From County Landing Field to Lake Cumberland Regional.
The public airfield south of Somerset, date by date and source by source: the banker who helped start it, the board of 1948, the bomber pilot who chaired it for decades, a terminal, an airline that stayed fourteen months, and the air show that came in 2021. Lake Cumberland Regional Airport, KSME to pilots, as the record has it.
Five dates for one beginning.
The airport's Facebook page says the early 1940s. The Commonwealth Journal credits banker J.T. Wilson with establishing the field in the late 1940s. The Board that still runs it dates from 1948, the FAA's record from August 1952, and the first map to name the strip from 1954. This page prints all of them rather than choosing one.
When it began, by source
| Early 1940s | General aviation use since the early 1940s, says the airport's own Facebook page. Nothing else found confirms it.the airport's Facebook page · read 8 Nov 2026 · unverified |
|---|---|
| Late 1940s | J.T. Wilson, a Somerset banker and businessman, was "instrumental in establishing the airport in the late 1940s and monitoring its improvements throughout his lifetime." The runway is still called J.T. Wilson Field.Commonwealth Journal · 29 Jul 2017 |
| 1948 | The Somerset-Pulaski County Airport Board is established under KRS 183.132 as a non-taxing airport board. It owns and operates the field to this day.FY2025 audit, Note 1 · Cloyd & Associates, 4 May 2026 |
| August 1952 | The activation date in the FAA's airport master record.FAA NASR · effective 29 Oct 2026 |
| 1954 | "County Landing Field": the first USGS map to name the strip, two years after the FAA's date.USGS Somerset quadrangle · 1954 edition |
No official founding year is published. The Board, or the Pulaski County Historical Society, could settle it; until then the five dates stand together. No dedication date for J.T. Wilson Field has been found either.
The Newell decades.
W.O. "Bill" Newell sat on the airport board from the 1960s until his death in 2007. In those decades the county's landing field became J T Wilson Field on the map, gained hangars and an apron, and grew past the 3,800 feet its 1950s manager had asked for.
- 1950sManager Ed Boss asks for a longer runwayA news item from the 1950s, reprinted by the Commonwealth Journal in 2020, has airport manager Ed Boss seeking money to extend the runway about 800 feet, to 3,800 feet, "to satisfy requirements for commercial passenger service." Runway 05/23 is 5,801 x 100 ft today.
- 1960sW.O. "Bill" Newell joins the boardA Bronston native who flew B-24 Liberators in the Second World War, more than 50 missions and the Distinguished Flying Cross. He would serve more than 30 years and chair the board until his death.
- 1973"Somerset-Pulaski Co. · J T Wilson Field" on the mapThe 1973 quadrangle names the field in full and draws the runway with hangars and an apron at its southwest end, the community college above Allen Branch and new streets to the south.
A longer runway, a terminal, a new name and an airline.
Federal grants in 2003 and 2004 extended the runway and raised the terminal. In 2008 Somerset-Pulaski County Airport took the lake's name, and for fourteen months an airline flew Metroliners from it to Nashville, Cincinnati and Washington.
- 1997The lengthened runwayBy the 1997 edition of the quadrangle the runway runs longer than the 1954 strip, hangars line its southwest end and subdivisions have filled in to the south.
- 2003FAA fiscal year$1.5 million to extend and rehabilitate the runwayAn FAA Airport Improvement Program grant, awarded when the runway was still numbered 4-22. It is Runway 05/23 today.
- 2004FAA fiscal year$3.5 million for the terminalFAA grant "Construct Terminal Building," $3,500,000. The FBO desk and the Board's room are in it today; the Board meets there, 4 p.m., second Thursday of each month, Airport Terminal Board Room.
- 2007March 16W.O. Newell dies; the road is W.O. Newell DriveChairman of the board at his death, aged 85. Shortly before, the road from Kit Cowan Road to the new terminal had been named W.O. Newell Drive. The airport's address is 500 W.O. Newell Drive, Somerset, KY 42501.
- 2008Renamed Lake Cumberland Regional AirportSomerset-Pulaski County Airport takes the name of the lake. The evidence is secondary, Wikipedia citing the Commonwealth Journal of 10 Apr 2008 and the Journal again in 2017, and the runway kept the Wilson name.
