Marshall Army Airfield is a military airfield located on Fort Riley, Kansas. It was opened in 1921. The primary mission for MAAF is to provide fully integrated fixed base helicopter operations for the Combat Aviation Brigade.Airfield operations and services include Base Flight Operations, Control Tower, and Ground Approach Control Facility, USAF weather, Airport Safety, Air Space Management, Flight Simulator, Rapid Refuel Facility, and Crash/Fire/Rescue station. The airfield has an FAA approved instrument approach.MAAF is the home of the 1st Infantry Division's Combat Aviation Brigade; The Combat Aviation Brigade currently has approximately 2,200 Soldiers assigned. The brigade currently has Black Hawks, Apaches and Chinooks at Fort Riley — the number fluctuates as aircraft go through maintenance and reset rotations.The unit is expecting nearly 120 aircraft total, including Kiowas. Co. A, 158th Aviation Regiment ; and numerous other military and civilian organizations. The airfield also provides CH-47, UH-60 and AH-64 Synthetic Flight Training Systems for all Fort Riley aviation units and specific Army National Guard aviation units.HistoryOne of the oldest military airfields in the United States, Marshall Army Airfield at Fort Riley, made its first appearance in history in November 1912 as the site of the first attempts in the United States to direct artillery fire from an airplane. Among the participants was a young lieutenant, Henry H. Arnold, who later became Commanding General of the United States Army Air Forces. Long afterward Arnold recalled the various methods tried for transmitting observations and instructions: a primitive radio, smoke signals, and even colored cards, weighted with iron nuts and dropped through a stovepipe.
