Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields:

Maryland, Columbia area

© 2002, © 2012 by Paul Freeman. Revised 1/31/12.

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Columbia Airfield (revised 5/24/09) - (Original) Fort Meade Aux AAF (revised 12/4/11)

Haysfield Airport (revised 12/4/11) - Turf Valley Airfield (revised 1/31/12)

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Haysfield Airport (MD24), Clarksville, MD

39.24 North / 76.94 West (Southwest of Baltimore, MD)

Haysfield was depicted as “Landing Strip” on the 1971 USGS topo map.

 

Sherry Peruzzi reported, “From the 1940s until the mid 1960s,

Alfred Bassler operated a grass strip located on the family farm on the current site of Howard County General Hospital,

at what is now the intersection of Cedar Lane & Little Patuxent Parkway.

When Columbia was planned, Al & his family were one of the last landowners to sell;

in order to get the land to build the hospital, he was given a sum of money plus 500 acres off Shepard Lane in Clarksville.

He built a new grass strip there, which is has been operating since the late 1960s as Haysfield Airport (MD24).”



According to a 7/20/03 article in the Baltimore Sun,

Haysfield was “opened in 1968 by Alfred Bassler.”



The earliest depiction of Haysfield which has been located was on the 1971 USGS topo map.

It depicted a single unpaved northwest/southeast runway, with a few small buildings along the west side,

labeled simply as “Landing Strip”.



According to its FAA Airport/Facility Directory data, Haysfield was established in September 1974.



The 1979 USGS topo map depicted a single unpaved northwest/southeast runway,

with a few small buildings along the west side, but the field was not labeled.



Sherry Peruzzi reported, “I learned to fly at Haysfield in 1983, and was friends with the Basslers for some years.”



The earliest aeronautical chart depiction which has been located of Haysfield

was on a 1993 Washington Sectional Chart.

It depicted Haysfield as a private field with an unpaved runway.



The 4/7/93 USGS aerial photo depicted dozens of single-engine aircraft parked at Haysfield,

both along the south side of the runway & along an offshoot on the northwest side.



A 2002 photo by Paul Freeman showing several light single-engine aircraft parked at Haysfield.



A 2002 photo by Paul Freeman showing a Citabria taking off at Haysfield.



A circa 2006-2010 aerial view looking west at 15 light single-engine aircraft parked at Haysfield.



LeRoy Froom reported in 2009, “There are about 25 planes at Haysfield.

I went over there recently just to walk around.

I decided to get checked out in a 1968 Cessna 172 run by PugAir.

Got to do a couple of grass field takeoffs & landings.

They have no fuel on the field so you have to fill up elsewhere.

Since there was no GPS in the Cessna, I was taught the landmarks for pilotage back into the SFRA and into MD24 (Haysfield).

It was like flying back in the 1970s I suppose.

I was told that the property will probably be sold & that there may only be a couple of years left for the field. Too bad.

When I went out there for the first time, I felt like I was in the middle of Kansas (just a hilly part of Kansas).

It's worth a weekend drive, just to walk around. It's not like going to your local airport!”



Bo Bowman reported in 2009 of Haysfield, “The restrictions brought on by 9/11 pretty much did it in.

Years ago when I started using it there were 40-some airplanes there. Now it is probably under 10.

However, the owner, who lives on the property, seems intent on keeping it an airport - at least for now.

It is surrounded by a tree nursery.”



The 2010 Washington Terminal Aeronautical Chart depicted Haysfield as a private airfield with a 2,400' unpaved runway.



A 8/30/10 aerial view looking west at Haysfield, with 11 light single-engine aircraft visible on the field.



In 2010, the FAA Airport/Facility Directory data for Haysfield described the field as having a single 2,400' turf Runway 13/31,

and said a total of 27 aircraft were based at the field.

The owner & manager were listed as Alfred Bassler.



In 2010, reportedly the owner of Haysfield was referring to the “projected closure” of the field.



In 2010, Kim Trout reported, “There are about 10 of us who have planes at Hays & fly actively (multiple times a week / month)

plus the PUGAIR rental 172.

A very nice quite airport like flying used to be (except for the SFRA of course).

I expect it will be around for a few years after the recession ends.

But the land has been sold & the bulldozer will eventually come through.”



As of 2010, Haysfield was one of only 2 remaining grass airfields within the 15 NM Class B ring of Baltimore airspace.



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Columbia Airfield, Columbia, MD

39.24 North / 76.84 West (Southwest of Baltimore, MD)

"Landing Strip", as depicted on the 1949 USGS topo map.

Photo of the airfield while in use has not been located.

 

Not much is known about this small former airfield,

including its actual name, its date of construction, or its date of abandonment.

