Ferguson Airport

History

Following World War II, LCDR. B. C. Ferguson left active duty and began searching for a suitable site for an airport. He was operating several Stearmans off a grass strip south of Greenville, Mississippi, crop dusting cotton fields.

The first grass strip at Ferguson Airport

He lived in Navy Point and wanted a place to repair and maintain the Stearmans during the winter off-season. When he located the site on which the airport is now located, it belonged to a man who owned a dairy farm a few miles away. It was sandy scrub land, with very few trees, and reachable only by a dirt road.

The field started as a 1200 ft. grass strip, starting at the north edge of the present airport. As soon as the land was cleared, a small office building was built South of the present office facility. This was later enlarged into an open hangar, and later further enlarged into an enclosed maintenance hangar.

When Mr. Ferguson wasn’t crop dusting in Mississippi, he was giving flying lessons using a J-3 Cub he had purchased. At about that time, the Navy offered a large number of SNJ’s for sale at bargain prices, and a man from Texas bought 100 of them, flew from Bronson Field to Ferguson’s airport, and stored them around the periphery. The photo above shows these airplanes and the original airport. Soon thereafter, Mr. Ferguson purchased a Beech Staggerwing from the Navy, which he used to fly to New Orleans to join his Naval Reserve squadron for weekend flying duty. He retained the Staggerwing until sometime in the 1980’s.

In the 1950’s he added two rows of T-hangars, and extended the grass runway to its present 1600 ft.

In the early 1960’s Mr. Ferguson became a Cessna dealer and sometime later, he also became a dealer for Mooney.

Ferguson Airport from the East

At about the time Mr. Ferguson became a Cessna dealer, the flying business increased to the point he took in a business partner, Mrs. Evelyn Herlikofer, and formed Ferguson Flying Service, Inc. The grass strip was extended to 2600 ft. and several Cessnas were purchased both for instructional use and for sale.

In 1979, hurricane Frederick did extensive damage to the office building, and leveled one row of hangars. In 1981, an all new facility was built at the north end of the airport to house flight training, maintenance, parts, and pilot testing. At the same time, the runway was paved to 3200 X 40 ft., leaving a 150 ft. grass runway on the west side of the paved one. Additionally, there is a grass taxiway east of the airport, with access to the runway, where several EAA members have hangars built into or alongside their homes.

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Hurricane Ivan damage in 2004

In 2004, Hurricane IVAN inflicted considerable damage to the airport, which lost all T-hangars and suffered extensive to the the field itself and other buildings. Since that time, 24 new, enclosed T-hangars with electric doors have been constructed

New T-Hangars

Ferguson airport is one of the few surviving privately owned, public use airports remaining in this area.

Mr. Ferguson passed away on 30 December 2002. The Ferguson family--son Don, his wife Dee and their daughter Jennifer--have taken over operation of the airport. Ferguson Flying Service no longer exists; the current flight school and testing center is called the Ferguson Aviation Academy. Maintenance is handled by CAM Aviation.

Airport Information

Location

FAA Identifier: 82J

Lat/Long: 30-23-53.7000N / 087-20-56.0000W 30-23.895000N / 087-20.933333W 30.3982500 /87.3488889

Elevation: 27 ft. / 8.2 m (surveyed)

Variation: 01E (1985)

From city: 7 miles SW of PENSACOLA, FL

Time zone: UTC -5 (UTC -6 during Standard Time)

Zip code: 32506

Airport Operations

Airport use: Open to the public

Sectional chart: NEW ORLEANS

Control tower: no

ARTCC: JACKSONVILLE CENTER

FSS: GAINESVILLE FLIGHT SERVICE STATION

NOTAMs facility: GNV (NOTAM-D service available)

Attendance: MON-SAT 0800-1800, ALL SUN 1300-1800

AFTER HOURS CALL 850-450-3069.

Pattern altitude: 527 ft. MSL

Wind indicator: yes

Segmented circle: no

Lights: RDO-CTL

ACTVT LIRL RY 18/36 - CTAF.

Airport Communications

CTAF/UNICOM: 122.8 WX ASOS at PNS (10 nm NE): PHONE 850-436-4799 WX AWOS-3 at JKA (18 nm W): 134.525 (251-968-7581)

Nearby radio navigation aids VOR radial/distance VOR name Freq Var NUNr188/(4.5) SAUFLEY VOR 108.80 01E BFMr105/38.7 BROOKLEY VORTAC 112.80 04E

NDB name Hdg/Dist Freq Var ID PICKENS 254/9.1 326 01E PKZ .--. -.- --.. SUMMERDALE 106/20.4 204 01E ESU . ... ..-

Airport Services

Fuel available: 100LL FUEL AVBL ONLY DURING ATTENDANCE HRS. Parking: hangars and tiedowns Airframe service: MAJOR Powerplant service: MAJOR Bottled oxygen: NONE Bulk oxygen: NONE

Runway Information

Runway 18/36 Dimensions: 3200 x 200 ft. / 975 x 61 m Surface: asphalt/turf, in good condition RY 18/36 EASTERN 40 FT ASPH ENTIRE LENGTH AND WESTERN 160 FT TURF ENTIRE LENGTH. Runway edge lights: low intensity

RUNWAY 18    RUNWAY 36 

Latitude: 30-24.158167N 30-23.632000N Longitude: 087-20.907667W 087-20.960167W Traffic pattern: left left