Fairfax Airport (later Fairfax Municipal Airport; Fairfax Field in World War II; IATA KCK) was the historic airfield in the Fairfax Industrial District of Kansas City, Kansas, on Missouri River bottomland across the river from Kansas City’s Municipal Airport (today Wheeler Downtown Airport).1 First used for aviation in 1921, it served as a flying school, a municipal and airline field, the runway for the North American Aviation B-25 plant, and a TWA overhaul site until the Great Flood of 1951.123 Civil operations ended in 1985 when General Motors took the airport property for the new Fairfax II assembly plant; that is a different closure than the end of Air Force tenancy in the late 1940s–1950s.415

This is not Municipal/Wheeler Field on the Missouri side, and it is not Kansas City International. Confusion among the three is common in local retellings.

Names and site

NamePeriodNote
Fairfax Flying Field / American Legion air meet ground1921–c. 1925First documented aviation use is a 1921 American Legion air meet; weekly flying followed a November 1924 show.12
Sweeney Airport1925–1928Emory J. Sweeney’s flying school; two asphalt runways by the time North American inspected the adjoining alfalfa field.14
Fairfax Airport1928–WWII / postwar civilWoods Brothers (also spelled Wood Brothers) took the field in 1928 and renamed it; dedicated August 3–4, 1929.12
Fairfax FieldWWII and USAF tenancyArmy Air Forces / Air Force lease of the municipal airport beside Air Force Plant NC.5
Fairfax Municipal AirportIn use by the 1951 flood through 1985City of Kansas City, Kansas, after purchase in 1941 and after the Air Force dropped its lease in 1949.14

The site sits on the Goose Island bend of the Missouri River in Wyandotte County, mostly in Kansas (a 1940 USGS map drew a sliver of the field across a straight state-line into Missouri).5 It is north of downtown KCK and directly across the river from Municipal/Wheeler.

Origins (1921–1929)

The B-25 History Project traces the district name to Guy Stanley’s 1921–22 land purchase, “Fairfax” after Fairfax, Virginia, and the Fairfax Drainage District (established September 14, 1922).2 Ben F. Gregory and Bernard Knapp claimed the first airplane landing on the future airport acreage in November 1924; an airshow that month was followed by public rides at “Fairfax Flying Field.”2

Emory J. Sweeney leased about 115 acres in January 1926 for Sweeney Airport and a flying school.2 In 1928 the Woods Brothers development company leased the field and operated it as an open airport for Kansas City, Kansas; a multi-day celebration in August 1929, with an estimated 70,000 people on August 3, ended in a dedication on August 4, 1929.2 Early tenants and users included Universal Aviation, aircraft builders Rearwin and American Eagle, and, by the early 1930s, airline names including American and Braniff.12

Kansas City, Kansas, bought the airport in February 1941 so the Army Air Corps would have free use of the field to flight-test bombers from the adjoining plant. Richard Macias’s Kansas History article records the city purchase that month without a dollar figure. The B-25 History Project says voters passed bonds and the city paid $750,000; Wikipedia’s $600,000 figure is marked citation-needed there and is not used here.421

Charles Lindbergh — this field, and the one across the river

Charles Lindbergh’s famous Kansas City appearance is the August 17, 1927 dedication of Municipal Airport (Wheeler) on the Missouri side, in the Spirit of St. Louis.3 Sweeney Airport offered him a dry alternate that day because Municipal’s turf was soggy; he declined. A squadron of seven U.S. Army planes did divert to Sweeney. The B-25 History Project quotes Lindbergh calling the Municipal landing “the poorest landing arrangement I have encountered anywhere.”2

A separate visit is recorded at Fairfax itself: Wikipedia, citing the Atlanta Constitution of August 2, 1928, states that Lindbergh and Phil Love landed at Fairfax that day in Love’s Ryan monoplane, inbound from Wichita.1 The underlying newspaper page was not opened for this entry.

