The story of aviation in Lordship has spanned over 100 years, even before the Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk in 1903. The Lordship Bluffs became a regular stop on the barnstorming circuit. There were several accidents and interesting adventures in the time before the current airport was built in 1927.
From Popular Aviation, January 1935: The mile and a half flight, made August 14, 1901, occurred at Lordship Manor, now a suburb of Bridgeport and took place somewhere in the vicinity of the site of the present Sikorsky airplane factory. It was on 14 August 1901 in the early morning hours, when a racy monoplane became airborne. At the controls was the German inventor and builder, Gustave A. Whitehead. Powered by his self-built motors, the flight with his "No. 21" (pictured above) carried him a half a mile, then alighted gently and undamaged. All this occurred two years, four months and three days prior to the flight of the Wright Brothers.Anton Pruckner, with whom Whitehead had made many flights, swore the following under oath: "I did witness and was present at the time of the 14 August 1901 flight. The flight was about a 1/2 mile in distance overall and about 50 feet or so in the air. The plane circled a little to one side and landed easily with no damage to it or the engine or the occupant who was Gustave Whitehead". Further Junius Harworth attested in a statutory declaration that "...I was present on the occasion when Mr. Whitehead succeeded in flying his machine, propelled by a motor at Lordship Manor, Connecticut...for about four minutes". During all this testing, Whitehead made more than one flight, unless his machine was damaged. Differences in witness reports are due to the fact, that on 14 August 1901 four flights were made. The airplane used in 1901 had been constructed by Mr. Whitehead in its entirety; both engine and plane were his own idea. It was a monoplane with a four-cylinder two-cycle motor located forward. Ignition was of the make and break type and Columbia dry batteries were used. The gas tank was gravity-fed and held two gallons of petrol. The body of the machine was constructed of pine, spruce, and bamboo, reinforced with Shelby steel tubing and piano wires. The wing coverings were of Japanese silk, varnished and fastened to the bamboo struts with white tape. The wings spread out behind th e two propellers, and were supported with wires running to a central mast. The entire thing weighed approximately 800 pounds. With Mr. Whitehead aboard the weight was increased to about 965 pounds.
 Whitehead woodcut |
 Whitehead's shop |
JUNE 3,1943 - R. H. Burroughs makes forced landing of V-173 on Lordship: An engine vapor lock forced it to make an emergency landing on June 3, 1943, on Lordship Beach (Russian Beach) on Long Island Sound. Pilot Burroughs flipped it over on its back in soft sand trying to avoid running over a sunbather, whose towel was found underneath the upturned Pancake when it was righted. The aircraft broke two propeller blades in the mishap. Lindbergh and Zimmerman were watching when it disappeared from sight and rushed to the beach. Up to then Lindbergh had declined to fly the aircraft. "He was worried that if the aircraft turned over on its back the cockpit would be crushed and he would be trapped," Zimmerman recalled. "The aircraft did overturn, the canopy was not crushed. Burroughs exited through it after shoving some sand aside." Lindy then remarked to Zimmerman, "Now I'm ready to fly it." The airplane was towed back to the nearby plant and repaired. During its flying career, the Pancake was involved in several mishaps which were not too serious because of its light weight and slow speed. On one occasion it landed on Mill River golf course at Stratford. Being a secret project, the plane was placed under guard and towed back to the factory at night. Due to the unusual shape of the aircraft, there were many UFO sightings in the area during test flights. The project was cancelled by the Navy in March 1947 and the Navy approved the transfer of the V-173 to the Smithsonian. Although a light aircraft, the V-173's width of more than 30 feet almost filled a city street. A tractor towed it through Stratford and Bridgeport during the daytime and put it aboard a tugboat for transport to Norfolk. It took the tugboat two days and nights to make the short voyage in a snowstorm. Transfer to the Smithsonian storage yard came at a later date.
