The North Bend Airport opened in 1940. The airport code is OTH.
In 1936 the McCullough Bridge was completed making it easier to reach North Bend, the airport and the Coos Bay area. The bridge was the final link in connecting Highway 101 to the community.
In 1943 a portion of the North Bend Airport was signed over to the Department of the Navy for use as a Naval Auxiliary Air Station. It remained so until the base was decommissioned in 1946.
The North Bend Airport property was used for training Navy pilots and crews. It was considered primarily an administrative and maintenance facility, but several squadrons of fighters, transport aircraft, torpedo and dive bombers and observation planes were stationed here.
In April 2006 the North Bend Airport changed its name to the Southwest Oregon Regional Airport. This was done to lessen the confusion between this airport and the Bend/Redmond Airport in the northeastern part of the state.
