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

 

[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.

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.

In the 1920s, Fox said the United States Postal Service decided they wanted a faster way to deliver mail around the U.S. The Assistant Postmaster General decided he wanted to try airmail. Fox said the first airmail was on the East Coast in Boston and New York

The Heritage In Flight Museum is based on military history displaying many artifacts and memorabilia from the wars as far back as World War I. In addition, Fox said many civilians have donated items.

As Fox gave everyone a tour of the museum, he talked about some of the exceptional and unusual items housed there.

One of the large items Fox showed everyone was an aircraft engine. It is a prototype built in Lincoln between 1929 and 1933 by John Hermann. When Hermann started his company, he wanted to start an aircraft engine factory here. The shop was where Regions Bank is now. Tragically, Hermann was killed in a 1937 aircraft accident. The company went out of business and Fox said investors took the engine apart and took pieces home. The engine was found in someone’s garage later.

Another exhibit shows Beason’s Red Irwin, a pilot in the late 1920s who flew in an airplane made of fabric. He was a “barnstormer” who went from town to town landing in pastures and giving people rides. Irwin later got a job with Texaco oil and flew a Lockheed Touchstar Corporate Jet as he prospected for oil fields in South America.

A corner in one part of the museum is dedicated to the Women’s Auxiliary. Fox said these women were great pilots who flew the same airplanes that the Army Air Corps flew in the war. The women were not treated well by the U.S. Government. Fox said they did not receive benefits and were not considered military even when they were doing military type work. Jackie Cochran, the head of the Women’s Auxiliary, fought for years for the women to get recognition.

Local man Billy Chambers, who flew in the army Air Corps in World War II, donated one display.

Wooden airplane models include a B25 carved by Stan Paulis. Fox said Paulis carved several models for the museum.

One display is in honor of Frank Linden “Lindy” Fancher, a World War II veteran from Illinois.

Towards the back of the museum are tins of “Forever Crackers” meant to sustain people in a bomb shelter. Fox said these tins were originally in the basement of the Logan County Courthouse when it was turned into a bomb shelter in the 1950s. When the Courthouse basement was cleaned out, Fox said the crackers were donated to the Heritage In Flight Museum. Unfortunately, one tin has been opened.

Heritage In Flight is more than just a museum. Fox said the group does a lot of community service. Something Fox is the proudest of is HIF paying the tuition for area fifth or sixth grade science classes to go to the Challenger Learning Center. The Center is located on the Heartland Community College Campus in Normal.

Next month’s Logan County Genealogical and Historical Society meeting will be Monday, July 17 at 6:30 at LCGHS center on Chicago Street. Nathan Pennisi, Illinois American Water Company Superintendent, will share the history of Lincoln’s first water system in the 1800s and some of the advancements over the years.

[Angela Reiners]