Business View Magazine | December 2018

204 205 A lexandria International Airport (AEX) is a public use airport located five miles west of the central business district of Alexandria, in Rapides Parish, Louisiana. The Airport traces its beginnings back to 1939, when it served as an emergen- cy airstrip for Esler Regional Airport, which was about 10 miles northeast of what would become AEX. However, on the eve of World War II, the airstrip was taken over by the De- partment of Defense and named Alexandria Army Air Base, used for training pilots and aircrews of fighter and bomber airplanes of the Army Air Force. After World War II ended, the base was placed on standby status and, eventually, turned over to the city of Alexan- dria for use as a municipal airport. With the outbreak of hostilities in Korea, however, the base was reactivated as Alex- andria Air Force Base in 1950. On June 23, 1955, Alexandria Army Air Base was re- named England Air Force Base (EAF) in hon- A HISTORICMILITARYAIR- BASE TRANSFORMED Alexandria International Airport & England Airpark