 

The only depiction of this airfield which has been located was on the 1949 USGS topo map.

It depicted a single 1,600' runway, labeled simply as "Landing Strip".

 

No airfield at this location was depicted on aeronautical charts from 1940-66

(but this airfield may simply have been overlooked, as a relatively minor private airfield).



Beaverbrook resident Jason Ludicke reported, “The mail carrier that delivered mail in this neighborhood for 30 years

told me it was the farmer’s airfield & that the farmer had a plane.

This was also confirmed by my neighbor whose father was one of the original builders in this neighborhood (last name Pistorio).”



Joe Zamoyta reported, “I’ve discovered guys who know all about it & have landed there.

The field was private & owned by Al Basler, who now owns Hays Field Airport, also in Columbia.

The story goes he outfoxed Rouse [James Rouse, developer of Columbia], who tried to steal his land.”



A 1963 aerial photo showing the neighborhood of Beaverbook under construction.

The area of the former airfield appears to be newly-graded, with no trace remaining.



By the 1960s, the entire area around this former airfield was developed into the City of Columbia,

a large planned community.

The site of the former airfield became the Beaverbrook residential development.



The 1974 USGS aerial photo showed that the site of the former Columbia Airfield had been replaced with suburban streets.



The 1993 USGS aerial photo showed that the site of the former Columbia Airfield had been densely filled with suburban housing,

and not a trace appeared to remain of the former airfield.



As seen in the 2002 USGS aerial photo, not a trace appears to remain of the former airfield.



According to Beaverbrook resident Jason Ludicke, “The airfield was exactly where Darlington Road is today.”

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Turf Valley Airfield, Ellicott City,MD

39.3 North / 76.89 West (West of Baltimore, MD)

Turf Valley Airfield, as depicted on the February 1962 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).



Most suburban golfers who play on the course of the Turf Valley County Club

are probably unaware that the club used to have its own private airfield for the use of members.

 

The Turf Valley Airfield was apparently built at some point between 1961-62,

as it was not depicted on the 1953 USGS topo map nor on the 1961 Washington Local Aeronautical Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe).

The earliest depiction of the airfield which has been located

was on the February 1962 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy),

which described Turf Valley Airfield as a 2,000' unpaved runway.



Joe Zamoyta recalled, “My logbooks indicate that I flew from Turf Valley Airport from 6/15/63 to 12/7/63.

I received my twin instruction in my Piper Apache N1163P there from Ed Roggero,

who was chief instructor there for Fran Dane, who operated the field for Sam Pistorio,

a local contractor who built what was then Turf Valley Golf Course.

Fran & Ed had come over from Mrs. McNemar’s United Flying Service,

who operated Frederick Municipal Airport after Rutherford Field closed.

Turf Valley field was rough, rough, rough.

It was composed of 3 parallel levels. On top was the trailer office.

The runway was below that & there was a parallel taxiway farther down the hillside.”



The 1963 Washington Local Aeronautical Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe)

described Turf Valley Airfield as having a single 1,950' runway (turf, of course!).



The only photo which has been located showing the Turf Valley Airport was a 1963 aerial photo (courtesy of Tina Kloss).

Tina reported, “I am the great niece of Samuel Pistorio who was the original owner/architect of the Turf Valley Country Club.

You can see the runway which I have highlighted in yellow.

The horse training barn (which was disassembled from the Pimlico race track & reassembled at this site) are just below

and the bungalow where the golf pro assistant & some of the other workers lived is just below & to the right of the runway.

The clubhouse & olympic-size pool can be seen in the foreground.”

 

Turf Valley Airfield, as depicted on the 1964 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of John Voss).



The 1965 Washington Local Visual Navigation Chart depicted Turf Valley

as having a 1,900' unpaved runway.



Pilot John Gruver moved to Turf Valley in 1965.

He recalled, "The runway was over the hill about a half mile due west of the clubhouse,

where it flattens out between the barns.

There is a maintenance shack along were it was that is still there.

It ran northeast/southwest.

I remember planes landing there as a child."

 

The last chart depiction the Turf Valley Airfield which has been located

was on the 1967 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of John Voss). 

 

According to John Gruver, "The last plane I remember [at Turf Valley] was around 1969."



According to Tina Kloss (great niece of Samuel Pistorio), “My husband was an assistant pro at Turf Valley in the late 1960s

and he told me that there was a problem with one of the planes landing there at that time

that may have caused the airport to close.”



Joe Zamoyta recalled, “[Fran] Dane & [Sam] Pistorio didn’t get along very well

so the field closed and eventually became part of the golf course.”

 

Turf Valley Airfield was apparently closed by 1970,

as it was no longer depicted at all on the 1970 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of John Clifford).



