Mercer Airport

The first reported airport in the Mercer County area was the Bluefield (later Bluefield Municipal) Airport established in 1928 to satisfy the wants of a multi-millionaire’s 16 year old son. The son, Charles Wesley ‘Sunny’ Freeman who already owned his own automobile and Harley Davidson motorcycle, wanted an airplane.  

Dad Charles Wesley ‘Wes’ Freeman together with two other investors started the Pocahontas Air Transport Corporation. Dad bought him an airplane and hired a pilot to teach Sunny how to fly. The Transport Corporation procured land, some leased from Bluefield (Junior) College and built an airport. The airport was located on the county line between Bluefield, Virginia, and Bluefield, West Virginia. In 2023 the Bowen Field is at the same location.

More planes were purchased and the airport started offering trips to Charleston, Bristol and Roanoke. Plans for expansion were underway when the stock market crash in 1929 put a stop to the plans. The airport still offered flying classes to Bluefield College students during the 1930s. The Bluefield Municipal Airport closed and the Princeton Municipal Airport which opened in 1937 and closed in 1970 became the major airfield in Mercer County.

About 1943 planning for the construction of a modern airport in Mercer County began. At the time the aeronautics authorities decided the only available land suitable for a commercial airport was in Elgood. A $1.1 million dollar bond issue was approved for construction of the airport. The aeronautics authority then decided that Elgood was too remote from the major Mercer County hubs of Princeton and Bluefield to ever survive commercially. The bond was thrown out.

The aeronautics authorities then chose a location on top of Hurricane Ridge to build the airport. It is between Princeton and Bluefield about 3 miles from Bluefield. The site did not conform to strict regulations but it’s said one member said, “Remember this is West Virginia.”

The Mercer County Airport Dedication, Inc. was incorporated in the early 1950s with the task of acquiring the land and building the Mercer County Airport. The Mercer County Airport Authority is the owner of the Mercer County Airport.  Dedication of the Airport occurred on Saturday, May 15, 1951. 

At one time, Piedmont Airlines had twelve daily flights landing at the Mercer County Airport. Commercial air service was lost in 2007.

On January 21, 1981, a Cessna 500 Citation with 2 crew members and 3 passengers overran the end of runway 23. The pilot was attempting to land on a slush covered runway with insufficient stopping distance available. The aircraft overran the end of the runway and struck three localizer antennas, and a 10-foot embankment before plunging down a steep, densely wooded hillside. The aircraft caught on fire. All five occupants were killed.

Mercer County Airport [now] is a bustling general aviation (GA) facility located between Princeton and Bluefield that serves southern West Virginia and surrounding communities… ---transportation.wv.gov

With federal stimulus money the airport has been able to resurface the  4,743’ x 100’ primary 05/23 runway and remove trees at the end of the runway.

Sources:

Louise Stoke, Bluefield Daily Telegraph, July 15, 2023

Abandoned & Little Known Airfields

Jeff Harvey, Princeton Times, August 11, 2012 (updated July 14, 2014)

Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives

Various Bluefield Daily Telegraph articles