Chippewa County International Airport — Kincheloe, United States

The long runway at CIU is a direct legacy of Kincheloe Air Force Base, a Strategic Air Command installation that once housed bombers on Cold War alert in Michigan's Upper Peninsula before closing in the 1970s. Today the facility functions as Chippewa County's civilian airport, supporting limited passenger service to a major connecting hub such as Detroit under the federal Essential Air Service program that subsidizes flights to small, geographically isolated communities. Sault Ste. Marie, the nearest sizable town, lies a considerable drive away, and the surrounding landscape remains heavily forested and sparsely populated. Beyond scheduled passenger flights, the oversized runway sees occasional use for aircraft testing, military training exercises, and general aviation, taking advantage of infrastructure originally built for a very different purpose than its current one.