Airfield Letter - May 2025

have brought the place back better than it was before. The Museum hangar sports new doors and will soon have new lighting for the benefit of our airplane owner tenants.

Thanks to all our volunteers for their many days of work to finish this job; It was a big one - from taking down and disposing of the old doors to putting up the new ones. To mention names would unavoidably leave someone out, it’s been such a long process. You know who you are are and we appreciate you and your work. Thank you.

A new taxiway from the west side ramp of the Museum hangar to the main Museum taxiway is under construction at this writing and will be available for service as soon as weather permits.

We are in real need of a string of sunny days to dry out the ground so the paving company can finish.

May 1, 2025

After 7 months, WE’RE BACK!!! (And I’m a week late sending this out). Hangar doors are up … they work great and they look great!!

There is a lot of pride at the Airfield and the Air Museum and justly so … our volunteers and contractors

The monthly meeting of our Museum Members on April 24th was held at the Museum proper and was well attended…we noted the passing of one of the Museum’s stalwarts; Don Buck flew west on April 17th. Don was the long-time treasurer of the Museum and was regularly seen on a tall ladder, cleaning leaves from the building gutters or wielding a rake to clear the drainage system until recently. He showed up just about every day, sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for a whole day and he loved showing off the displays on the Museum floor. We and many of our returning visitors miss him.

There are airplanes flying on our field once more! Alex and Mark set down their tools for hanging hangar doors and turned to their experimental Kolb Mk III Xtra. First flight after 6 months of anticipation was Sunday, April 27th and the second shortly after. There are adjustments to be made and more test flights to satisfy them and the FAA but the program is underway at last and a summer of flying is right around the corner

Bill Kemper is tuning up his Aerolite 103 next door to Mark and Alex. There’s a beautiful Cessna 182A belonging to Tim Anderson in the Museum hangar. Tom Charbonneau has his Piper Cub back in his hangar. A couple of airplanes are still hostages in repair and refurbishment shops: Dan Field’s Piper Arrow and Whittaker Warrington’s Maule (it’s a good thing Whittaker’s shop is late by many months, otherwise his airplane would have been caught by Hurricane Helene).

We’re anticipating some new airplanes at our little corner of the world and we’ll show them off as they arrive.

There is going to be a special event on May 17th at the next-door airport involving antique cars and who knows what. The airport will be closed to flight operations all day. Happy Helicopters or Scenic Helicopters will be flying oX Johnson Field and people will be walking to and from to take their helicopter rides and visit the Air Museum. Keep informed. We recommend you not fly that day – be safe.

We’ve had to be a little creative to keep the mortgage paid; temporary hangarages, etc, and the waiting list has been revised on the fly to meet everyone’s expectations of fairness. Thank you for your patience and your help as we continue the restoration and recovery of the museum, the airfield and its buildings.

EAA meets on Tuesday the 13th; Museum meets on Thursday the 22nd @ 6pm.