Rolle Airfield

Rolle Airfield
Rolle Airfield
	IATA: none; ICAO: none; FAA LID: 44A;
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	US Dept of the Interior
Operator	Yuma County Airport Authority
Serves	Yuma, Arizona
Location	San Luis, Arizona
Built	1942
Elevation AMSL	163 ft / 50 m
Coordinates	32°30′52″N 114°41′54″W / 32.51444°N 114.69833°W
Website	RolleField.com
Map
	44A 44A
Runways
Statistics (2016)
Aircraft operations
Aircraft operations	3,100
Based aircraft	none
	Source: FAA; GNIS

Rolle Airfield (FAA LID: 44A), also known as Rolle Field, formally Yuma Auxiliary Army Airfield No. 4, is a public use non-towered airport owned by United States Department of the Interior, and managed by the Yuma County Airport Authority. The airport is located in San Luis, Arizona, 14 miles (12 nmi; 23 km) south of the central business district of Yuma, a city in Yuma County, Arizona, United States. It is 146 miles (127 nmi; 235 km) east of San Diego International Airport.^[1] The airport is 3.5 miles (3.0 nmi; 5.6 km) north of the Mexico–United States border.^[2]

Although most U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA, IATA, and ICAO, Rolle Airfield is only assigned 44A by the FAA.^[3]

History edit

1995 Phoenix sectional chart depicting Yuma Aux AAF No. 4

In 1942 Yuma Auxiliary Army Airfield No. 4 (aka Rolle Field) was one of seven satellite auxiliary airfields for Yuma Army Air Field (now: Marine Corps Air Station Yuma) and is one of many Arizona World War II Army Airfields. The United States Army Air Forces trained bomber crews at Rolle through the end of World War II. The airport was declared surplus in 1945 and relinquished to the Department of the Interior in 1947. Through the 1950s, 60s, and 70s the airport was used primarily by agricultural farmers and growers for conducting crop dusting operations for the surrounding areas. In 1972 improvements were made to runway 17/35 to what we see today. Additional improvements were completed in 2011 to the airport including reconstruction of 17/35 runway, construction of new taxiway and aircraft parking apron, construction of runway end run-outs, a new parking lot, sidewalk, hangar, septic system, water well, electrical generator, perimeter fence, access vehicle gate and pedestrian gate. With these improvements the Airport Authority hopes to attract an increase in traffic from general aviation as well as companies that specialise in unmanned aerial systems.

In 2009 Yuma County Airport Authority renewed the lease on the airport for 25 years.^[4]

B-26 Marauder from Yuma Army Air Base, 1944

Facilities and aircraft edit

Rolle Airfield covers an area of 640 acres (260 ha) at an elevation of 163 ft (50 m) above mean sea level. It has one runway:

17/35 measuring 2,800 ft × 60 ft (853 m × 18 m) asphalt^[5]

For the 12-month period ending February 11, 2016, the airport had 3,100 aircraft operations, an average of 8.5 per day: 97% general aviation, and 3% military. At that time there were no aircraft based at this airport.