Long's Airport Hangar Donated – Feb. 1973

Courtesy Bob Kovach

When pioneer aviator Bill Long passed away in February 1971, it set into motion a controversy as to what to do with the 120-acre property. Many area residents wanted the city to purchase the land for use as a park, civic center or International Lorain center site. In the end, however, the Clarkins Discount Stores won out with a generous offer for the land. The Lorain Clarkins store opened at that location in April 1973.

So what became of the former airport buildings on the property – specifically the hangar (shown above)?

The article below, which appeared in the Journal on Feb. 2, 1973 reveals that it was donated by Clarkins to the Experimental Aircraft Association of Lorain County, who hoped to move it out to the Lorain County Regional Airport on Russia Road.

So it is out there at the county airport today? I had to find out.

I called the airport, hoping (naively) that the person who answered the phone would matter-of-factly point out that yes, the old hangar was out there and still in use. 

But no such luck. It was suggested that I contact the Experimental Aircraft group directly – so I did.

Jim Griner, President of Chapter 127 of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) was kind enough to quickly respond with an offer to investigate the matter by bringing it up at the next Chapter meeting out at the Lorain County Airport that weekend.

By the following Monday, he had my answer. "The hangar was given to EAA Chapter 255," he noted. "They took it down and sold the materials to provide funding for their Chapter."

My thanks to Jim Griner for his assistance. You can visit the EAA website by clicking here, and the Lorain County Chapter 127 website here, which provides information about attending their monthly meetings.

Lorain City Airport “Photo Bomb” – 1969

When reviewing old Journal microfilm at the library, it’s always interesting to discover a photo in the paper of some Lorain landmark that no longer exists – especially one that fewer and fewer residents remember.

Once in a while, the landmark is not even the subject of the photo, and just managed to get into the background. In this case, it’s the familiar headquarters building of the old Lorain City Airport (also known as Long’s Airport). The photo ran in the Journal on October 30, 1969.

It’s unfortunate that the focus of the piece is an accident that occurred right in front of the airport building, but at least there were no casualties. As the caption notes, a gentleman was charged with failure to yield the right-of-way when his tractor collided at the intersection of Leavitt Road and Mark Drive with an auto.

Here’s a 1964 view of the airport, courtesy of the Lorain Historical Society. You can see Mark Drive and the airport building in the lower right of the photograph. By the way, that’s pre-widened Leavitt Road.

Here’s a similar, current Google Maps view.

And today – fifty-two years after the Journal article, newer residents of the area have no idea that the Lorain City Airport was ever there.

Looking west from Mark Drive towards where
Lorain City Airport used to be

Bill Long & His Airports – Part 3

By the late 1960s, Bill Long was well-established as Lorain’s aviation pioneer. He had already been the subject of a 1959 article in the Lorain Journal when he was 74 years old. Thus by 1967, at the age of 83, he had become even more larger than life – and consequently was profiled again in the Journal. 

Here’s the article, which appeared in the paper on May 19, 1967.

In the article he mentions many of the famous people that he rubbed elbows with, including Charles Lindbergh and Henry Ford.

By the time of the 1967 article, the City of Lorain had been trying to acquire Long’s Airport for other uses for some time. In this article, which ran in the Journal on Dec. 16, 1968, Long apparently agreed to sell – but like previous agreements, this one crashed and burned as well.

Bill Long passed away a few years later on Feb. 9, 1971. (I posted his obituary here.) What became of all the things he accumulated over the years – his aviation trophies, scrapbooks and antique cars? They were all sold in a series of circus-like auctions held at his house and his airport. This article from the May 23, 1971 Journal tells the somewhat sad story.

It would be interesting to find out what, if anything, of Bill Long’s personal effects ended up down at the Lorain Historical Society.

Bill Long & His Airports – Part 2

Older Lorainites (like me) remember Long’s Airport on the Northeast corner of Meister and Leavitt Roads. 

How long was it there? The article below from the July 30, 1945 Lorain Journal notes, “Lorain has a new private airport today, designated as “Lorain Airport.”

