Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields:
Virginia: Delmarva area
© 2002, © 2005 by Paul Freeman. Revised 12/28/05.
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Cape Charles Air Force Station, Kiptopeke, VA
37.13 North / 75.96 West (Northeast of Hampton, VA)
A circa 1958-59 aerial photo of Cape Charles AFS, showing the two grass runways at the top-right,
from the 1960 Washington Air Defense Sector yearbook (courtesy of Thomas Page).
Located on the very southern tip of the Delmarva Peninsula,
this site was originally the location of Fort Winslow,
built in 1941 as a coastal defense artillery installation to compliment Fort Story in Virginia Beach
in order to protect the vast entrance of the Chesapeake Bay against enemy vessels.
It was renamed Fort John Custis in 1942.
Over the WW2 period, the fort eventually was armed with two massive 16" guns, four 8" guns, and four 155mm guns.
The base was closed by the Army in 1948.
In 1949 the property was reused by the Air Force to establish Cape Charles Air Force Station,
an air defense radar installation.
A small airfield was built at the site, for unknown reasons (perhaps for logistical support flights?).
A circa 1958-59 photo of an Air Force DeHavilland U-1 Beaver at Cape Charles AFS,
from the 1960 Washington Air Defense Sector yearbook (courtesy of Thomas Page).
No airfield at all at Cape Charles was depicted on the 1965 Norfolk Sectional Chart (courtesy of John Voss)
or the 1972 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe).
Cape Charles AFS was deactivated in 1981,
and became the property of the US Fish & Wildlife Service in 1984.
The area is now the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge.
Two intersecting grass runways were depicted at Cape Charles on recent USGS topo maps.
Only a single 2,600' grass runway was still depicted on the 1994 USGS aerial photo.
A 1998 photo by Phil Payette of the former Cape Charles AFS airfield.
Prior to this it was the site of 8-inch railway guns (1942-44).
A year-2000 photo of the Group Station Observation Tower, also known as the Kiptopeake Tower.
The tower was built of reinforced concrete in 1942, and is located by the airfield.
It served different gun group commanders.
A 2003 aerial photo of the Cape Charles AFS airfield, looking west by Russ Roslewski.
One of the former runways is still recognizable, while the other is overgrown.
The Cape Charles AFS airfield is no longer depicted at all (even as an abandoned airfield) on aeronautical charts.
Thanks to Bill Facenda for information about Cape Charles.
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