World War II — Fairfax Field and the B-25 plant

The wartime plant and modification center have their own page: north-american-aviation-fairfax-bomber-plant. What belongs to the airport:

  • Survey work for Air Force Plant NC began in December 1940; groundbreaking was March 8, 1941, on a 75-acre alfalfa field adjoining the airport.45
  • The USAAF leased the municipal field; WPA and Army work expanded it. Macias records that when the wartime improvements were finished the field had four concrete runways, each 150 feet wide, with a mean length of 5,725 feet.4 (A later Wikipedia figure of 7,301 feet for runway 17/35 at closure is unsourced there and is not used here.)
  • First B-25D accepted February 1942; a dual-hangar modification center went up May–October 1942 on the south/southeast edge of the field.52
  • Ferrying, WASP detachments, and a Military Air Transport freight terminal (moved to Fairfax March 2, 1945) used the runways. President Harry S. Truman landed here June 27, 1945, on his first trip back to the area after inauguration.52

A naval reserve air base had already been on the field from 1935; Navy elimination training moved to Olathe in 1942.5

Production totals, peak employment, and the Rosie-the-Riveter workforce belong on the plant page and on kc-in-wwii.

TWA overhaul

After the war, Transcontinental & Western Air (later TWA) took the former modification-center hangar as an overhaul and servicing base (negotiations from September 1945; occupancy by late 1945 in B-25 History Project dating).21 That Fairfax shop is the Kansas-side chapter of twa-at-kci-and-kc-airline-history and twa-overhaul-base — TWA flying operations stayed at Municipal/Wheeler.

The 1951 flood

The Great Flood of July 1951 hit Fairfax. The B-25 History Project dates airport damage to July 13, 1951.2 Kansas City Public Library aviation history records that the flood destroyed many Fairfax Airport facilities and compromised Municipal across the river, after which the city began planning a new field twenty miles north — the line that became Kansas City International.3 The Wiki’s 1951-flood page, citing Wikipedia’s flood article, states that the flood destroyed TWA’s overhaul base at Fairfax Airport, which is why KCI exists in Platte County.6 Aircraft were flown out ahead of the water (the district page records evacuations to Grandview).7

The civil airport did not close in 1951. It continued as Fairfax Municipal.

Military drawdown vs. civil closure (the date conflict)

Sources use “closed” for more than one ending:

  1. Air Force lease ended October 1949; Kansas City, Kansas, regained control of the airport. Reserve units moved to Olathe on May 22, 1950.41
  2. Air Defense Command units at Fairfax moved to Grandview Air Force Base in 1954. Wikipedia’s Fairfax Field article also records Strategic Air Command radar-bomb-scoring activity associated with Kansas City as late as 1957 — military use of the area, not a documented civil-airport shutdown.5 A secondary airfield register that lists Fairfax Field as closed in 1957 is treating that military timeline; it is not the municipal airport’s last year.
  3. Civil airport closed in 1985 for GM’s new plant. Macias: in 1985 GM “announced its plans to build a new auto assembly plant on the Fairfax Airport property and closed the former airport.”4 Wikipedia, the B-25 History Project, and Northeast News agree on last-flight dating: ceremonial B-25 Fairfax Ghost on the afternoon of March 31, 1985; final takeoff a Cessna 402 flown by Hugh A. “Holly” Hollinger at 11:59:59 p.m. that night; the airport formally closed April 1, 1985, and the land was added to the industrial district.128

This page treats 1985 as the civil-airport closure year and 1949–1954/57 as the end of successive military tenancies. They are not the same event.

Redevelopment

GM had leased the bomber building in 1945 (contract finalized November 5, 1945 in B-25 History Project dating), built cars there (first automobile June 1946), built F-84F fighters alongside cars in the early 1950s, and purchased the plant in 1960.42 The new Fairfax II plant was built on the former airport / runway footprint; automobile production in the original bomber building ceased in May 1987, and that building was razed (Macias: within two years; Pendergast Years: razed January 19, 1989).49 Fairfax II remains GM Fairfax Assembly. Runway remnants have remained visible around the plant in aerial views.1

Significance

Fairfax was Kansas City, Kansas’s airport — the KCK counterpart to Municipal/Wheeler — and the runway that made the B-25 plant work. Its 1951 flooding is a hinge in metro aviation: TWA’s overhaul base left the river bottoms, and Kansas City, Missouri, built what became KCI to keep that work in the region.3 Closing the field in 1985 for GM completed a sixty-year arc from flying school to bomber runway to auto plant, which is why Fairfax today reads as an industrial district rather than an airfield.

