Essex Skypark

Essex Airpark
Essex Airpark
	IATA: none; ICAO: none; FAA LID: W48;
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Baltimore County
Operator	Essex Skypark Association
Serves	Essex, Maryland
Location	Essex, MD
Elevation AMSL	15 ft ft / 4.6 m m
Coordinates	39°15.76′N76°25.98′W / 39.26267°N 76.43300°W Coordinates: 39°15.76′N76°25.98′W / 39.26267°N 76.43300°W
Website	http://www.essexskyparkassn.org
Map
	W48 Location of airport in Maryland
Runways
Statistics (2013)
Aircraft operations	8,546
Based aircraft	36
	Source: Federal Aviation Administration. [1] Coordinates from WikiMapia [2]

Last updated February 20, 2020

Essex Skypark( IATA : W48) is a publicly owned general aviation airport and seaplane base located in Baltimore County, Maryland, on the Back River Neck Peninsula off the Chesapeake Bay. It is approximately three miles southeast of Baltimore, Maryland and just south of Martin State Airport.

Facilities

The 48 acre airport is surrounded by 588 acres of undisturbed and pristine wetlands and heavy forest. As the last light general aviation airport in Baltimore County, the airpark offers a 2,084 by 28 foot asphalt runway and a 3,000 by 300 foot water runway. Local aviation enthusiast use it to fly single engine airplanes, ultralights, seaplanes, banner towing, and Radio controlled aircraft.^[3] Essex Skypark has been an operating public use airport for over 60 years.

Early history

1946 USGS topo map incorrectly labels the airport as "Diffendall" Essex MD 47sect.JPG — 1946 USGS topo map incorrectly labels the airport as “Diffendall”

Aviation enthusiast William Diffendahl carved the airpark out of local farmland in the late 1930s and early 1940s and it was used by aviation enthusiasts from the working communities around the Baltimore Glenn L. Martin Company plant that built the Martin M-130 flying boat, the Martin B-26 Marauder bomber and other aircraft in the 1940s. A 1947 Maryland Airport Directory listed the airport as having two intersecting grass runways: a north–south strip 2,200 feet in length and an east–west strip 1,800 feet in length. Buildings on the airport (which was owned and operated by Isabelle Diffendahl) included an administration building, a 44-foot by 60-foot hangar as well as eight t-hangars. The early years were very good to the airport with more than 200 pilots calling the field their homeport. These pilots included crop dusters, air traffic reporters, traveling salesmen, daredevils and more.^[4]

Sometime around 1949 the land was purchased by J. S. Shapiro and renamed Eastern Airport. The airport continued to flourish and prosper throughout the 1950s and 1960s adding a seaplane base on adjacent Back River. By 1964, the longer of the two turf runways was paved and taxiways added. In 1967 the airport was renamed Essex Skypark. Many factors led to a decline in growth and revenues in the following years. By the 1970s however, things had stabilized.^[5]

Recent history

In April 2000, using money from the Maryland Rural Legacy Program, Baltimore County bought the airport and surrounding 588 acres from the Shapiro Family for about $2.6M. The property came with a Maryland Environmental Trust easement that called for protecting the forest and wetlands and provided for the continued operation and use of the existing airport. Many different uses have been suggested for the site's future, such as creating a forest mitigation park to offset development elsewhere in the county, to a Chesapeake Wildlife Sanctuary and environmental research facility for Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland. In 2006, Baltimore County accepted a grant from the Maryland Aviation Administration to repave the runway, taxiways, and apron along with a 15-year commitment to keep the airport.^[5] On 10 April 2012, the Essex Skypark Association purchased a 99-year lease for the 44 acre airfield and associated seaplane base on the Back River from Baltimore County. The Association assumed all responsibility for maintaining and operating the airfield under the terms of the lease.^[6] A branch of the Civil Air Patrol and a model airplane club also use the facility. The lease allows to Association to host three public events or fly-ins a year, one of which is an annual “Wings & Wheels Fly-In” in September that is open to the public.

At present Essex Skypark is home to a number of antique and experimental amateur built aircraft in addition to more modern aircraft. The Chesapeake Model Aircraft Association members fly their model aircraft from a small runway at the airport.

