AIRPLANES
Background Information
(Adapted from "The Warren Airport" by Doris A. Brennan, Steppin' Out, March 1980; "Harold Beach Opens New Airport in Scandia Area," Times Mirror and Observer, July 21, 1967; and "A New Airport for Warren County" by Garney Pedersen, Steppin' Out, July 1972)
"Wanted! More Fools! All are eligible! Campaign for Airport Funds Gets Under Way in Warren."
Judging from this October 1928 newspaper headline, Warrenites greeted the coming of the airplane age with much excitement and a great deal of humor. Having caught the reader's attention, the article goes on to state,
Wanted--More Fools! Fellows like Fulton, Langley--yes, even Lindberg--were in the ‘fool’ crowd once. And now--About nine Warren fools want company. They believe firmly in the tremendous future of aviation. They believe that Warren must have an airport now. Their aim is to attract outside fliers to stimulate local aviation and to put Warren where it belongs in this vitally important and profitable field. So they've gone ahead an put up their own money to start the ball rolling.
With local sponsorship, much of it from oil producers and refiners, the Warren Airways Airport became a reality in 1930. In 1934, the airport property was donated to the Borough of Warren. In 1935, it officially became known as the Warren Airport, and V.S. “Slip” King was appointed manager and chief pilot.
Warren had its first airmail delivery in May of 1938, celebrating National Air Mail Week. Pilots from all over the country took part, including four Warren County pilots. Shortly afterwards, Warren began regular airmail service. Because landing and taking off unnecessarily were both time consuming and dangerous, airmail pilots did not actually land in Warren, but dropped and received mail in a rather ingenious way. "A mail plane would zoom over the field and let down from the plane a hook that latched onto a sack of air mail dangling from a line between two poles on the field. At the same time, the plane would drop a sack of incoming mail on to the field.”
In 1940, with the entry of the United States into World War II imminent, a Civilian Pilot Training class was instituted at Warren Airport, with ten young men enrolled as pilot trainees. “Slip” King and his assistant instructors, including Helen Walker and Frank Lucie, trained many young men and women who went on to fly missions during the war.
Activity decreased following the war years, and in March of 1973, the hanger was demolished and a by-pass road project cut through the Warren Airport Property. Privately operated airports have continued to exist in Warren County, still serving local pilots and plane-owners. Examples include John Teconchuk’s Brokenstraw Airport in Pittsfield and Emory Mahan's airport on Yankee Bush Road.
Additional Resources:
Courtesy of the Warren County Historical Society