Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields:
Eastern Kentucky
© 2003, © 2007 by Paul Freeman. Revised 11/12/07.
Creech AAF (revised 7/25/04) - Thorn Hill Airfield - Whitesburg Municipal Airport (revised 11/12/07)
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Whitesburg Municipal Airport, Whitesburg, KY
37.23 North / 82.87 West (Northeast of Knoxville, TN)
The Whitesburg Airport, as depicted on the March 1966 Winston-Salem Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
Photo of the airfield while open has not been located.
According to Mark Collins, this small general aviation airport also may have been known as Isom Airport.
Whitesburg Airport was evidently established at some point between 1964-66,
as it was not yet depicted on the April 1964 Winston-Salem Sectional Chart (according to Chris Kennedy).
The earliest depiction which has been located of the Whitesburg Airport
was on the March 1966 Winston-Salem Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
It depicted Whitesburg as having a single 2,500' paved north/south runway,
along with a VOR navigational beacon.
The last aeronautical chart depiction which has been located of the Whitesburg Airport
was on the August 1976 Cincinnati Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
It depicted Whitesburg as having a single 2,500' paved north/south runway.
The adjacent Whitesburg VOR navigation beacon had been upgraded
at some point between 1966-66 to a VORTAC (combination VOR & TACAN beacon).
The 1992 USGS topo map depicted “Whitesburg Municipal Airport” as having a single paved runway
with a paved ramp & a single small building on the west side of the field.
As seen in the 1995 USGS aerial photo, the runway at the former Whitesburg Airport
was still marked as an active runway (without any closed-runway symbols).
The former building on the ramp on the west side of the field appeared to have been removed.
What appears to have been the building housing the former Whitesburg VORTAC navigational beacon
remained in the clearing on the east side of the strip.
According to a report for the Letcher County Public Libraries,
the Whitesburg Airport was closed at some point between 1960-2000.
Neither the Whitesburg Airport nor the Whitesburg VORTAC
were depicted at all on the December 2003 Cincinnati Sectional Chart (according to Chris Kennedy).
Mark Collins reported in 2005, “The landing strip is still there but is in rough shape.
It is only accessible with all-terrain vehicles or 4-wheel drive trucks.”
An October 2006 photo by Mark Collins of the abandoned runway at the site of the Whitesburg Airport.
An October 2006 photo by Mark Collins of the building which remains standing at the site of the Whitesburg Airport.
A 2007 photo by Brian Thompson looking northwest from a Cessna 180 at the Whitesburg Airport.
Brian reported, “The picture was shot at 1,500' AGL above the old airstrip & shows the fall foliage on this beautiful Kentucky afternoon.”
The site of the Whitesburg Airport is located at the southern terminus of Route 2547.
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Thorn Hill Airfield, Kenton, KY
38.86 North / 84.45 West (South of Cincinnati, OH)
The 1983 USGS topo map depicted the single former runway (in the center) but did not label it at all.
Photo of the airfield while open has not been located.
According to drag racing historian Bret Kepner, this former airfield had a colorful history.
Through information from locals and the track's employees during a visit around 1985,
he learned that "the airfield was built by alcohol bootleggers during Prohibition.
The airstrip was created deep in the woods where it was virtually undetectable from the ground.
The moonshine, brewed in the nearby Kentucky hills,
was smuggled on night flights to nearby Cincinnati, OH.
Near the end of Prohibition, the operations at the Kenton airstrip were sacked by Treasury agents,
resulting in a large number of arrests.
The Feds eventually bequeathed the seized land to the town of Kenton,
whose mayor apparently assisted in the bust.
The airstrip sat, unused, until the hot rodding craze of the 1950's
resulted in the local arrest of a young street racer...the mayor's son!
The mayor agreed to allow the kid to turn the abandoned airfield into a drag strip
if it would keep his son's racing activities off the street.
Thus was born Thorn Hill Drag Strip!"
