Olmsted Air Force Base

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Olmsted Air Force Base (1918-1969) grew to 11,400 civilian employees in 1969, when it was decommissioned and turned over the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Olmsted Air Force Base then became Harrisburg International Airport.

History

The first airplanes landed in 1918 at Olmsted Air Force Base, when it was under the administration of the Signal Corps of the United States Army. The National Security Act of 1947 created the separate Department of the Air Force and ownship of Olmsted was transferred from the Army to the new Air Force. Olmsted had an abundance of engine and airframe shops and a supply distribution system that made it a significant facility, but a poor runway that, it was felt, would be too expensive to improve. It would involve claiming marsh land and portions of the Susquehanna River (both of which have since been accomplished) and the Air Force leadership at that time determined that more land for supply and maintenance buildings was needed.

In 1969, the Air Force shut down Olmsted and turned the facilities over to the state government. At this point, Harrisburg International Airport began to serve the public, under the ownership of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In 1998, the Commonwealth transferred ownership to the Susquehanna Area Regional Airport Authority (SARAA).

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