- 2008December 27An airline: Locair to NashvilleFlying at first as Air Azul, Locair began Metroliner service from Somerset to Nashville, paid for by a federal Small Community Air Service Development grant of about $1 million with a local match. Cincinnati followed on 21 May 2009 and Washington Dulles on 8 Jun 2009, later Baltimore.
- 2010FebruaryThe airline leavesService ended in February 2010. The airport has never held Essential Air Service and has no scheduled flights today; bids in 2014 and 2015, a 2020 memorandum with London and Corbin and the 2023 RESTORE coalition did not bring one back.
- 2011SeptemberThe terminal becomes the FBOConverted to FBO use around September 2011, according to the Chamber and Wikipedia; no government record confirms the month. The Board runs the FBO itself, with no third-party operator.
"Those of us in and around community airports recognize their vital importance for regional development and know first hand that they are lifesavers when disaster supplies are needed and emergency services are required. Local airports create careers, inspire our next generation of aerospace engineers, train up a cadre of general aviation pilots and aircraft mechanics, and are a proven marketing tool for attracting business owners and developers."
U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, in the airline year · Commonwealth Journal, 19 Sep 2009
The field the Board runs today.
Self-serve Jet A, a new AWOS and LED lighting, an air-medical base, a rebuilt apron and an air show that drew about 10,000 people in 2024. The Board's plan for 2026 to 2029 asks for more public events, more grant-funded work and an FBO partner.
- 2016JuneJet A at the self-serve pumpJet A self-serve first appears in the airport's AirNav listing in June 2016. Both fuels are at the pump around the clock today, with full service by truck during attended hours. Today's prices and service levels
- 2020A new AWOS, and the field relit in LEDThe AWOS-3 on 120.050 was replaced with a $183,667 FAA grant, part of it CARES Act money. A $1.2 million state-funded project, 2020 to 2022, replaced 332 runway and taxiway lights and the beacon.
- 2021May and AugustA tribute wall, then the first Lake Cumberland Air ShowIn May, SPEDA and Team Modern refreshed the terminal with "Welcome to The Capital of Lake Cumberland" signage and a wall honouring W.O. Newell. On Sunday, August 29, the first air show at the field in about two decades drew more than 5,000 people, admission free.
- 2022June 8PHI Air Medical opens a base on the fieldAn air-ambulance base at the airport. "By being here at the airport we have the opportunity to fly in weather that some other services can't fly in," said PHI's Tony Miller that day.
- 2022September 17The second air showMore than 8,000 people for Greg Koontz, a P-40 Warhawk, a MiG-17 flyover and rides in the DC-3 "Flagship Detroit." The Chamber named it 2022 Community Event of the Year.
- 2023The East Apron is rebuilt; no show that yearA $1,752,365 FAA grant for the second phase of the East Apron reconstruction. The air show stood down for the work.
- 2024September 21The third air showAbout 10,000 people for an F-86 Sabre, the B-25 "Champaign Gal," Team Fastrax and Huey and Cobra rides. The FAA added $1,541,696 that year for the apron's final phases.
- 2025August 28The apron rehabilitation closes outThe Kentucky Department of Aviation closed the Terminal Apron Rehab construction project at $1,706,945.70. The same year the FAA funded the design of a 12,000 sq ft storage hangar, $153,900.
- 2026November 5 and 7A plan to 2029, and the fourth showOn November 5 the Board presented SPEDA a strategic plan for 2026 to 2029: at least four public events a year, grant-funded infrastructure and safety work, and an FBO sought for maintenance, pilot training and charter. On Saturday the 7th, Veterans Day weekend, the fourth Lake Cumberland Air Show flew, all veterans admitted free. Attendance will be posted when the organisers release it.
Sources: Commonwealth Journal 2007 to 2026 · FAA NASR and AIP grant histories FY2003 to FY2025 · Kentucky Department of Aviation project ledgers · USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection · FY2025 audit · SPEDA. Still open: the founding year, the J.T. Wilson Field dedication, the terminal's opening day. Have a date or a photograph? Tell the airport.