No airfield was depicted at the location on the 1969 USGS topo map.
It was not listed among active civil airfields in either the 1962 or 1982 AOPA Airport Directories.
The 1983 USGS topo map depicted the single former runway but did not label it at all.
The former runway was labeled "drag strip" on the 1984 USGS topo map.
As seen in the 1993 USGS aerial photo, the former airfield consists of a single 3,100' runway.
The property was also used until 2001 for flying radio controlled model aircraft,
until that use was also precluded by zoning.
It was labeled "drag strip" on the 2002 Sectional Aeronautical Chart.
According to Jim Decker, the current property owner said zoning is causing problems with the drag strip,
and precludes him from renting tie downs for aircraft.
The 7/9/01 issue of the Cincinnati Enquirer reported
that neighbors had been making complaints about the noise from drag racing at Thorn Hill.
The Thorn Hill Airfield is located along the west bank of the Licking River,
a half mile southeast of the town of Kenton.
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Creech Army Airfield, Arkansas City, KY
38.08 North / 84.32 West (East of Lexington, KY)
Creech AAF, as depicted in the 1960 Jeppesen Airway Manual (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
This former military airfield is located on the grounds of the Lexington Blue Grass Army Depot.
According to an Army Corps of Engineers report,
the depot, originally named the Lexington Signal Depot,
was built early in WW2 to store, repair & issue the Signal Corps' communications & electronic equipment.
The airfield was built to support the Depot activities.
The date of construction of the airfield has not been determined.
It was evidently built at some point between 1950-60,
as the airfield did not appear in a 1950 aerial photo of the depot.
The earliest depiction of Creech Army Airfield which has been located
was in the 1960 Jeppesen Airway Manual (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
It depicted the field as having a single 2,000' Runway 11/29,
with a taxiway leading to the southwest to a ramp with an operations building & several other buildings.
The 1961 Cincinnati Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy)
described Creech AAF as having a single 3,000' pierced steel planking runway.
The airfield was described in the same manner
on the 1968 Cincinnati Sectional Chart (according to Chris Kennedy).
Creech AAF, as depicted on the 1970 Cincinnati Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
A 1974 Facility Layout Plan of the Lexington Blue Grass Army Depot,
depicting the existing runway & the (apparently planned but never built) crosswind runway.
The above 1974 layout plan also depicted Creech's east/west runway,
as well as a crosswind runway which was apparently planned but never built.
William recalled that in 1984 "I was stationed there and it had a nice set of runway lights & bumpy dirt runway."
He recalled that the runway would have been usable for small single engine fixed wing aircraft.
"But what I remember most was a large 75' high x 100' wide x 200' long hangar from at least the mid 1940's
that seems to be on the map but is missing from the photo?"
Bill North reported in 2003 that the "odd shaped buildings or Quonset huts…
that is where the first radar units were tested after their development.
Other than the metal outer skin, there is no metal in the building & the interior is all wood."
The Depot was placed on the Base Realignment & Closure list in 1991,
and was scheduled to be transferred to the Kentucky National Guard in 1994.
According to JSH, "The depot's main DOD contractor, Raytheon,
moved most of its operations to the Blue Grass Army Depot in Richmond
after the Lexington Blue Grass Army Depot's closing."
As seen in the 1993 USGS aerial photo,
the airfield consisted of a single 3,000' paved runway (which was crossed along its southeastern end by a road),
and a taxiway connecting the runway to a ramp with two small hangars.
East of the ramp was a helipad which was built at a later date than the runway,
as it did not appear in the above 1974 plan,
and it appeared to have been used up to a later date than the runway.
The date of closure of the Creech airfield is unknown,
but it was depicted as an abandoned airfield on the 1998 World Aeronautical Chart.
Bill North reported in 2003 of the buildings used for the first radar testing,
"There has been some talk as to placing them under some sort of historical preservation
but I am not sure the status of that effort."
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