Grimes Field is a city-owned public-use airport

Airport

An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...

 located one nautical mile (1.85 km) north of the central business district

Central business district

A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...

 of Urbana

Urbana, Ohio

Urbana is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Ohio, United States, west of Columbus. Urbana was laid out in 1805, and for a time in 1812 was the headquarters of the Northwestern army. Urbana was named after the town of Urbanna, Virginia. It is the burial-place of the Indian fighter...

, a city in Champaign County

Champaign County, Ohio

As of the census of 2000, there were 38,890 people, 14,952 households, and 10,870 families residing in the county. The population density was 91 people per square mile . There were 15,890 housing units at an average density of 37 per square mile...

, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Named for Warren G. Grimes

Warren G. Grimes

Warren G. Grimes was Urbana, Ohio's most prominent entrepreneur, inventor and is known as the "Father of the Aircraft Lighting Industry".-Career:...

, it is also known as Urbana Municipal Airport and it serves general aviation

General aviation

General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...

 traffic.

The airport is home to the Champaign Aviation Museum. It also houses project to rebuild a World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 era B-17 Medium Bomber called the Champaign Lady. The B-17 Project website shows the progress and has a live web camera in the hangar where the aircraft is stored. Volunteers work on it Monday through Saturday.

Facilities and aircraft

Grimes Field covers an area of 329 acres (133.1 ha) at an elevation

Elevation

The elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface ....

 of 1,068 feet (326 m) above mean sea level. It has one runway

Runway

According to ICAO a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft." Runways may be a man-made surface or a natural surface .- Orientation and dimensions :Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally one tenth...

 designated 2/20 with an asphalt

Asphalt

Asphalt or , also known as bitumen, is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits, it is a substance classed as a pitch...

 surface measuring 4,400 by 100 feet (1,341 x 30 m).

For the 12-month period ending June 7, 2007, the airport had 23,480 aircraft operations, an average of 64 per day: 96% general aviation

General aviation

General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...

, 2% military

Military aviation

Military aviation is the use of aircraft and other flying machines for the purposes of conducting or enabling warfare, including national airlift capacity to provide logistical supply to forces stationed in a theater or along a front. Air power includes the national means of conducting such...

 and 2% air taxi

Air taxi

An air taxi is an air charter passenger or cargo aircraft which operates on an on-demand basis.-Regulation:In the United States, air taxi and air charter operations are governed by Part 135 of the Federal Aviation Regulations , unlike the larger scheduled air carriers which are governed by more...

,
At that time there were 36 aircraft based at this airport: 72% single-engine

Aircraft engine

An aircraft engine is the component of the propulsion system for an aircraft that generates mechanical power. Aircraft engines are almost always either lightweight piston engines or gas turbines...

, 11% multi-engine, 6% helicopter

Helicopter

A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...

 and 11% ultralight.

Events

Grimes Feild is host airport to the Mid-Eastern Regional Fly In (MERFI) every September 10th and 11th.Planes from all over Ohio and Some parts of the nation fly in.Usually there is a WW2 bomber present.Some years it is a B-17 some years it is a B-25.The Official site for MERFI is http://www.merfi.com/ .

External links

• Grimes Field - Urbana Municipal Airport
• Aerial image as of 22 March 1994 from USGS The National Map (new runway later built on empty field to the north)