JULY 12, 1910 - AERO EDITOR IN PERIL, Jumps From Monoplane as It Nears Edge of Cliff - Saves Himself as Aeroplane Goes Over Cliff to Wreck: Stanley Y. Beach, aeronautic editor of the Scientific American, hurled himself from his Bleriot monoplane as it sped along the ground over a 50 foot cliff skirting Long Island Sound in Lordship Park 5 miles east of here, this afternoon. Beach escaped with a few bruises, but his flying machine had to be carried home in pieces. Just before his mishap he had made a flight over the Lordship golf links. He planned to run the machine along the ground until he came near the cliff, then to speed and ascend. His plans miscarried owing to the uneven surface of the meadow. When it was too late to shut off the engine, he threw himself free of the machine just at the instant his aeroplane shot over the edge of a cliff. He went rolling along the edge of the steep descent, while his machine launched forth into space and was wrecked on the rocks fifty feet below. It all happened so quickly that for a moment the crowd at Lordship Park could not realize whether or not the aviator had been killed. A score rushed to his assistance, but were relieved to see Beach pick himself up none the worse except for minor cuts and bruises. Beach had planned to take a flight over Long Island Sound and chose Lordship Park owned by a fashionable summer colony for his starting place. A long smooth golf meadow leads to a fifty foot cliff at the edge of the Sound. Over this meadow Beach made several short trial flights this morning, preparatory to the main flight and found his machine in good working order. All indications pointed to success when the machine was placed in position this afternoon and the aviator’s assistants twirled the propeller and started the engine going. The aeroplane which is mounted on three wheels answered to the pull of the motor and stated at high speed in the direction of the cliffs. About half way to the brink, Mr. Beach planned to rise from the ground, but the machine struck a patch of rough ground and was slightly retarded. He pulled the lever but the machine refused to lift and only sped on the ground toward the precipice.
 Bleriot monoplane |
Speeding the engine and pulling the lever with all his might the aviator made a last desperate attempt to get into the air. By that time he was on the very verge of the cliff. He hesitated only a moment then threw himself from his seat and the machine shot over the edge, twisted wildly like a wounded bird, turned over and over and crashed to the rocks fifty feet below. One of the spectators of the trial was Keeper Judson of the Stratford Lighthouse which is situated just off Lordship Park. Mr. Judson who is a friend of the aviator has watched the morning flights with enthusiasm and was waiting for the greater attempt which he knew was to follow in the afternoon. Through his field glasses he observed the start of the aeroplane. He saw it travel rapidly toward the precipice near the edge without rising and crash over the brink. He telephoned at once to Bridgeport for the automobile ambulance and the news quickly spread that aviator Beach had been killed. It was some time before this alarm was contradicted and the facts known. Beach declared that he was not discouraged but would build a new flier at once and continue his experiments. It is his great ambition to be the first aeroplanist to fly across Long Island Sound. Mr. Beach is the aeronautic editor of The Scientific American. He is a member of the Aero Club of America and has long been recognized as one of the most enthusiastic experimenters in the field of aerial navigation. His machine is unique, being the first car equipped with a gyroscope to keep it steady in the air. The gyroscope is attached directly below the engine and turns at a speed of from 2,700 to 3,000 revolutions a minute. It exerts a resisting force of 300 pounds a few feet out from the centre.
DECEMBER 3, 1918 - Stratford Folk See Army Plane Land in Midst Officers Drop at Lordship and Anchor for Football Game: The large aeroplane that landed at Lordship Park early Sunday afternoon remained in the open field all day and did not sail away until 2:30 this afternoon. Two officers from the aviation base at Minneola manned the machine, which flew about Stratford for some time Saturday afternoon before landing at Lordship. The machine had made a beautiful landing and the aviation officers made everything snug so that they could leave it and go to the football game at Newfield Park, Bridgeport yesterday, between a team from the Aviation field at Minneola and the Chain Company.