Neighborhood context

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Wikipedia — “Fairfax Municipal Airport.” — asserts: established 1921, in use through 1985; IATA KCK; coordinates 39°08′53″N 94°35′59″W; Sweeney 1925; Woods/Wood Brothers rename 1928; Lindbergh and Phil Love landing August 2, 1928 (citing Atlanta Constitution); city purchase February 1941; TWA in the modification center until the 1951 flood; USAF lease ended October 1949; last flight March 31, 1985; land added to the industrial area April 1, 1985; GM Fairfax Assembly Plant completed on the runways; original GM/bomber building ceased auto production May 1987 and was razed 1989. The $600,000 purchase price and 7,301-foot runway length are citation-needed on that page and are not used here. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14

  2. B-25 History Project — “Fairfax Airport.” — asserts: Goose Island / 1909 Supreme Court; Guy Stanley / drainage district 1922; November 1924 flying; Sweeney 1926; Lindbergh declined Sweeney in August 1927 while Army planes diverted there; Woods Brothers lease announced September 3, 1928; 70,000 on August 3, 1929 and dedication August 4, 1929; city purchase $750,000 after 1941 bonds; Plant NC announcement December 7, 1940 and groundbreaking March 8, 1941; modification center 1942; Truman landing June 27, 1945; TWA modification-center negotiations 1945; flood damage July 13, 1951; official close April 1, 1985; Fairfax Ghost wreath flight March 31, 1985; Hollinger Cessna 402 at 11:59:59 p.m. March 31, 1985. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16

  3. Kansas City Public Library — “Terminal Velocity: Kansas City’s Airport History,” 2019-03-20 — asserts: Lindbergh dedicated Municipal (Wheeler) August 17, 1927 before about 25,000; 1951 flood destroyed many Fairfax Airport facilities and compromised Municipal, after which Kansas City planned a new field 20 miles north that became Mid-Continent / KCI. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  4. Richard Macias — “‘We All Had a Cause’: Kansas City’s Bomber Plant, 1941–1945,” Kansas History 28 (Winter 2005–2006): 244–261 — asserts: 75-acre alfalfa field adjoining a privately owned airport with two asphalt runways; Kindelberger inspection; February 1941 city purchase of Fairfax Airport; four concrete runways 150 feet wide, mean length 5,725 feet, after wartime improvement; USAF lease terminated October 1949; first automobile June 1946; GM purchase 1960; 1985 announcement of a new auto plant on the airport property and closure of the former airport; auto production in the bomber building ceased May 1987. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10

  5. Wikipedia — “Fairfax Field.” — asserts: wartime USAAF/USAF facility north of Kansas City, Kansas; 1921 air meet / 1925 Sweeney / 1928 Fairfax; naval reserve 1935; city purchase February 1941; Plant NC and modification center; MAT terminal March 2, 1945; Truman ferrying note November 9, 1944; lease ended October 1949; ADC units to Grandview 1954; radar-bomb-scoring activity as late as 1957; 1951 flood evacuation of the 4610th; 1940 USGS state-line sliver. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  6. The 1951 Flood(KS.City Wiki) and its cited Wikipedia “Great Flood of 1951” — asserts: the flood destroyed TWA’s overhaul base at Fairfax Airport in Kansas City, Kansas, prompting the move that produced KCI. Wikipedia ↩

  7. The Fairfax Industrial District (KS.City Wiki) and its cited Kansas City Public Library 1951-flood coverage — asserts: inundation of the TWA overhaul base and portions of Fairfax Airport; aircraft evacuated to Grandview. ↩

  8. Northeast News — “Aviation history took flight at Fairfax,” 2017-04-26 — asserts: aviation use from a 1921 American Legion flying show; Fairfax Airport name 1928; 1940 bomber-plant choice of an alfalfa field on the northwest corner of the airfield; GM’s 1985 plan for a larger plant on the airport site; Hollinger last flight March 31 at 11:59:59 p.m., wheels up a few seconds past midnight April 1, 1985. ↩

  9. The Pendergast Years — Jason Roe, “North American Aviation Plant.” — asserts: December 7, 1940 announcement; TWA acquired the B-25 modification center as an overhaul base until it was destroyed in the 1951 flood; GM leased the B-25 plant in 1945 and produced cars there until May 8, 1987; historic bomber plant razed January 19, 1989 for the $1 billion Fairfax Assembly Plant. ↩

See also

Categories
  • Concept
  • Building
  • Industry
  • Wwii
  • Postwar
  • Kck

On the record — ks.city/wiki/buildings/fairfax-airport · last revised 2026-09-08