XPost: rec.aviation.military   
   From: garrison@efn.org   
      
   Flood sank Lunken plans   
      
   This story was written by reporter Steve Kemme, skemme@enquirer.com.   
      
   The aviation craze that swept the nation after World War I had a big   
   impact on a large, flat field in eastern Cincinnati that had been part   
   of the city?s first settlement, Columbia.   
      
   Barnstorming pilots ? many of them former World War I fighter pilots ?   
   began landing and taking off from the field near Beechmont and Wilmer   
   avenues in an area known as Turkey Bottoms, named for the wild turkeys   
   that roamed through the cornfields.   
      
   Photos: Historic Lunken Airport   
      
   ?In those days, stunt pilots would buzz a town and make a racket to   
   get people to look up at them,? said Charlie Pyles, curator of the   
   Cincinnati Aviation Heritage Museum at Lunken Airport. ?They would   
   find a field, land there, jump out of the airplane and make a deal   
   with a farmer. Then they would give people rides and charge them. They   
   were all trying to make money to pay for their flying.?   
   In 1921, Dixie Davis, one of the pilots using Turkey Bottoms as a   
   flying field, decided to start a flying school there. Part of that   
   land was used as a polo field until Davis established a permanent   
   airfield there in 1925.   
      
   By 1930, that airfield had evolved into Lunken Airport, which claimed   
   to be the largest municipal airport in the country.   
      
   Today, Lunken is the largest general aviation airport in Greater   
   Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky and the primary reliever for the   
   Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport. It?s used mainly   
   for corporate, charter, commercial and private aviation.   
      
   By the mid-1920s, aviation had shifted from a mostly novelty,   
   thrill-seeking orientation to more practical, commercial concerns.   
   That?s why Davis turned the flying field at Turkey Bottoms into a   
   permanent airfield.   
      
   In 1925, Talton Higbee Embry and John Paul Riddle formed the   
   Embry-Riddle Co. at Lunken. Embry was a wealthy aviation enthusiast   
   and Riddle was a pilot who had first flown into Lunken in 1921, when   
   polo games were being played there.   
      
   In 1926, Embry-Riddle founded the first government-approved flight   
   school in the nation at Lunken and received one of the earliest U.S.   
   air mail contracts.   
      
   ?The passengers those days sat in open cockpits with sacks of mail in   
   their laps, except on deluxe flights,? Riddle told a newspaper   
   reporter in 1956. ?On deluxe flights, passengers sat on top of the   
   mail.?   
      
   Embry-Riddle merged with another firm that became American Airlines.   
      
   One of the more unusual commercial ventures at the airport in those   
   early years was ?The Flying Cigar Store? of Col. Roscoe Turner. In the   
   late 1920s, Turner frequently flew into Lunken to sell cigars, razors,   
   watches, lipstick and other items.   
      
   One of the airfield?s earliest landmark events occurred in 1927 when   
   Charles Lindbergh landed there to refuel. Earlier that year, Lindbergh   
   had earned worldwide acclaim by making the first solo nonstop flight   
   across the Atlantic Ocean. A huge crowd came to Lunken to welcome him.   
      
   Lunken would be called Lunkenheimer Airport if Edmund H. Lunken hadn?t   
   changed his surname from Lunkenheimer to Lunken in 1892. Lunken, whose   
   family owned a valve company, wanted a shorter, more American-sounding   
   name.   
      
   Aware of the increasing economic importance of aviation, Edmund H.   
   Lunken in 1926 bought Davis? 204-acre airfield and donated it to   
   Cincinnati on the condition that it be developed as a municipal   
   airport and be named Lunken Airport.   
      
   City voters approved a $500,000 bond issue to fund the development of   
   the airport. That enabled Cincinnati to buy 870 acres adjoining Lunken   
   and improve and expand the facility.   
      
   In 1929, more than 8,000 passengers and 80,000 pounds of mail flew out   
   of Lunken. That year, 29,000 planes took off from the airport. In just   
   one decade, the airport had developed from a small airfield for   
   barn-storming pilots to a major transportation and commercial hub.   
      
   The city held a three-day dedication celebration for the airport Sept.   
   26-28, 1930. Celebrities such as Howard Hughes, Jean Harlow and stunt   
   pilot Jimmy Doolittle participated in the dedication. Harlow handed   
   prizes to the winners of the aerobatic contest.   
      
   ?Lunken had big concrete runways,? Pyles said. ?That?s what set Lunken   
   apart from a lot of airports. A lot of runways in those days were   
   grass.?   
      
   City leaders envisioned Lunken, located near the Ohio and Little Miami   
   rivers, becoming the area?s international airport.   
      
   But the catastrophic 1937 flood essentially ended that plan. The   
   floodwaters nearly covered the terminal, which was just weeks from   
   completion, and earned the airport the nickname, Sunken Lunken.   
      
   The damage to the terminal was repaired and the building was   
   completed.   
      
   Lunken?s flood plain and its limited capacity for further expansion   
   led to the international airport being located in Boone County. In   
   1947, American, Delta and Trans-World airlines moved their operations   
   from Lunken to the new airport now called the Cincinnati-Northern   
   Kentucky International Airport.   
      
   Since then, Lunken has remained an important airport for corporate   
   jets and commercial flights.   
      
   It also has continued to have moments of glory. Many national   
   dignitaries, including U.S. presidents, have flown in and out of   
   Lunken. In 1964, the Beatles flew into Lunken for their concert at   
   Crosley Field. They walked through the terminal to their limousine.   
      
   Cincinnati, still Lunken?s owner, is developing a plan to preserve the   
   airport?s 73-year-old Art Deco-style terminal that features gigantic   
   murals in its lobby. The plan is nearly completed, but cost of the   
   work hasn?t been determined yet.   
      
   It would be funded with revenues from the airport, not from the city?s   
   general fund. But work probably won?t start until the economic climate   
   improves, said Fred Anderton, airport manager.   
      
   ?If aviation were to turn around and do better, we would have a plan   
   in place to guide us in the preservation and restoration of the   
   building,? he said. ?Few airports have buildings left from that era.?   
      
   Have a suggestion for Our History? E-mail skemme@enquirer.com or call   
   513-768-6040.   
      
   http://cincinnati.com/blogs/ourhistory/2010/12/28/flood-sank-lunken-plans/   
      
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