Jump to content

Bellevue Airfield

Coordinates: 47°34′59″N 122°07′52″W / 47.583°N 122.131°W / 47.583; -122.131
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bellevue Airfield
Bellevue Airfield in 1968
Summary
LocationBellevue, Washington, U.S.
Openedc. 1945
Closed1983; 41 years ago (1983)
Time zonePacific (UTC−8)
 • Summer (DST)(UTC−7)
Elevation AMSL345 ft / 105 m
Coordinates47°34′59″N 122°07′52″W / 47.583°N 122.131°W / 47.583; -122.131
Map
Bellevue Airfield is located in Washington (state)
Bellevue Airfield
Bellevue Airfield
Bellevue Airfield is located in the United States
Bellevue Airfield
Bellevue Airfield
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
2/20 2,300 701 Asphalt

Bellevue Airfield (BVU) was a private airfield in Bellevue, Washington, United States. It was situated east of 156th Avenue SE and north of Interstate 90 near Phantom Lake in the Eastgate neighborhood. The 2,300-foot (700 m) asphalt runway's elevation was at 345 feet (105 m) above sea level, and ran southwest to northeast (marked 2/20). Part of the airport's land was used as a landfill from 1951 till 1964, and featured a landfill gas venting system. Closed in 1983, today the area is an office park. A Mr. Lemon was the mechanic and one of the two owners of the field was Art Nardof (sp?).


When the LDS Seattle Washington Temple opened in 1980, the airfield was still in operation and the temple spire included a strobe light.[1]

Sometime after the airport closed, a new heliport was added at the north end of runway named Bellevue Business Park Boeing Company Services Headquarters Heliport with the designation of 71WA. It was reportedly used as a private heliport for the nearby Boeing Eastgate campus. The heliport was closed and the final visible remnants of the north end of the old runway were removed during construction of the Advanta Office Commons buildings leased by Microsoft. The disused heliport is still visible and is occasionally used as a basketball court.

The remaining 27 acres north of the Advanta Office Commons was sold to City of Bellevue from Boeing who plans on developing it into Bellevue Airfield Park. However, design and construction is expected to take some time as renovation of the landfill gas system is required.[2] Boeing sold the remainder of its Eastgate Office Park in 2021 and is expected to leave the campus entirely by 2023. [3]

The only remnants still visible is the heliport and the red and white lamp posts with two red strobe lights on top situated on the nearby overpasses to the south.[4]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "New Mormon temple won't be run-of-the-mill church". Lewiston Morning Tribune. Associated Press. August 9, 1980. p. 4B.
  2. ^ DeAngelis, Allison (July 8, 2015). "City moves forward on Bellevue Airfield Park | Transforming former landfill will take time, money". Bellevue Reporter. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
  3. ^ Gates, Dominic (April 6, 2021). "Boeing puts up for sale its Commercial Airplanes headquarters campus outside Seattle". Seattle Times. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
  4. ^ Banel, Feliks (May 2, 2018). "Searching for traces of Bellevue's phantom airfield". KIRO Radio. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
[edit]