Quillayute Airport was commissioned as Quillayute Naval Auxiliary Station in February, 1944. Due to the end of WWII, the Navy declared NAAS Quillayute as excess on June 28, 1946.
In the early 1960s, NAAS Quillayute was transferred to the General Services Administration for disposal without restriction. Most of the property was acquired by the State of Washington in 1962 for us as “an emergency landing field.” At that time, the Federal Government transferred approximately 750 acres of the facility to the State of Washington (i.e., the airfield, etc.), with the remaining 450 acres being deeded and/or sold to between the Quillayute Valley School District and private parties. Upon its transfer, the facility became known as the Quillayute State Airport.
From 1964 to 1975, the site was used as a clubhouse and campsite for a flying club. Runway No. 1 was closed in 1977.
In 1997, the City of Forks began a correspondence with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Washington State Department of Transportation Aviation branch regarding thirty-three years of alleged mismanagement of the facility. This included neglect of maintenance, removal of structures, and mishandling of proceeds from the airport property. The City claimed that WSDOT has extracted a combined 1.5 million dollars from the property per timber harvest, gravel extraction, leasing agreements, and salvage of existing structures. Additionally, these proceeds were not used to improve the property but rather to fund other projects
The final act of administrative malfeasance and WSDOT-A’s request to the Federal Aviation Administration to demolish five existing buildings on the property. The City of Forks believed that the continued decay of the airport, due to deferred maintenance by WSDOT, risked the future development of what was then known as the Quillayute State Airport. At the time, the City desired to rehabilitate the airport as part of a larger vision to make the facility “the region’s airport of the future” as described by mayor Phil Arbeiter. Negotiations began to transfer the airport from WSDOT-Aviation to the City of Forks in February 1997.
The airport was finally deeded to the City of Forks by the Washington State Department of Transportation in 1999. As part of accepting airport ownership, the City of Forks also transferred the community’s FAA National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) designation from Forks Municipal Airport to Quillayute Airport. This action was based on the challenges in meeting FAA design standards at the Forks Municipal Airport site. A primary assumption in the 2003 Quillayute Airport Master Plan was the planned closure of Forks Municipal Airport and the relocation of locally-based aircraft to Quillayute.
From the outset of its ownership, the City has attempted to obtain federal and state funding for stabilization of the historic WWII hangar designed by the Austin Company for the US Navy. Only with the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) did funding finally materialize that would allow the City to undertake much needed stabilization of the southern two-storied extension of the building, minor roof repair of the hangar, and design and permit a needed commercial septic system allowing for future on-going commercial utilization of the building.
The City is currently in negotiation with a qualified architect/engineer to undertake the stabilization, roof repair, and septic design and bid documents.
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