St. Paul Downtown Airport

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St. Paul Downtown Airport (IATA: STP, ICAO: KSTP), also known as Holman Field, is an airport just across the Mississippi River from downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota. It is one of the Twin Cities "reliever airports" operated by the Metropolitan Airports Commission. The airport has three runways and serves aircraft operated by corporations in the local area, a flight training school and the Minnesota Army National Guard aviation unit.

The airport is home to an installation of the Minnesota Army National Guard. The Holman Field Administration Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

History

Holman Field was named for Charles W. "Speed" Holman, b. 1898, d. 1931, who was a stunt pilot, barnstormer, wing walker, parachutist, airmail pilot, aviation record holder and airline pilot. Born in Bloomington, he was the first pilot hired by Northwest Airways in 1926. In 1928, Holman set a world's record of 1,433 consecutive loops in an airplane in five hours over the St. Paul Airport. He died in an accident during an air show in Omaha in 1931.^[1]

The airport was used to outfit B-24 bombers during World War II. The terminal at St. Paul Downtown airport was used as a backdrop in scenes from the movie Slaughterhouse-Five.

Controversy

Recently local debate has ensued over plans to build a floodwall around the airport. Three times in the last thirteen years the airport has been flooded due to its proximity to the Mississippi River. Supporters do not want to deal with the future inconvenience of having to deal with the flood again, while critics say that the proposed wall would ruin views and make the airport "ugly".

A dike to protect the airport from the nearby river is under consideration and the National Guard has stated that they may leave if the dike is not constructed in a timely manner.

Trivia

During the 1970s and early 1980s, commuter airline Lake State Airways offered scheduled airline service between the St. Paul Downtown Airport and Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in Minnesota. It cost $5USD for a one-way ticket between the two airports, and $10 round-trip^[2].