Business View Magazine | March 2020

182 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE MARCH 2020 L oomis Field at Deer Park Municipal Airport is city-owned, general aviation airport located three nautical miles northeast of the central business district of Deer Park, in Spokane County, Washington. It was originally constructed in 1944 as part of the World War II effort, with three 6,100-foot runways that were built to handle the largest planes then in existence, such as the B-29 Superfortress, and others contemplated in the foreseeable future. However, the Airport wasn’t used extensively during the war, which ended a year later, nor did it witness much aviation activity during the immediate years afterward. In fact, the facility was mostly used as a local drag strip. In 1959, in the midst of the Cold War, the U.S. government selected the Deer Park Airport as an installation site for one of its Atlas ICBMs (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles). The missile was installed, but later decommissioned in 1965, when the generation of Atlas missiles was replaced by the Titan II and the Minuteman. Aviation uses at the Airport gradually grew over the following decades, and the city improved its infrastructure, including the reconstruction of two of its runways, with state and federal grant monies. Today, the Airport covers an area of 1650 acres, and has two asphalt runways: 16/34 is 6,100 by 75 feet and 4/22 is 3,200 AT A GLANCE DEER PARK MUNICIPAL AIRPORT WHAT: A public-use, general aviation airport WHERE: Deer Park, in Spokane County, Washington WEBSITE: www.cityofdeerparkwa.com IMPROVEMENTS MADE