Friday, 8 October 2010

A ghost airport in North West Washington state along the I-5

Still in the 70s. I recall very clearly being driven down the I-5 from the Canadian border to somewhere south – Bellingham, probably, but possibly the seaside oasis of Birch Bay or the Emerald City. As we entered the farmland outside of the border town, Blaine, there was what appeared to be a wooden control tower, maybe five stories high. Sitting in a field. No planes, no runway. Blackberries taking over. Then it was gone. Today, I could no longer even place the field.

I just stumbled across this great site, Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields, and there, in the North West, Washington section was Blaine Municipal Airport, a grass runway opened in 1945. By 1975, the airport sported a 2,100’ paved runaway located away from the old grass one, the latter possibly now only serviced by my haunted control tower.

The Blaine airport closed permanently on New Year’s Eve, 2008.