A 1971 aerial view still showed the cleared area of a ENE/WSW runway,

but there was no sign of any recent aviation use.



The 1979 USGS topo map did not depict any airfield at Turf Valley.



In this circa 2001 aerial photo, although the golf course now surrounds the site of the former airfield,

what appears to be the outline of the northeast/southwest runway is still visible in the center of the golf course.



The site of the Turf Valley Airfield is located northwest of the intersection of Route 40 & Turf Valley Road.

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(Original) Fort Meade Auxiliary Army Airfield, Fort Meade, MD

39.11 North / 76.74 West (South of Baltimore, MD)

The original Fort Meade airfield, as depicted on the 1935 Washington Sectional Chart.

Photo of the airport while open has not been located.

 

The original airfield on the property of Fort Meade is not in the same location as the present-day Tipton Field.

The original Fort Meade airfield was located in the central portion of the base,

two miles northeast of where Tipton AAF would eventually be built.

 

The date of construction of the original Fort Meade airfield is unknown.

According to the fantastic book "Maryland Aloft" by Preston, Lanman, and Breilhan,

"An emergency landing field was reported to exist there as early as 1920,

and an auxiliary landing field was listed in a 1930 publication."

The earliest depiction of the Fort Meade field which has been located

was on the 1935 Washington Sectional Chart.

 

The Airport Directory Company's 1937 Airports Directory (courtesy of Bob Rambo)

described Fort Meade AAF as having a total of three runways,

including a 1,800' northwest/southeast asphalt runway.

 

The Fort Meade airfield may have been temporarily closed during the early WW2 years,

as it was not depicted at all on the 1942 Regional Aeronautical Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).



A 9/25/43 aerial view looking southeast at “Fort George G. Meade Airport” from the 1945 AAF Airfield Directory (courtesy of Scott Murdock)

depicted the field as a very modest single runway.



The 1944 US Army/Navy Directory of Airfields (courtesy of Ken Mercer)

described Fort Meade AAF as having a 2,000' hard-surfaced runway.



The 1945 AAF Airfield Directory (courtesy of Scott Murdock) described “Fort George G. Meade Airport”

as a 45 acre rectangular property within which was a single 2,000' bituminous northwest/southeast runway.

The field was said to not have any hangars, to be owned by the U.S. Government,

and operated by the Army Air Forces.



"Fort Meade (Army)", as depicted on the 1947 Washington Sectional Chart.

 

 

The 1947 USGS topo map depicted the original Fort Meade Airfield a single 1,800' northwest/southeast runway, labeled simply "Landing Strip".



The 7/15/1949 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe)

and the 1955 Washington Local Aeronautical Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe)

described "Fort Meade (Army)" as having a 1,900' hard-surface runway.



The most last depiction of the original Fort Meade Airfield which has been located is the 1957 USGS topo map,

which depicted the field as a single 1,800' northwest/southeast runway, with a control tower on the east side, labeled simply "Airfield".



According to the book "Maryland Aloft",

"As described in a historical report by Clayton Davis,

Fort Meade Army Airfield in 1957 was crossed by both MacArthur Boulevard & Mapes Road.

Movable barriers were raised & lowered by the control tower

to prevent surface traffic from interfering with air operations.

Davis noted that the airfield was used by civilian as well as military aircraft."

 

The runway at Fort Meade may have been lengthened somewhat at some point between 1955-60,

as the Aerodromes table on the 1960 Washington Sectional chart

listed "Meade AAF" at the location as having a single 2,485' bituminous runway.

 

The location of the original airfield, within the center portion of the base,

hemmed in by roads & buildings on all sides,

was apparently the reason for its eventual replacement.

The original Fort Meade airfield was replaced in 1961 by Tipton AAF,

built over the site of a landfill two miles to the southwest,

in an area on the outskirts of the base which offered much more room.



The site of the original Fort Meade airfield was labeled "Abandoned Airport"

on the 1961 Washington Local Aeronautical Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe)

and the 1966 Washington Local Aeronautical Chart (courtesy of Jonathan Westerling).



The 1970 USGS topo map no longer depicted the runway or airfield buildings, which had presumably been removed.



Stephen Cerutti reported that the site of the original Fort Meade airfield

was covered by the PX/Theatre/Bowling Alley/Commissary complex,

which "were built in the early/mid 1970's."

 

This circa 2001 aerial photo shows the PX/Theatre/Bowling Alley/Commissary complex which occupies the site,

with not a trace remaining of the former airfield.

 

The site of the former airfield is bounded by Reece Road, Mapes Road on the south,

Ross Street on the east, and MacArthur Road on the west.



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