JUNE 30, 1919 - Army Aviators Make Forced Landing at Lordship Manor: Mistake Bathing Pavilion for Airplane Hangars on New Haven Field; Discover Error Too Late and Machine Crashes Into Tree - Say Marked Landing Places Should Be Provided Along New York and Boston Route. Their motor cutting out while, they were flying at a height of 7,000 feet above the waters of Long Island Sound, Lieutenant M. C. Hogue of San Francisco and Lieutenant Bud Brown of Mineola, L.I. made a forced landing at Lordship Manor, Stratford, late Saturday afternoon and spent Sunday overhauling their power plant before continuing their air journey to Boston. In gliding down from their high altitude over the water to a field on the shore close to Stratford lighthouse it was necessary for the pilots to choose quickly from the few landing fields within reach of the machine. As a result the men had the misfortune to collide with a tree at the edge of the field. The copper sheathing on one of the tips of the propeller was torn by the force of the collision with the tree, but prompt action on the part of Lieutenant Hogue prevented the ship from turning over and becoming wrecked. The two army flying lieutenants were on their way from Mineola to the landing field at Falmouth a short distance from Boston, when they were forced down at Stratford by their motor trouble. Flying a Curtiss JN-4 training machine with a winged Pegasus painted on the fuselage, they crossed the Sound high in the air at a point near Stratford. Maintaining an altitude of close to a mile and a half they sailed up the Sound and as their motor appeared to be running faultlessly they took the more direct route over the water in passing up the coast. The map which they were using to fly by was a small scale affair and the result was that they mistook Bridgeport for New Haven as they skirted along the coast. When their motor began to miss they decided to make a landing at a field which they had been told was near New Haven. Circling down in a wide sweep from the sky they headed for what they took to be the aeroplane hangars on the New Haven field but what proved to be the bathing pavilion at Lordship manor. The machine was down to within a few hundred feet of the ground when Lieutenant Hogue discovered that what looked at first like a good landing field was in reality no landing field at all. He pulled back on his "joystick," stretching his glide so that he was able to circle in over the high bluff west of the lighthouse and land in the open field at that point. Collision with the tree came as the machine rolled across the field to a stop. Inspection of the motor by the lieutenants showed that their motor failure was due to faulty adjustment of the float in then carburetor. Once discovered this fault was quickly remedied and yesterday morning Lieutenant Hogue decided to try out the machine before continuing on the long trip to Boston. The field in which the machine had landed being a comparatively small one, it was necessary to "take off" in a running "jump" off the Lordship cliff out over the Sound. This the army flier successfully accomplished, repeating the testing out trips in several flight's yesterday afternoon. A large crowd of summer cottagers from Lordship Manor and many Stratford residents watched the flier in his interesting stunts yesterday afternoon after he had gotten his machine into perfect running order. Several were given rides by the flier. While Lieutenant Hogue was completing the adjustment of the motor, Lieutenant Brown returned by rail to Ridgewood, N. J., for the purpose of obtaining a second machine with a fresh supply of gasoline and oil. It was planned to continue the trip to Boston, in the two machines, Lieutenant Hogue piloting one of them and Lieutenant Brown the other.
 JN-4 in a tree |
 Curtiss JN-4 Jenny |
 1920 Cinot Special |
 1920 Flying ad |
 Airport pre-1936 |
 1930's Flying Boat |
JUNE 30, 1919 - LOCAL WOMAN IN AERIAL THRILLER: Miss Ruth Calhoun Goes Through Immelmann Turn 1,000 Feet in Air. Hanging on her back 900 feet in the air for one breathless moment yesterday afternoon, Miss Ruth Calhoun, 21 year-old Lordship Manor girl achieved the honor of being the first local girl to fly through an Immelmann turn in an army aeroplane. As a passenger in the Curtiss J-N-4 training plane which made a forced landing on the Wilkenda Land Company's property at Lordship Manor Saturday she went aloft with Lieutenant W. C. Hogue, expert army pilot of San Francisco and Minneola and at her own request was treated to some of the thrills which few persons aside from army fliers have yet experienced. Securely strapped by the safety belt into the rear cockpit of the plane Miss Calhoun pulled a pair of goggles over her eyes, waved a greeting to her friends surrounding the machine and laughed gaily to the assembled crowd as the aeroplane, like a giant bird, sped away across the meadow under the guiding hand of Lieut. Hogue seated in the forward cockpit. Out toward the water rolled the big machine and just as it came within a few feet of the edge of the bluff which at this point makes a sheer drop of about 60 feet to the waters of the Sound, the plane rose beautifully into the air and circled out over the water toward Stratford Point light. Higher and higher circled the ship until it was almost impossible for the persons on the ground to make out the figures of the pilot and his fair passenger. An altitude of close to a thousand feet was reached in a few minutes by the army pilot and then the ship was soon to nose earthward, hurtle down for a short distance in the direction of the field and then curve upward in a wide arc, turning completely over onto its back as the pilot kicked it in an Immelmann and then whipped it over into its normal position to glide out of the stunt headed in the direction from which it had come. The crowd gave a gasp as the ship flicked into the Immelmann and then thrilled with admiration as the figure of Miss Calhoun was discerned in the rear cockpit. She was waving a reassuring greeting to members of her family and other friends on the ground. After circling the field a couple of time Lieut. Hogue nosed the ship down in a great long dive, leveled off over the