Gunem Field

The closure was primarily driven by two factors: 1) The construction of the much larger Northwest Arkansas National Airport (XNA) less than 3 miles to the west, whose flight paths and controlled airspace would directly conflict with Gunem Field's operations. 2) Intense economic pressure from rapid suburban growth in Benton County, which made the land far more valuable for real estate development than for use as a small private airfield.

The site of the former airport has been completely redeveloped and is now unrecognizable as an airfield. The land is occupied by a dense, single-family residential subdivision named the 'Bridgewater' neighborhood. The only remaining tribute to the airport's existence is a street within the subdivision named 'SW Gunem Circle', which is located on the property of the former airfield.

Gunem Field was a private general aviation airport established sometime before 1970. It was owned and operated by Dr. August 'Gus' Men-ug, and its unique name, 'Gunem', is the owner's last name, 'Men ug', spelled backward. The field featured a single turf runway, later described as having a 2,600-foot asphalt/turf combination. It served the local general aviation community, catering to private pilots with small, single-engine aircraft. It was a typical example of the numerous private airfields that were common across the US before being overtaken by urban sprawl and the consolidation of air traffic into larger regional airports.

There are zero prospects for reopening Gunem Field. The land is fully developed with residential homes, making any return to aviation use physically impossible. Furthermore, its close proximity to the active airspace of a major regional airport (XNA) would prohibit the establishment of an airfield at this location.