The airport is also the host for the Essex Skypark Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (ESSTEM) Aviation Training Program. The ESSTEM is a approved 501.C.3 tax exempt non-profit (DLN 26053406002910) organization. The purpose of the ESSTEM is to provide base level aviation related education and skills training to young adults that desire to pursue a career in the aviation field. Educational programs include flight simulation training, hands on aircraft maintenance skills training, aviation seminars and one-on-one mentoring.

See Paul Freeman's extensive research on the history of small airports in Baltimore County and specifically on Essex Airpark which started life as Diffendahl Airport way back in 1943 at Diffendahl Airport / Eastern Airport / Essex Skypark (W48), Essex, MD

Related Research Articles

Victoria International Airport serves Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is 12 nautical miles north northwest of Victoria on the Saanich Peninsula, with the bulk of the airport in North Saanich, and a small portion of the airfield extending into Sidney. The airport is run by the Victoria Airport Authority. YYJ has many nonstop daily flights to Vancouver International Airport, which is a major airport serving many global routes. Additionally, Victoria International has nonstop service to Seattle (SEA), Toronto (YYZ), Montreal, Calgary (YYC), Edmonton (YEG), and several smaller cities in British Columbia and Yukon. The airport also has seasonal nonstop service to several Mexican resort destinations. Non-stop service between Victoria and the United States will decrease by 50% beginning in September 2019 when Delta Airlines permanently ends its three daily flights, after which only Alaska Airlines will fly the Victoria - Seattle route.

Palmdale Regional Airport is an airport in Palmdale, California. The city of Palmdale took over the airport at the end of 2013, managing it via the Palmdale Airport Authority.

Royal Naval Air Station Lee-on-Solent was one of the primary shore airfields of the Fleet Air Arm. First established as a seaplane base in 1917 during the First World War, it later became the main training establishment and administrative centre of the Fleet Air Arm. Situated near Lee-on-the-Solent in Hampshire, approximately four miles west of Portsmouth on the coast of the Solent at grid reference SU560019, the establishment has now been closed down. The airfield hosts the Solent Enterprise Zone.

Martin State Airport joint civil-military public use airport in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States

Martin State Airport is a joint civil-military public use airport located nine nautical miles east of the central business district of Baltimore, in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The facility is located within the census-designated place of Middle River on Maryland State Highway 150, near the intersection of Maryland State Highway 700. The Maryland Aviation Administration operates the Airport on behalf of the Maryland Department of Transportation. MTN is a general aviation relief airport.

Salisbury-Ocean City: Wicomico Regional Airport, or, more succinctly Salisbury Regional Airport, is located in unincorporated Wicomico County, Maryland, 5 miles (8.0 km) southeast from downtown Salisbury, Maryland, United States. Salisbury is the largest city of Maryland's Eastern Shore with a population of 395,300 in the metropolitan statistical area, and is centrally located on the Delmarva Peninsula. Since SBY Regional Airport is the only commercial airport with daily scheduled flights in the area, it also serves Delaware, the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and the Eastern Shore of Maryland, which include the other large cities of Ocean City, Cambridge, and Easton. American Eagle operates approximately 2 round trip flights per day to Charlotte Douglas International Airport, and 4 round trip flights per day to Philadelphia International Airport. The airport manager is Dawn Veatch.

Stanley Airport is located in Stanley, Hants County, Nova Scotia, Canada, approximately 12 nautical miles northeast of Windsor.

Guelph Airport is located 1.3 nautical miles northeast of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It consists of two runways, 14/32 and 05/23. Although known to residents as the "Guelph Airport" or "Guelph Airpark", it is actually an aerodrome, being registered, and not certified, by Transport Canada.

Pompano Beach Airpark is a public airport located one mile (1.6 km) northeast of the central business district of Pompano Beach, in Broward County, Florida, United States. This airport is publicly owned by City of Pompano Beach.

Oroville Municipal Airport is a public airport located 3 miles (5 km) southwest of the city of Oroville in Butte County, California, USA.