heads of the crowd, and made a pretty three-point landing in the center of the field. Swinging the ship around he taxied back to the point from which he had started, cut his motor and assisted Miss Calhoun in alighting from the machine. "Oh! that was wonderful," were her first words, as with radiant face she turned to the flier. "I can understand now why you aviators must love the flying game." Miss Calhoun, who is employed in the office of the Raybestos Company in this city, although having the honor of being the first girl to experience the thrills of an Immelmann, was not the only person to be given a real stunt rule by the army lieutenant at the Wilkenda Company's field yesterday afternoon. Finding his machine behaving excellently after the carburetor had been adjusted following his forced landing with Lieut. Brown at Stratford Saturday, Lieut. Hogue offered to repay the hospitality shown him by Lordship Manor residents by taking some of them up for joy rides. Miss Florence Foley, employed at the Aetna Life Insurance Company's office in this city, formerly an employee of the Post Publishing Company, was another girl to be given a thrilling ride through the clouds over Lordship. Lieut. Hogue was entertained at dinner by Vincent Foley, Miss Foley's brother, yesterday afternoon and meeting Miss Foley at that time agreed to take her for a sky ride. She proved no less courageous than Miss Calhoun, Lieut. Hogue giving her a real thrill by coming down to the field in a spinning nose dive from a height of about 750 feet, leveling off slightly under a hundred feet above the ground. C. Johnson of Shelton, Conn., Mrs. D. Dillon, Mrs. Smith of this city and several other persons were taken up for rides by Lieut. Hogue while he was waiting at Lordship for the return of his flying partner, Lieut. Brown, who had gone to Ridgewood, N.J. to obtain another machine following a forced landing in the army plane Saturday due to motor trouble. Lieut. Hogue was a guest at the Calhoun residence Saturday following his forced landing here en route to Boston, Mass, and was entertained by the Foley family and other Lordship Manor people during his sojourn here. Before resuming his journey up the coast the lieutenant stated "that he expects to fly at Nantasket Beach on July 4th putting on an exhibition of stunts learned during his service as an army pilot.
JULY 1, 1919 - BROWN’S AIRPLANE CRASHES 40 FEET; AVIATOR ESCAPES: Ground Gives Way, As Flier Alights At Lordship Manor Machine Lands on Back on Sand - LOOPS LOOP FOR CROWD - Aviator Alighting after Doing Stunts Over .Stratford Light Ran Too Near Bluff—Machine Wrecked. Crashing over the edge of a 40-foot bluff at Lordship Manor shortly before four o'clock yesterday afternoon a Curtiss JN-4 aeroplane piloted by Lieutenant George Brown, of Brighton Beach, New York, was wrecked on the beach below. This machine turned completely over in its fall, landing on its back on the sand a few feet distant from the water's edge, Lieutenant Brown's safety belt, with which he was fastened in the rear cockpit of the machine, held secure, saving him from being hurled out of the machine on his head with possibly fatal results. The machine which shot over the edge of the cliff was the same one which was used by Lieutenant C. Hogue of San Francisco to take up a number of Bridgeport and Stratford people for joy rides at the Lordship Manor field Sunday afternoon, following a forced landing by Lieutenant Hogue and Lieutenant Brown at the field Saturday afternoon. Although a casual glance, at the machine lying on the beach seemed to show it had not been badly injured in the fall, Mechanic Jack Clark, of New York, who has charge of the work of repairing the craft, stated that it will be necessary to replace two wings, the rudder and the propeller before it will be possible to fly the machine again. Lieutenant Brown last evening telegraphed to New York for new wings, new propeller, and new rudder and when these have been installed on the machine, he, with Mechanic Clark as passenger, will resume the flight to Boston. Lieutenant Brown's crash came just as he was about to leave Stratford for Boston where he, with Lieutenant Hogue are to give an exhibition of stunt flying July Fourth. Lieutenant Hogue had just left for Boston and expected to greet Lieutenant Brown in that city tomorrow. A number of people were at the field yesterday, morning and afternoon anxious to obtain a ride in the army airplane. Lieutenant Hogue took up a number of people before leaving for Massachusetts and Lieutenant Brown also spent the morning and early afternoon taking up passengers for short rides in the air. "Well, I'll have to be starting on my way if I expect to reach Boston by tomorrow." Brown finally remarked. "I just take her along once to see how she's turning up and if the motor is hitting all right we'll take off." Mechanic Clark jumped out of the machine and Brown took off out over the Sound, circling up over Stratford Light house, and when he had reached a height of about 1500 feet, executed a loop-the-loop for the amusement of the spectators on the ground. He "jazzed" around in the air for a few minutes and then spiraled down to the landing field. Leveling off at a distance of seven or eight feet from the ground, he settled into the grass for what appeared to be a perfect landing. The speed of the machine was so great as it touched the ground, however, that it rolled across the field toward the bluff. Spectators held their breath as the machine rolled toward the cliff and then gave sighs of relief as the pilot swung it around in wide circle to head back toward his starting point. The machine had approached too close to the edge of the bluff, however, and as it swung- around, the bank gave way beneath, the weight of the ship. Down to the beach, plunged the ship. Bystanders rushed to the place where the machine had disappeared expecting to see the flier lying crushed and mangled beneath the wreckage of the airplane. They saw the machine lying on its back on the beach below, but Lieutenant Brown upside down with care, was in the act of unbuckling his safety belt to clamber out of the cockpit and survey the extent of the damage which had been done.
