Longgang Airfield

Army engineers broke ground at Longgang (龍岡) on the outskirts of Zhongli in November 1958 and finished in 48 working days, using US aid to build what became, on May 22nd, 1959, the second newly-built airfield of the Republic of China Army and a base for its light aviation corps. Its most unusual structure was a hangar that paired a reinforced concrete frame and brick side walls with a timber roof truss, a design choice from an era short on both cement and steel. Aircraft stopped using the field by 1993, the control tower and hangar were demolished in 2009, and a parcel at the eastern end of the runway was redeveloped into Longgang Wanping Park (龍岡萬坪公園) in 2012. The rest of the site remains walled off and overgrown, its facilities dismantled, though the gatehouse still stands on Longmen Street (龍門街).