College Park Airport is a public airport located in the City of College Park, in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. It is the world's oldest continuously operated airport. The airport is located south of Paint Branch and Lake Artemesia, east of U.S. Route 1 and the College Park Metro/MARC station and west of Kenilworth Avenue.

Minute Man Air Field is a public-use airport located at 302 Boxboro Road, Stow, Massachusetts, United States. The airport is privately owned by Minute Man Airfield, Inc.

Crystal Airport is a public airport named after the city of Crystal in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. Most of the airport is in the city of Crystal. Portions north of taxiway C are in Brooklyn Park, and the north east corner of the airport is in Brooklyn Center. It is eight miles (13 km) northwest of the central business district of Minneapolis and is owned by the Metropolitan Airports Commission. The airport covers an area of approximately 430 acres.

Mathis Airport was a private airport located in unincorporated Forsyth County, Georgia, about 5 miles (8.0 km) northwest of Suwanee in the northeastern part of metro Atlanta. The airport closed in October 2014.

Lawrence County Airpark is a public use airport located two nautical miles (3.7 km) west of the central business district of Chesapeake, a village in Lawrence County, Ohio, United States. It is publicly owned by Lawrence County Board of Commissioners. The airport lies across the Ohio River from Huntington, West Virginia.

Coolidge Municipal Airport is a city-owned public airport 5 miles southeast of Coolidge, in Pinal County, Arizona.

Buckingham Field is a private-use airport located seven nautical miles (13 km) east of the central business district of Fort Myers, in Lee County, Florida, United States. It is privately owned by the Lee County Mosquito Control District. The Buckingham Air Park has deeded access to the airport.

Arthur Dunn Airpark is a public-use airport located 2 miles (3.2 km) northwest of the central business district of the city of Titusville in Brevard County, Florida, United States. The airport is publicly owned and is administered under the cognizance of the Titusville-Cocoa Airport Authority. The airport has one paved runway that is 2,961 feet in length and a turf runway that is 1,805 feet in length.

Baltimore Municipal Airport airport in Maryland, United States of America

Baltimore Municipal Airport is a former airport and United States Air Force airfield about 6 miles southeast of Baltimore, Maryland on an artificial peninsula. Construction began in 1929 with a seaplane base and was completed in 1941. It closed on 30 December 1960. The western half of the airport was within the city of Baltimore, whereas the eastern half was in Dundalk, in Baltimore County.

Rosamond Skypark is a residential airpark and public-use airport located three nautical miles (6 km) west of the central business district of Rosamond, in Kern County, California, United States. It is privately owned by the Rosamond Skypark Association.

Baltimore Airpark, formerly Quinn Airport,, is a former airport located in Perry Hall, Maryland

References

Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields:Maryland, Southeastern Baltimore area by Paul Freeman. (Revised 1/6/12)

↑ FAA Airport Master Record for w48 ( Form 5010 PDF ), effective 2010-08-10
↑ at WikiMapia
↑
↑ ""Maryland Aloft" by Preston, Lanman, and Breilhan". Archived from the original on 2005-06-08. Retrieved 2012-01-15.
1 2 "Essex Skypark Adds to Area's Aviation Legacy" Ron Snyder, Essex-MiddleRiverPatch 25 Sept 2011)
↑ Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) (April 11, 2013). "Historic Baltimore airport to remain open for 99 years". AOPA News and Video Blog. Retrieved 29 December 2013.

External links

Resources for this airport:
- FAA airport information for W48
- AirNav airport information for W48
- FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
- SkyVector aeronautical chart for W48
Video of approach and landing into Essex Airpark for the 2011 Wings and Wheels event

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[FAA-1] FAA Airport Master Record for w48 ( Form 5010 PDF ), effective 2010-08-10

[2] t WikiMapia

[3] ↑

[4] ""Maryland Aloft" by Preston, Lanman, and Breilhan". Archived from the original on 2005-06-08. Retrieved 2012-01-15.

[RS-5] 1 2 "Essex Skypark Adds to Area's Aviation Legacy" Ron Snyder, Essex-MiddleRiverPatch 25 Sept 2011)

[6] Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) (April 11, 2013). "Historic Baltimore airport to remain open for 99 years". AOPA News and Video Blog. Retrieved 29 December 2013.