“The new flying field is at the northwest corner of the intersection of Meister-rd and Leavitt-rd, across Leavitt-rd from Port Mills, operated by Ray McClenaghan.

“The new field is owned by William Long. W. A. Spademan is assistant manager.”

Meanwhile, Ray and Ruth McClenaghan bought Port Mills in the mid-1940s, and changed the name to Lorain Skyport. 

1948 Lorain Phone book ad

It’s a little confusing when one consults phone books and city directories from the late 1940s to research Lorain’s airports. The main thing to remember is that both airports housed flying schools. The flight instruction school at Long’s Airport was called Buckeye Airways, Inc.

1947 Lorain Phone book listing

1947 Lorain Phone book ad

By the late 1950s, operations were winding down at the Lorain Skyport. In early January 1956, Lorain contractor Clem Rice purchased a strip of the Skyport property to build 20 homes along Meister Road, with an option to purchase the entire airport property. The entire development would eventually consist of 200 to 300 homes.

By 1960, Long’s Airport was the only airport in Lorain. But there was still plenty of activity there. In May 1960, preparations were being made for a Fly-in Air Show.

This article from the May 20, 1960 Lorain Journal shows the newly painted hangar.

And here’s a photo from the actual event, which ran in the Journal on June 6, 1960. That’s Meister Road in the background of the photo, which is looking south.

And here’s a 1964 view of Long’s Airport, courtesy of the Lorain Historical Society.

In the photo, you can see the hangar with LORAIN on its roof; the new homes near Mark Drive; and the former Black River Fire Station at Meister & Leavitt (at the bottom center). 

Next: Celebrity

Lorain Aviator “Bill” Long Passes Away – Feb. 9, 1971

As I’ve mentioned a few times, the early 1970s were a time of great change in Lorain. It was like the city was getting a major makeover, and quickly transitioning from the Lorain that our parents grew up in to the city that we know now. 

Besides the obvious physical changes taking place (such as the demolition of structures in preparation for a new City Hall and Urban Renewal projects) there was also the human factor – the passing of well-known local individuals that were larger than life.

One of them was aviation pioneer William “Bill” Long, who passed away fifty years ago this month on Feb. 9, 1971. I’m sure it would be difficult for many newer Lorain residents to believe that there was an airport run by Bill Long on Leavitt Road where the P.C. Campana Industrial Park is now located (or that there was another airport before that, across Leavitt Road and extending east almost all the way to Oberlin Avenue.

Anyway, here is the obituary for Mr. Long that ran in the Journal on Feb. 9, 1971. His passing was front-page news.

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I’ve blogged about Bill Long and his airport (also known as the Lorain City Airport) before on this blog, including a post featuring a 1959 interview with him written by Journal writer Edward Brown.

Our good friend Bob Kovach shared these great photos of the hangar and another building at Long’s Airport, as well as a personal reminisce of Mr. Long. This post featured a photo of an old Lake Shore Electric car that sat on Long’s Airport property.

Longtime blog contributor Rick Kurish wrote a post about Benoist Flying Boats that included a mention of Bill Long’s 1917 Curtiss MF “Seagull” hydroaeroplane.

And I wrote about how our house on E. Skyline Drive was on the flight path to Long’s Airport back here, and how a plane crash-landed on a nearby vacant lot.

1972 Lorain City Airport Photos

Here's a few more photos from our blog buddy Bob Kovach. He had already sent me the photo of Bill Long's Ercoupe a few days ago that I posted at the end of the article on Mr. Long. Now Bob has dug into his photo collection again and come up with two more gems.

Above is a nice shot of the Lorain City Airport hangar from July 1972. Remember that windsock? And the words LORAIN on the roof?

And below is a photo from September 1972 of the other building on the property – what a great shot. Who knows – this might be the only known photograph of it!

The Lorain City Airport was a big part of Bob's life while he was growing up, since he lived on Mark Drive, which was right across from it. Bob remembers Mr. Long too.

