Qualla: Spartanburg Downtown Memorial Airport

Spartanburg Downtown Memorial Airport: Introduction

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Billy Hathorn, CC BY-SA 3.0. Charles Lindbergh landed at Spartanburg five months after he landed at Le Bourget. The Spirit of St. Louis had crossed the Atlantic in May 1927, making the 25-year-old airmail pilot the most famous human alive. By the time Spartanburg's new airfield held its grand opening later that year, having Lindbergh on hand to christen it had become the bar that aviation-mad American cities tried to clear. Spartanburg cleared it. South Carolina's first commercial airport opened with the Lone Eagle as its dedicating dignitary, and the photographs that survive still anchor the airport's identity nearly a century later.

Image: Billy Hathorn | CC BY-SA 3.0

Spartanburg Downtown Memorial Airport: The Hub City's Runways

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit (WT-en) Visitspartanburg at English Wikivoyage, Public domain. Passenger service began that same year. In April 1957, the schedule book showed Eastern operating six weekday departures from Spartanburg, Southern running four, and Delta running three. The arrangement ended in 1962 when the new Greenville-Spartanburg Jetport opened halfway betw...

Image: (WT-en) Visitspartanburg at English Wikivoyage | Public domain

Spartanburg Downtown Memorial Airport: From Three Runways to One

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit PegasusRacer28, CC BY-SA 3.0. The original layout had three intersecting runways - 4/22 at 5,203 feet, 17/35 at 4,226 feet, and 11/29 at 4,403 feet - all 150 feet wide, with a parallel taxiway system connecting them to the ramp. Today only one remains. Runway 4/22 was redesignated 5/23 to reflect magnetic var...

Image: PegasusRacer28 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Spartanburg Downtown Memorial Airport: The 1936 Terminal Still Stands

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit PegasusRacer28, CC BY-SA 3.0. The original 1936 terminal building survives, renovated and expanded in 2011, now housing a city-operated FBO. Two flight schools work the field: Pivotal Aviation and Aero II. Several hangars stand adjacent to the terminal, and the Spartanburg Composite Squadron of the Civil Air ...

Image: PegasusRacer28 | CC BY-SA 3.0