APRIL 20, 1920 - Parachute Jumper Lands in Sound after 2,000 Foot Drop From a Speeding Aeroplane: Hurling himself from a moving aeroplane at a height of 2',000 feet, "Daredevil Jack' Murphy made a sensational drop at Lordship Manor yesterday afternoon which landed him in the waters of Long Island Sound. Fully clothed he cast off his rope harness just as he struck the water and swam to the rocky shore a short distance away. There was not a boat within two miles of the spot where Murphy struck the water after his thrilling drop through space, and but for the fact he is a strong swimmer he would undoubted have drowned. A miscalculation of the velocity of the wind which was blowing in from the Sound resulted in Murphy landing in the water instead of on the field where hundreds of people had gathered to watch him. Murphy’s feat, was staged in conjunction with Pilot Mark C. Hogue of Portland, Oregon. Never before had Murphy attempted a drop from such a fast moving plane as the one used in the feat yesterday. Last summer and fall he made 54 successful drops from a comparatively slow-moving Curtiss J-N 4 machine, making his get-away from the machine when it was moving at not more than 65 or 70 miles an hour. There was some doubt as to whether he could jump from the speedier machine without running foul of the tail and tailskid as he leaped off into space. A Telegram reporter reached the rocky shore of Lordship Manor just as Murphy crawled dripping from the water. “The water's fine " was Murphy's first remark as he clambered out upon the rocks, dragging his parachute behind him. "I'm thankful I hit the water instead of these rocks," he said, 'so I'd probably be sporting a broken ankle or a few cracked ribs. That wind wasn't blowing as strongly as we thought it was or I’d have landed up on the field. Well, it's me for the hotel and a dry suit of clothes." While willing assistants helped Murphy to climb up the aide of the forty -foot bluff at the edge of the field, others dragged his parachute up for him. He jumped into a waiting automobile and came into Bridgeport to secure his dry garments. Pilot Hogue in telling how the feat was accomplished said that, when he figured he was far enough out over the Sound for the wind to waft Murphy back to the field, he gave a signal to the parachute jumper. Murphy climbed out of the front cock-pit onto the right wing of the machine. Just as Murphy crouched on the wing, one hand wrapped around the rope of the parachute, Hogue side-slipped toward the left. This threw the aeroplane clear of Murphy's body as it shot into space. The weight of Murphy's body removed from the forward part of the plane as he leaped off, the tail of the machine dropped, the heavy wooden tail-skid whizzing by Murphy’s ear as the machine zoomed by at 100 miles an hour. If too strong a gale of wind is not blowing this afternoon Murphy intends to make another jump from the moving aeroplane at Lordship about 3 o'clock. He hopes today to Iand on the field instead of in the water.
MAY 1, 1920 - Jumps from Aeroplane And Lands in Tree "Dare-Devil Jack" Murphy Drops 5,000 Feet, from Speeding Plane-Rests in Tree Top, then Continues Descent to Ground without Further Mishap: Jumping from the Craig-Smith aeroplane at Lordship Manor from which he made his sensational drop into Long Island Sound Monday afternoon, "Dare-devil Jack" Murphy, parachute jumper, yesterday afternoon dropped from an altitude of about one mile, just missed the roof of one of the cottages at Lordship, and landed ingloriously but safely in a small tree near the house. The tree was damaged more than was Murphy or the parachute. “Dare-devil" Jack didn't roost in the tree but for a few seconds when he continued his trip to earth. It was Murphy's intention to try for a Iong distance record drop yesterday afternoon but as a high wind was blowing at an altitude of 5,000 feet, he decided to leap off at that height rather than run the risk of being carried by the wind into the waters of the Housatonic River, half a mile from the field where the plane went up. As it was the airman was carried a quarter of a mile beyond the Lordship Manor field as he came down in the parachute. In today's drop, Murphy will try to break the record for length of fall in a parachute from a moving aeroplane, weather conditions permitting, and Sunday or Monday will attempt to see how near the earth he can leave the machine with the parachute. He hopes to establish a record of several miles in the high jump and 200 feet in the low jump. A former army air service pilot, now employed as a reporter on The Telegram, accompanied Hogue on one of his trips over the business section of the city and snapped photographs of the Remington Arms Plant, Locomobile Company, Bridgeport harbor, Seaside Park and other points of interest.
