Curt Fox discusses the Logan County Airport and Heritage in Flight Museum at June LCGHS meeting

Send a link to a friend  Share

[June 21, 2023]    The June 19 Logan County Genealogical and Historical Society (LCGHS) meeting was held at the Logan County Airport with Curt Fox presenting the program.

Fox has been both a pilot and flight instructor for many years. He shared some background of the Logan County Airport and the Heritage In Flight Museum.

Logan County Airport

The Logan County Airport was started in 1947 after people in the county decided they needed an airport. Fox said the county passed an airport authority taxing district to get enough money to pay for an airport.

Because the taxing district was under a sunset clause, Fox said when the county got enough money to get an airport, the taxing district went away. For all these years, Fox said the airport has not had local tax money. Crops, fuel sales and hangar rent provide financial support for the airport and federal grants [which the airport matches] help with major projects.

On the West side of Lincoln where Walmart is now, Fox said there used to be another airfield. It was owned by the Bock family.

The Logan County Airport runway is 4000 feet. Though many runways are 5000 feet, Fox said a tall spire [on the nearby chapel] keeps them from being able to have a runway that big.

In answer to a question about grass runways, Fox said they are a lot less expensive.

Someone else had a question about the acreage at the airport.

Logan County Airport manager Gene Rohlfs said altogether there are about 300 acres.

Businesses located at the Logan County Airport included the Heritage in Flight Museum, Logan County Air Frame and Engine, Chuck Holzwarth’s Flying [Aerial Application] Service and an aircraft broker who buys and sells airplanes.

A few years ago, the skydiving club from Minier closed because their airport was too much to take care of. Fox said the Illinois Valley Parachute Club then started using space at the airport for skydiving.

Several interesting artifacts are found in the hangar and on the airport grounds near the Heritage In Flight Museum. Fox said these include a World War II search light, a Huey helicopter used in the Vietnam War, an F4 Phantom from Chanute Air Force Base, a T33 training version of the first Air Force jet and a C45 World War II plane.

An A7 behind one building was on its way to the bone orchard in Arizona, where Fox said old airplanes are stored. It was in 1991 during the war in Kuwait and on the way to Arizona, the pilots got a call asking them to turn around because the plane was needed in the war. This plane was the first one used in Baghdad during the Iraq War. Fox said it was flown by Patrick Driscoll of Chicago, who went on to have a great career.

[to top of second column]

Heritage In Flight Museum

The Heritage In Flight Museum began in 1980 in Springfield. Fox said the major plan there was to rebuild a World War II B25 Bomber. They worked hard on the rebuilding and had a lot of members and enthusiasm. Unfortunately, before the group was done building it, Fox said they ran out of money. The group decided they needed to find a new location.

Around that time, Fox said the Logan County Airport was preparing to build a new administration building and the old building was going to be torn down. When members of the Heritage In Flight group found out about it, they asked about moving everything from their museum to the airport. Fox said the Logan County Board approved it and said Heritage In Flight would have to pay the County one dollar per year.

The building that houses the Heritage In Flight Museum was originally a barracks at Camp Ellis, a World War II training base near Ipava, Illinois designed to teach engineering. Fox said the 18,000 acre Camp Ellis had training areas, a shooting range and a hospital. One unusual feature was that it served as a German POW camp. Fox said there were some German POW Camps scattered through the U.S.

After the war, Camp Ellis was closed, and the buildings were given away. Fox said in the late 1940s, the barracks was relocated to the Logan County Airport. These buildings were not designed to last, but this one is somehow still standing. The building has had new siding put on it and Fox said termites have been “kicked out” of it.

Behind the building is a tall structure, which Fox said is a green and white light that comes on at night identifying the area as an airport. The tower was originally built in the 1930s as a lighted airway and was in a field near Atlanta.

One of the many initial problems with airmail is that they could only fly during the day. Fox said there was no electronic navigation at night, so the pilots could not see towns in the distance. When it got late in the day, Fox said they would take the mail off the plane and put the mail on trains, which was inefficient.

As airmail routes expanded from New York to Chicago, Fox said pilots needed a way to fly at night. Someone then came up with the lighted airway system. Towers like the one at the Logan County Airport can be found every 20 miles around the U.S. allowing for nighttime navigation.

[Angela Reiners]

 

Back to top