From: garrison@efn.org   
      
   Fun facts about Lunken Airport   
      
   • Columbia, which became the first settlement in the Cincinnati area in 1788,   
   was located on land now part of Lunken Airport.   
      
   • Part of Lunken was used as a polo field until its permanent establishment as   
   an airport in 1925.   
      
   • A large crowd was on hand to welcome Charles Lindbergh when he landed at   
   Lunken to refuel in 1927. Earlier that year, Lindbergh had become an   
   international celebrity when he made the first solo nonstop flight across the   
   Atlantic Ocean.   
      
   • Howard Hughes and Jean Harlow came to Lunken in 1930 to participate in the   
   three-day celebration for the airport's formal dedication. At the time, Lunken   
   was the largest municipal airport in the world.   
      
   • Lunken had one of the first airport control towers in the United States.   
      
   • The Beatles landed at Lunken in 1964 when they came to perform at old Crosley   
   Field.   
      
   • The airport earned the nickname "Sunken Lunken" because of the many times it   
   was flooded.   
      
   • Part of the Little Miami River was straightened in the early 1960s to   
   eliminate a bend in the river that was located where the airport's main runway   
   is now situated.   
      
   By Steve Kemme • skemme@enquirer.com  • April 25, 2010   
      
   Lunken Airport's Art Deco-style terminal, one of Cincinnati's historic   
   landmarks, displayed its durability while it was being built.   
      
   With the terminal weeks from completion, the monumental 1937 flood nearly   
   covered the entire building. But workers repaired the damage and finished the   
   terminal so Lunken, the Cincinnati region's prime airport at that time, could   
   continue expanding its passenger and commercial service.   
      
   Located near the Ohio and Little Miami rivers, the terminal since has withstood   
   many more floods and destructive storms. Although it's still a grand building,   
   it's showing its age. As a result, the airport's owner, the City of Cincinnati,   
   is developing a plan to preserve and restore the terminal.   
      
   • Photos: Lunken Airport   
      
   "It's seldom you find buildings of this age that have been preserved at   
   airports," said Fred Anderton, manager of Lunken Airport. "My concern is that   
   if   
   we don't do something to preserve and restore it, at some point, it just might   
   give up on us."   
      
   Cheri Rekow, a city planner, has begun to work on a detailed report outlining   
   what needs to be done to maintain the building, enhance its usable space and   
   restore it to its original aesthetic grandeur.   
      
   The plan will comprise short-term and long-term goals. The cost of proposed   
   improvements can't be calculated until the report is completed, Anderton said.   
      
   "Money is going to be an issue," Rekow said. "The plan will prioritize repairs   
   and recommend capital improvements over the next five, 10 and 20 years."   
      
   The city will seek grants and private donations to fund as much of the project   
   as possible.   
      
   The Cincinnati Aviation Heritage Society & Museum, which operates a small   
   museum   
   in the terminal, will help raise funds.   
      
   "It's such a marvelous old building and deserved to be saved," said Charlie   
   Pyles, museum curator. "We're happy to be part of that effort."   
      
   Anderton hopes some repairs and restoration work can be completed in time for   
   the 2012 celebration of the 75th anniversary of the terminal's opening.   
      
   The two biggest repair items are replacing parts of the terminal's roof and   
   installing central heating and air-conditioning. The terminal currently is   
   heated by radiators and cooled by window air-conditioner units.   
      
   The original control tower on top of the terminal looks battered and   
   weather-worn. Now used only for storage, it had been one of the first airport   
   control towers in the United States when the terminal was built. The metal   
   piece   
   used to send light signals to pilots still hangs from the ceiling.   
      
   "I would like to put the control tower back in its original condition,"   
   Anderton   
   said.   
      
   But if the cost of restoration is too high, the airport might have to   
   reconstruct it.   
      
   Rekow is using blueprints of the terminal's original architectural drawings to   
   determine what needs to be done to restore the terminal's lobby.   
      
   The 1937 flood destroyed colored plasterwork that craftsmen were creating to   
   adorn the space below the second-floor railings overlooking the lobby. The   
   ornamental plasterwork was being painted to match the gigantic murals that   
   dominate the lobby.   
      
   Using the blueprints as a guide, Rekow has made a mold of a fan motif that was   
   a   
   primary detail of the plasterwork.   
      
   In 1961, an office that was supposed to be temporary was built in the front   
   part   
   of the lobby. It's still there. To restore the lobby to its original   
   symmetrical   
   design, Rekow would like to eliminate that office.   
      
   The construction of the terminal was a project of the Works Progress   
   Administration, a federal program formed during the Great Depression to create   
   jobs.   
      
   With the 1947 opening of what is now the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky   
   International Airport, Lunken lost its status as the region's premiere airport.   
      
   But with its location 10 minutes from downtown Cincinnati, Lunken is an   
   important corporate regional airport. There are 242 aircraft based at Lunken,   
   and an average of 197 take-offs and landings occur there each day.   
      
   "We have an amazing asset here," said John Bentley, a member of the airport's   
   advisory board.   
      
   Bentley, a landscape architect, is a cousin of Edward Kruckemeyer, who headed   
   the architectural firm Kruckemeyer & Strong that designed Lunken's terminal.   
   Bentley's father, Alden Cody Bentley, was a commercial pilot who often flew in   
   and out of Lunken.   
      
   Though John Bentley never wanted to learn to fly, he has a deep affection for   
   Lunken and especially for its terminal.   
      
   "I think it's wonderful that we're making plans to preserve the terminal," he   
   said. "Like all historical things, if you don't maintain it, it won't be around   
   very long."   
      
   http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/2010042   
   /NEWS01/4260301/   
      
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