The first airplane to land in St. Tammany Parish, according to this photograph, was in 1919. It was a bumpy landing in a rice field. Click on the image below to make it larger.
As time went on, airstrips were built, then airports.
In 1943 local officials tried to convince Washington D.C. that Covington would be an ideal site for an air base.
The Keen Privette Airport was located north of Covington, just west of where La. Hwy. 25 intersects with "Airport Road."
A 1963 proposal that would have placed an airport on the Abita Springs - Mandeville road.
Vincent Airport, located just west of Covington, was built in the late 1960's and was the site of the Southern Parachute Center, a group of skydivers who were determined to set a world record.
Covington Vincent Airport, northwest of Covington High
Vincent Airport, a turf runway, was named after World War II aviator and aircraft designer H. Farley Vincent. In the late 1940's he and Robert Monsted designed and built The Monsted-Vincent MV-1 airplane. It had four Continental C-85 engines with seats for 4 to 6 people and a “potty.” The plane was to provide Corporation Executive Transport of the post-WWII era. It cruising speed was about 150 miles per hour.
Monsted and Vincent, two WWII aviators, constructed the aircraft at the Michoud plant in Eastern New Orleans, LA. With eight hours of fuel it had endurance that would permit riding out or skirting around bad weather. Another feature was the rearward retracting main landing gear. Its wingspan was about 50 feet and its gross weight, about 6000 lbs.—cruise speed, about 150 mph. (Info from the EAAVintage.org website)
Photographs 2025 of Vincent Airport
Below is a photograph of the early days of Greater St. Tammany Regional Airport, back when the runway was complete, but the buildings were not yet being built on Hwy. 36 just east of Abita Springs. A mobile home was the only building on the grounds. The photograph was taken on June 3, 1972, from 800 feet up.
In 1973 I wrote an extensive article about the state of aviation in St. Tammany Parish. Here is the article. Click on the image below to see a larger, more readable version.
November 22, 1963
Abita Springs Airport in 1975
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