MAY 8, 1920 - Two Passengers in Airplane Get Thrill in First Flight As Lordship Airplane Goes Dead: Lieutenant Dean C. Smith compelled to make forced landing yesterday afternoon, and in "nosing down," machine dives into mud flats, wrecking it, but occupants escape with shaking up. They wanted a thrill and they got it. They were two lighthearted youths who had never been aloft in an aeroplane. Journeying out to Lordship manor yesterday afternoon they took passage with Lieutenant Dean C. Smith in the three-passenger machine which Smith and his fellow pilot, Lieutenant Mark C. Hogue, have been flying over Bridgeport for, the past two weeks. Everything went lovely until Smith's motor "went dead" on him as he was about to guide down to the field at Lordship manor. He saw that with a "dead" motor he could not make the regular landing field, so he "nosed her down" for the next best field. To a person who has never before been aloft the sensation which hits one's stomach 'the first time an aeroplane “noses down” for a forced landing is anything but pleasant. It is the thrill which comes to steamship passengers who are crossing the Atlantic in stormy weather for the first time. A seasoned flier thinks nothing of the swift dive toward the earth but to persons who are up for the first time the drop earthward causes their faces to turn green—but not with envy. The two passengers got a thrill as they sailed heavenward for the first time; the thrill was doubled when the motor "cut out" and Pilot Smith dived for the nearest field and the thrill was increased a hundred-fold as the machine "nosed up" on landing. A muddy field which gripped the wheels of the machine, was responsible for forcing the plane up upon its nose. The propeller, landing gear, and one wing were damaged, but the three occupants of the machine were unhurt. After pinching themselves to make sure they were still alive, the two passengers gingerly unbuckled their safety belts and climbed out of the cockpit. Wanly they smiled upon Pilot Smith as they tried to convince him that the thrill they had received was not disagreeable. The smile didn't carry conviction. Frankly, the youths looked unwell as they hurried away. They didn’t want to give their names to anybody. They were through aviating for the day. "Nosing over" is a daily and sometimes hourly pastime on any government flying field, particularly after a rain. Cadets and pilots think nothing of it, but to a person who "noses up" on his first trip aloft, it's "the thrill that comes once in a lifetime."
June 28, 1920 - Miss Hope Eden Defeats Lieut. Chadwick in Match Race Through Clouds. THOUSANDS SEE CONTEST Crowds at Lordship and Seaside Cheer Girl Flier and Male Opponent. DARE-DEVIL "STUNTS" Miss Eden Duplicates Hair-Raising Feats Performed by Army Man During Race: Miss Hope Eden, young aviatrix, came out victorious yesterday afternoon in the first aeroplane race ever held over Bridgeport, nosing out Lieutenant Stewart Chadwick by virtue of the fact that she had a speedier machine than Chadwick's Standard "Red Bird." Five thousand people saw the start and finish of the race at Lordship Manor landing field, and other thousands at Seaside park, Newfield park, the Brooklawn Country club, and other points over which the two speeding machine passed, witnessed the thrilling race through the clouds. When Lieutenant Chadwick saw that his machine was being outdistanced by the Curtiss JN-4 army plane which Miss Eden was piloting, he decided to give the crowds which were watching the race some real thrills on the side. Nosing down his ship he pulled, back his stick and went into a loop-the-loop. Not to be outdone, Miss Eden also looped. Over the Brooklawn club Chadwick made a regular army about face, throwing his ship into an Immelmann instead of making an easy turn to head back toward Lordship. His ship was headed for Lordship in less time than it takes to tell and it looked for a moment as though he was going to outwit the young woman. She, however, executed a similar maneuver and in a second was abreast of Chadwick's ship, and a few minutes later was again ahead of him. Over Newfield Park the two machines dived down toward the ball field, thrilling the big crowd of fans at the Bridgeport-Springfield game. Miss Eden was leading Lieutenant Chadwick when the ships passed over Newfield, so she looped for the benefit of the fans and did some trick turns and tight spirals for the crowd. Seeing that Chadwick was catching up with her again she headed straight for Lordship, arriving over the field 50 yards ahead of the "Red Bird." The two machines were at an altitude of 3,000 feet when they arrived over the landing field, so both Miss Eden and Chadwick decided to put on a free show for the big crowd before landing. Almost simultaneously the two aeroplanes went into loops and followed the loops with Immelmanns and other evolutions. Chadwick then kicked his ship into a tailspin, staying in the spin while the machine