Fairmont State Airfield Fairmont State Airfield is a public use airport located three nautical miles ( 6 km ) south of the central business district of Fairmont , in Fillmore County , Nebraska , United States . It is owned by the Nebraska Department of Aeronautics . This is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011 – 2015 , which categorized it as a " general aviation " facility . It has no scheduled commercial airline service . Although most U . S . airports use the same three - letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA , this airport is assigned FMZ by the FAA but has no designation from the IATA . History . Construction of Fairmont State Airfield began on September 17 , 1942 . The airfield was built by the United States Army Air Forces as a military airfield . It was one of eleven training airfields built in Nebraska during World War II . Shortly after construction began , a railroad spur was built from Fairmont to the base site to haul materials for the construction . Approximately 1 , 000 laborers were hired to construct the base , and the small towns of Geneva ( pop . 1 , 888 ) and Fairmont ( pop . 800 ) were hard pressed to find housing for the workers . Early in the construction , the facility was referred to as the Fairmont Satellite Airfield , and was designated a satellite of the Topeka Army Air Base in Kansas , however by early 1943 , the name was changed to the Fairmont Army Airfield , as its mission was determined to be a training facility for heavy bomber groups . The first military personnel arrived in November 1942 The airfield was under the command of Second Air Force Headquarters , Colorado Springs , Colorado . The 241st Army Air Force Base Unit was the Operational Training Unit at the airfield . It was assigned to the 15th Bombardment Training Wing ( September 1943 - March 1944 ) , then transferred to the 17th Bombardment Training Wing in March 1944 for B - 29 training . The 511th Army Air Force Base Unit commanded the support elements at Fairmont as part of Air Technical Service Command . Fairmont Army Airfield was a training installation for twenty - seven bombardment squadrons . Complete engine and airframe repairs were available for Consolidated B - 24 Liberator and eventually in the more technologically advanced Boeing B - 29 Superfortress bombers at the five hangars on the field . Extensive concrete runways and other structures were built . A 350 - bed hospital served personnel from Fairmont along with Harvard AAF and Bruning AAF . The cantonment area provided quarters for nearly 6 , 000 officers and enlisted men . Known units that trained at Fairmont AAF were : In September 1944 Lt . Col . Paul Tibbets visited Fairmont and selected the 393d Bombardment Squadron of the 504th to join the 509th Composite Group at Wendover AAF , Utah . This group dropped both atomic bombs on Japan . The base was inactivated on December 31 , 1945 . In the spring of 1946 , the War Assets Administration declared the property surplus in the spring of 1946 . Buildings were sold and dismantled or moved . The chapel was moved to Friend , Nebraska . The Enlisted Men ' s Service Club was dismantled and rebuilt in Shickley , Nebraska as St . Mary ' s Church . In 1946 Nebraska Department of Aeronautics acquired the Airfield from the U . S . Government for use as a state - owned civilian airport . The Fairmont Army Airfield , with its well maintained hangars , support buildings , and commander ' s house , was the best remaining example , as a collection of buildings , of the Army Airfields in the State of Nebraska . Due to the rural location , unencumbered by surrounding development , and the high level of physical integrity of the remaining buildings , particularly the hangars , the Fairmont Army Airfield was placed on the National Register of Historic Places as an historic district . The District includes the hardstands , aprons and existing runways , all remaining buildings , extending to the edges of the roads where extant buildings exist . This encompasses historic landscape features such as roads and World War II - era planted trees . Facilities and aircraft . Fairmont State Airfield covers an area of 687 acres ( 278 ha ) at an elevation of 1 , 636 feet ( 499 m ) above mean sea level . It has two runways with concrete surfaces : 17 / 35 is 4 , 317 by 75 feet ( 1 , 316 x 23 m ) and 12 / 30 is 3 , 021 by 60 feet ( 921 x 18 m ) . For the 12 - month period ending June 12 , 2012 , the airport had 1 , 625 aircraft operations , an average of 135 per month : 99 . 7 % general aviation and 0 . 3 % military . At that time there were 21 aircraft based at this airport : 95 % single - engine and 5 % multi - engine .