![]() At this same time, Pan Am was also operating weekly Douglas DC-6 propliner service on a routing of Belém - Cayenne - Paramaribo - Georgetown - Port of Spain - Caracas - Curacao - Port Au Prince - Miami. The airport had jet service in 1961 when Pan American World Airways ( Pan Am) was operating Boeing 707 flights with a weekly round trip routing of Paramaribo - Georgetown - Port of Spain - Barbados - New York City. When the new building was ravaged by fire on 5 August 1959 the old terminal building was renovated and used again until the destroyed building was replaced. The final military cadre was 3 officers and 25 enlisted men upon closure, and the base was officially turned over to British authorities on 1 August 1949.Ī modern terminal building was built and opened on 15 March 1952. The base was ordered closed on 31 July 1949 due to budgetary cutbacks. The military airfield was designated Atkinson Air Force Base on 26 March 1948 by Department of the Air Force General Order Number 10. The same year, British West Indian Airways ( BWIA, now Caribbean Airlines) was operating nonstop passenger service to Port of Spain, Trinidad. The facility was opened for all air travel, including commercial air flights on 1 October 1946. Īt the end of the war, Atkinson Field was reduced in scope to a skeleton staff. After the detection of U-boat activity was taken over by the United States Navy, the 91st Reconnaissance Squadron (344th Reconnaissance Group) was assigned to the airfield during 19 flying the F-10 photo-recon version of the B-25 Mitchell bomber on various mapping missions. The 430th was replaced by a detachment of the 35th Bombardment Squadron (25th Bombardment Group) from 1 November 1942 to 7 October 1943. United States Army Air Forces 430th Bombardment Squadron 9th Bombardment Group was assigned to Atkinson field from 4 November 1941 to 31 October 1942 flying anti-submarine sorties in Douglas B-18 bombers. With the discovery of bauxite deposits in northeast Brazil in 1943, the mission of the airfield was expanded to protect the coastline of northeast South America and prevent any submarine landings by Axis forces on the continent. Aircraft supplied to the British forces by the United States were flown to Atkinson where they were turned over and ferried to North Africa. The airfield was also a major staging point for American aircraft crossing the Atlantic Ocean heading to the European Theatre on the South Atlantic transport route. The mission of the station was the defense of the colony against German U-boats. Colonel Atkinson retired from the Army in 1922 after a distinguished career and died on 27 April 1937. Colonel Atkinson was the commander of the 1st Pursuit Wing on the western front in 1918. Atkinson, a United States Army Air Service World War I aviator. The station was named after Lieutenant Colonel Bert M. On 20 June 1941, the airfield officially opened with the activation of a weather station. The forest was cleared and hills were levelled and a long concrete runway was constructed. ![]() Ītkinson Field was built 28 miles (45 km) from Georgetown on 68 acres (28 ha) of land formerly known as Hyde Park, on the Demerara River. On 14 June 1941, the first United States Army forces arrived to survey land for a bomber airfield near Georgetown. The United States obtained rights to locate military facilities in British Guiana as part of the Destroyers for Bases Agreement with the United Kingdom in 1941. History View of Atkinson Field, 1946 Passengers arrive at Cheddi Jagan International Airport, July 2014 It is the larger of the two international airports serving Georgetown with the other airport being the Eugene F. ![]() ![]() The airport is located on the right bank of the Demerara River in the city of Timehri, 41 kilometres (25 mi) south of Guyana's capital, Georgetown. Cheddi Jagan International Airport ( IATA: GEO, ICAO: SYCJ), formerly Timehri International Airport, is the primary international airport of Guyana.
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