Ainsworth Regional Airport Ainsworth Regional Airport is a public use airport located six nautical miles ( 7 mile , 11 km ) northwest of the central business district of Ainsworth , a city in Brown County , Nebraska , United States . It is owned by the Ainsworth Airport Authority . This airport is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011 – 2015 , which categorized it as a " general aviation " airport . It was formerly known as Ainsworth Municipal Airport . History . The airport was constructed by the United States Army Air Forces between August and November 1942 . The site is bordered by farm land on the west and north , Sand Draw on the east , and Highway 20 on the south . A total of sixty four buildings were constructed at what would be known as Ainsworth Army Airfield . To construct the base , once land was acquired through condemnation and purchase from seven local landowners , laborers were hired from as far away as Omaha and Sioux City . Two hundred Native Americans from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota came to Ainsworth and were put on the payroll as laborers as well . Before the construction was completed , a total of 1 , 200 workers came to build the Airfield . By November 1942 , the laborers had completed all housing at the base , and a railroad spur was built from the existing Chicago Northwestern Railroad several miles to the south . These tracks brought most of the supplies for the base , including building materials , food , and coal . The field included three 7 , 300 x concrete runways , a hangar , warehouse , repair and machine shops , link and bomb trainers , Norden bombsite vaults , and barracks for over 600 officers and enlisted men . Ainsworth AAF was activated on 30 November 1942 as one of eleven United States Army Air Forces training bases in Nebraska . The base was under the command of the 353d Army Air Force Base Unit of the Second Air Force , based at Colorado Springs AAF Colorado . The 4315th Army Air Force Base Unit commanded the support elements at Ainsworth as part of Air Technical Service Command . Ainsworth was a satellite field of Rapid City Army Air Base , South Dakota . The primary objective of this facility was to train air crews of 540th and 543rd Bombardment Squadron s of the 383d Bombardment Group based at Rapid City Army Airfield for training with Boeing B - 17 Flying Fortress aircraft before being sent to the European Theater . The 540th and 543rd remained at Ainsworth between December 1942 to April 1943 . Bomber crews practiced bombing runs over the wildlife refuge in Cherry County , the next county to the west . Other units that trained at Ainsworth during the war were : Also , aircraft camouflage experiments were also conducted at the field . When the facility was fully manned , there were a total of 544 enlisted men and 112 officers who lived on the base . Married personnel lived in Long Pine , Ainsworth and Johnstown . The base closed on 31 December 1945 . Following the withdrawal of the military personnel , the base was closed down except for civilians who manned the Fire Department and the Weather Squadron . In 1946 , a year after the end of World war II , the United States Army Corps of Engineers issued a Revokable License to the City of Ainsworth for commercial aircraft operations at the Airfield . Ainsworth AAF was declared surplus property in 1948 , and the City of Ainsworth received title to the Airfield for use as a municipal airport . By late 1948 , Ainsworth Municipal Airport was used for charter flights , aircraft rental , flight lessons and a maintenance shop . In the mid - 1980s the National Scientific Balloon Facility rented space at Ainsworth for periodic balloon missions . By the late 1980s , the Ainsworth Airport discontinued these services due to the depressed local economy . Currently the Ainsworth Municipal Airport , owned by the city of Ainsworth , is overseen by the Airport Authority , which provides basic services , with an airport manager who oversees airport activities such as fuel sales , hangar rental , tie - downs , weather station operation , aircraft communications arid flight plan design . Approximately of farm land and pasture is rented out to area farmers . Today there are a handful of buildings remaining from the World War II – era at the airport . One of the aircraft hangars is still in use , a supply warehouse , the bombardier training building and the bombsight building . In addition , aircraft taxiways , hardstands , aprons , runways and roads exist in various states of repair . Facilities and aircraft . Ainsworth Regional Airport covers an area of 2 , 493 acres ( 1 , 009 hectare ) at an elevation of 2 , 589 feet ( 789 m ) above mean sea level . It has two asphalt paved runways : 17 / 35 is 6 , 824 by 110 feet ( 2 , 080 x 34 m ) and 13 / 31 is 5 , 501 by 75 feet ( 1 , 677 x 23 m ) . It also has one helipad designated H1 which measures 50 by 50 feet ( 15 x 15 m ) . For the 12 - month period ending June 27 , 2011 , the airport had 4 , 000 aircraft operations , an average of 10 per day : 99 % general aviation and 1 % military . At that time there were 10 aircraft based at this airport : 80 % single - engine , 10 % jet , and 10 % glider .