 that they moved into New Winthorpes . The racist tendencies of the - without exception white - US soldiers, which went far beyond those of the British planters of the colonial era, were also a major problem.

In 1949 the base was opened again.

VC Bird International

In the post-war period, Coolidge Airfield was converted into a civil airfield and opened in 1959. It is named after Vere Cornwall Bird , the first Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda.

In 1972 a longer runway was created to operate an international airport.

A new terminal was built in the 2000s and a second is planned.

investment

The airport has a 2750 meter long runway that extends southwest-northeast directly over the open sea. The old tram (10/28), which runs eastward over Cape Barnacle Point , is now used as a stand.

The facility forms an independent statistical census district (42,000 airport ) and has 82 inhabitants. In other respects, too, it is the economic engine of the Northwest; Antigua's most important industrial parks are now around Coolidge.

**Neighboring locations and locations:**
Coolidge
Barnes Hill Carlisle
Osbourne Piggotts	Fitches Creek

business

Military activities on VC Bird, US Army South ( USARSO ) and Trinidad and Tobago Defense Force , 2002

Today the airport is the home airport of LIAT . With Condor, he will be flown to directly from Germany from Frankfurt. Further connections to Europe are to London Gatwick with British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways and to Milan Malpensa with Blue Panorama.

The airport is still used for military purposes today as part of the Regional Security System (RSS) of the Caribbean .

Web links

Commons : VC Bird International Airport - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

vcbia.com - website of the airport

proof

The airport data (English)

^ ^A ^b ^c ^d Susan Lowes: The US Bases in Antigua and the New Winthorpes Story. (No longer available online.) In: columbia.edu. Teachers College / Columbia University, archived from the original on March 11, 2014 ; accessed on March 14, 2014 (English, also on antiguahistory.net ). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2
↑ National Statistics Office: Census 2001 , Volume I Summary Social, Economic, Demographic, and Housing Characteristics , St. John's, July 2004, Table 8 Population by Enumeration District and Sex , 4. St. Georges . P. 30 f ( pdf , ab.gov.ag, there P. 42 - longer loading time).

[Lowes-1] A ^b ^c ^d Susan Lowes: The US Bases in Antigua and the New Winthorpes Story. (No longer available online.) In: columbia.edu. Teachers College / Columbia University, archived from the original on March 11, 2014 ; accessed on March 14, 2014 (English, also on antiguahistory.net ). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2

[Census-2] National Statistics Office: Census 2001 , Volume I Summary Social, Economic, Demographic, and Housing Characteristics , St. John's, July 2004, Table 8 Population by Enumeration District and Sex , 4. St. Georges . P. 30 f ( pdf , ab.gov.ag, there P. 42 - longer loading time).