Located on 1,451 acres three miles north of West Hampton Beach in the city of Southampton in Suffolk County, Long Island, the county-owned Francis S. Gabreski Airport is both a civilian and military facility and serves as a gateway to entrance to the famous Hamptons of Long Island. It has a rich history.
Built in 1943 as a World War II United States Army Air Force subbase at Mitchell Field, it was later assigned to the First Air Force, whose Army Air Force Base 437 flew anti-submarine patrols. After the war, it was designated a civilian camp.
Returning once again to military application in 1951 due to the National Emergency of the Korean War, it was renamed Suffolk County Air Force Base. The 103rd Fighter and Interceptor Wing of the Air National Guard, along with the 118th Fighter and Interceptor Squadron and its fleet of Republic P-47N Thunderbolts, were federalized that year and moved from Brainerd Field in Connecticut to the air base on 1 of June.
The 103rd Fighter-Interceptor Wing was replaced by the 45th and 75th Fighter-Interceptor Squadrons in November 1952, which operated American F-86 Saber aircraft as part of the 23rd Fighter-Interceptor Group.
After three years, the group itself was reassigned to Près Isle Air Force Base in Maine and replaced by the newly activated 52nd Fighter-Interceptor Wing.
Due to financial constraints caused by the Vietnam War, Suffolk County Air Force Base was deactivated in 1969 and transferred once again to Suffolk County for civil operations for the purpose of “developing, improving, and operating and maintain the airport” under the auspices of the Federal Aviation Administration.
However, military operations were reintroduced in June 1970 when the New York Air National Guard’s 102nd Air Refueling Squadron was transferred there from the now-closed Floyd Bennett Field Naval Air Station, based there for its Boeing cargo planes. KC-97 Strat.
Redesignated Francis S. Gabreski Airport in 1991 in honor of America’s greatest living ace, today it serves as a private, corporate, and air taxi facility and is also home to the Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing, which operates Lockheed HC-130Ps. Hercules and HH-60G Pave Hawk Helicopters, the only fleet of rescue aircraft based in the northeast of the country.
With three runways (5,000 ft 01/19, 9,000 ft 06/24, and 5,000 ft 15/33) it offers the longest of any Long Island general airfield and is only dwarfed by those at JFK. Its facilities include a terminal building with two car rental counters and the Apron Café; Shelt-Air Aviation Services, the airport’s only fixed-base operator, with fuel, aircraft parking and servicing; the Suffolk County Police Aviation Section, which has a helicopter there; and the Hampton business district, whose eventual 400,000-square-foot industrial park promotes the growth of the local community.
In the 12 months ended December 31, 2010, the airport had 107 aircraft based and performed 83,712 annual movements.