dropped from 3,000 feet to 800 feet. At 800 feet he throttled down his motor and glided into the field in a perfect landing. When Miss Eden saw that Chadwick had landed she glided down in a long sweep from the clouds and dropped into the field on almost the same spot where Chadwick had landed a few moments before. As the two machines taxied up to the edge of the field, motion picture operators filmed the fliers. Motion pictures of the aeroplane race taken at different points along the course, together with motion pictures showing the recent delivery of Evening Posts by hydroplane, are to be shown at Poll's theatre this week where Miss Eden is appearing in a mind-reading act. Manager Matt Saunders was in the big crowd which was at Lordship Manor when Miss Eden arrived in her plane from Mineola, Long Island, promptly at two o'clock yesterday afternoon. Lieutenant Paul Collins, a former army flier, accompanied Miss Eden on her trip from Mineola to Lordship prior to the race here. The 40-mile jump across the Sound was made in 29 minutes. Jeff Davis, "King of the Hoboes," was the first person to greet Miss Eden as she landed at Lordship field. He immediately designated the young woman "Queen of the Air," stating that her flying excelled that of any other woman aviator he had ever seen. Miss Eden took quite a fancy to Davis' pet monkey which he takes with him on his hobo trips and promised to take the monkey up for a ride through the clouds some day this week. In Lieutenant Chadwick's machine during the race over Bridgeport yesterday afternoon was his brother Carroll Chadwick. Accompanying Miss Eden was Lieutenant Collins. The crowd nearly mobbed the young woman as she stepped from her machine in its eagerness to congratulate her on the result of the race. Miss Eden, after posing for her picture for the benefit of the motion picture men, proceeded to the Stratfield with Lieut. Collins and other members of the party to be Manager Matt Saunders' guests at a luncheon.
 The Flying Psychic |
 Hope Eden Lordship Movie |
AUGUST 23, 1927 - PLANE TURNS OVER ON STRATFORD FIELD: An airplane piloted by Lieutenant Wright, pilot for the Conklin Aeroplane Company, "nosed over" on the Lordship flying field Sunday afternoon, breaking its propeller but not otherwise being seriously damaged. The pilot and his passengers crawled out of the plane uninjured. Lieutenant Wright who is a graduate of the same flying school as Colonel Lindbergh, is rated as an excellent flyer and has had no mishaps in the air. He had just made a perfect landing on the field Sunday and was "taxing" back to the starting point at one end of the field when the wheels of the aeroplane sank in a rut in the field, causing the tail of the plane to go up and the revolving propeller to bury itself in the soft earth. The occupants climbed out of the machine, willing hands pulled the tail back to earth, and the broken propeller was replaced with a new one.
July 23, 1934 – FLIER UNINJURED WHEN PLANE CRASHES HERE: After an airplane piloted by Theodore Kasilkowski, Stamford grocer, left the Mollison Airport Sunday it crashed in the marshland of Lordship Meadows, the flier barely escaping injuries. Two of the cylinder barrels of the Waco biplane Kasilkowski was flying broke loose flying off into space. The propeller and lower right wing of the plane were smashed in the crash.
May 7, 1937 - HINDENBURG SIGHTED OFF LORDSHIP BEFORE CRASH: Residents of Stratford who were fortunate to be looking skyward on Thursday afternoon at about 2:30 o’clock had their last glimpse of the German Zeppelin Hindenburg which crashed to earth a burning mass of wreckage at 7:23 o’clock last night at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Sighted off Lordship Point at about half past two, the gigantic dirigible was the cynosure of thousands of eyes as she sailed westward over the Sound on what was to be her last flight. The ship was sailing at about 1,000 feet and was clearly visible from the ground. This was the second time within six months that the dirigible passed over this vicinity.
JULY 5, 1939 - BERNT BALCHEN IN AIRPLANE CRASH AT BRIDGEPORT: Bernt Balchen, pilot for Admiral Byrd across the Atlantic and the Antarctic and now a Norwegian aviation official, and five other persons including Norwegian aviation leaders, escaped injury today when an airplane struck a wire fence at the Bridgeport airport. The accident occurred as the tri-motored ship was caught by a downdraft. The undercarriage and landing gear were ripped off, gasoline tanks punctured and all propellers bent. Those aboard besides Balchen, who is chief inspector of the Norwegian Airlines, were: Richard T. Crane, president of the airline feeder system which owned the plane; Erling Eckhoff, chief of the technical branch of the Royal Norwegian Army Force; Capt. B. Frederick Motzfeldt, Norwegian army aircraft officer; John Gemmell of New York, associate with Crane in the Airline Feeder System and William Warner, pilot.