As Bob tells it, "I can remember one time speaking to him over by the white building that was at the airport. Mostly I remember his beard! I also remember many times us kids playing outside when his little plane would fly low and slow overhead. We would all start waving our arms and sure enough he would tilt the wings up and down as he passed by. I think he looked forward to us being out there."

What a great reminisce – thanks for sharing it and the photos, Bob!

1964 Lorain City Airport & LSE #149 Photo

One of the best things about doing a blog is hearing from someone who actually reads it and found something interesting. And when they send you a photo or clipping related to the topic, it's like getting an early Christmas present!

My blog posts about the Lorain City Airport are still generating some nice emails and photos from readers, who have been kind enough to grant me permission to post them here.

The photo at left (click on it for a closer look) is from local historian and archivist Dennis Lamont, who has helped me out on several occasions (such as providing the vintage aerial photo of Lorain that solved my Gregg/Foote House mystery). 

As Dennis related, the photo is of the Lake Shore Electric wood coach #149, shown at the Lorain City Airport in 1964. The photo is looking north towards the hangar. Leavitt Road would be to the right of the photo.

Apparently this car's history is very well documented. According to Dennis, #149 was disassembled in Sandusky in 1938, and from there was trucked to a bar in Birmingham, then to the Lorain City Airport, then to Paul Eckler's Farm outside of Norwalk, then to Delta, Ohio, then to Lions Park near Sylvania and then to its final resting place (which I'll reveal at the end of this post).

The great Arcadia Publishing Lake Shore Electric Railway book (by Dennis Lamont, Thomas J. Patton and Albert Doane) includes this photo of #149 with the following caption. "Car No. 149, one of the "big" Niles cars, was extended to 60 feet in 1923 so it could handle the large passenger loads necessary to work the Cleveland-to-Lorain runs and school bus runs. The Cleveland-to-Lorain operation was the most profitable service ever handled by LSE, and it was profitable right to the end of the line."

Today #149 is part of the Northern Ohio Railway Museum in Chippewa Lake, Ohio. Click here to see #149's page on the Museum website.

And if you're looking for more online information about the Lake Shore Electric Railway, be sure to drop by Drew Penfield's Lake Shore Rail Maps website.

Thanks again to Dennis Lamont for the great photo.

And I'm not through with the airport yet – the photos's are still a-coming in!

1960's Memories of Skyline Drive Part 3

One of the things I associate with those early years on E. Skyline Drive is something that many Lorainites will also remember: the airport at the northwest corner of Meister Road and Leavitt Road.

City directories at that time list it as being called the Lorain City Airport and it was also known as Long's Airport.

The reason that this airport is so much a part of my memories is because our house on E. Skyline Drive was directly in the line of approach for the landing strip. (If you look at the map at left, the runway points downward to the 'S' in SKYLINE which is where our house was.)

Consequently, my family would constantly see small planes coming in diagonally across the sky, coming in for a landing. It was a sight that we would get very used to. My brother Ken humorously compared it to watching a bunch of 5 O'Clock Charlie's (from the well-known M*A*S*H episode).

At least once, our proximity to the airport resulted in some excitement. A plane unexpectedly (and loudly) landed in the field a few hundred feet from our house. I still remember running over to the plane along with everyone else to see what happened. I can't remember why the pilot was forced to land there, but my family still talks about 'when the plane crashed by our house'.

The airport closed in the early 1970's, bringing to a close Lorain's long era of municipal and private airports. It was replaced by a Clarkins department store at the site around 1973 or so.

It was rather comical that a few years after the airport closed, we continued to see airplanes making the familiar approach for the runway that was no longer there!

The Clarkins store eventually closed as well. Today the airport site is the P.C. Campana Industrial Park, home for a variety of companies and organizations, including Fastenal Co., Skylift and the Lorain Preparatory Academy.

The former Clarkins store

Looking at the site today, a newer Lorain resident might find it hard to believe that an airport was there for so many years and that Lorain actually had a need for one.


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