 1951 Plane crash |
OCTOBER 13, 1951 - PLANE CRASHES IN LORDSHIP: Robert Witschel, 31 of Wilmington, Delaware, we injured at 3:15 p.m. yesterday when he crashed his four-seat Piper Pacer plane in an emergency landing near the Municipal Airport in Stratford. The pilot was removed in a Stratford police car to Bridgeport Hospital where he was treated for lacerations of the chin, forehead and both hands and discharged. While preparing to land, Mr. Witschel radioed the control tower that he was coming in for a landing. He said he cut his motor too soon and crash landed in a vacant lot between Curtis Street and Prospect Drive in the Lordship section, one-quarter of a mile from the airport. In landing the plane looped, smashing the undercarriage and the propeller. Witschel said he was on a cross country solo flight when the craft owned by the Atlantic Air Service of Wilmington developed engine trouble over Bridgeport Airport. Stratford Policeman David Campbell took the flier to the hospital. Police Chief Patrick Flanagan and Sergeant Joseph Carten directed traffic at the scene. Inspector Robert Harrison of the Bethany State Police barracks was summoned by Chief Flanagan for an inspection at the crash scene. The plane was later removed to the airport. The Fire Department under the direction of Lieutenant Hans Lundgren washed the area which was soaked with gasoline from one of the plane’s leaking tanks.
DECEMBER 29, 1970 - METAL EXAMINED IN FATAL CRASH: Officials of the Bridgeport Flight Service, Inc., at the Bridgeport Municipal airport, in Stratford, are in the process of examining a two-foot square sheet of aluminum which was found washed ashore in Stratford yesterday, to determine if it is a portion of a plane which crashed Nov. 29 in the Housatonic River. The sheet of aluminum was found yesterday afternoon at Russian beach, at the foot of Cove Place, in the Lordship area, by Stratford Patrolman Walter Knablein. Samuel Bracca, president of the Bridgeport Flight Service, said there, were no identifying marks on the aluminum sheet, but attempts will be made to determine if the metal is part of the homemade plane operated by Salvatore Corpaci, Trumbull, which crashed in the river shortly after takeoff from the Bridgeport airport. If it is found that the aluminum sheet is a portion of the downed plane, State and Federal aviation authorities will be called in to investigate.
NOVEMBER 29, 1975 - Stratford Men Survive Plane Crash Into Sound: A 55-year-old Stratford man and his 22-year old son escaped with minor injuries yesterday afternoon when the engine of their single-engine aircraft quit on an approach to Sikorsky Memorial Airport and crash landed in waters off Long each, Stratford. Henry Watson of Stratford, the pilot and his son, Warren, were rescued by a man and his wife who were passing by. The couple waded out and helped the men to shore. Both men received minor head injuries, cuts, and bruises and were released from Bridgeport Hospital following treatment. Credited with aiding the two men to shore as they scrambled out of the aircraft, which struck the water, landing upside down, were John and Frances Caporaso of Lordship. Damaged extensively, the aircraft, a single-engined, fourplace Cessna 172, was dismantled this morning and taken to Bridgeport Flight Service at the airport, according to Samuel Braca, operator of the service. He said that Federal Aviation Agency investigators will examine the aircraft later today in efforts to determine the cause of the crash. The men told police they were returning from Pittstown, N.J. and were over the Long Beach area, about one half mile from the airport landing strip, when the engine stalled suddenly for some unexplained reason. Mr. Watson, reported to be a veteran flyer, said the craft lost altitude too rapidly to reach the runway and he was forced to make a landing in the water. Both Bridgeport and Stratford Fire apparatus with rescue equipment rushed to the scene and Stratford police took the injured men to the hospital. Residents in the area also helped the injured men and provided blankets until police arrived to take them to the hospital. Morgan Kaolian, assistant airport manager, was on the scene this morning helping to direct the dismantling and removal of the aircraft from the water. The airplane is owned by the "21" Flyers club, a Stratford based organization headed by Richard House.
 1975 Long Beach crash |
JANUARY 27, 1925 - BILLS PROVIDE FOR AIRPORT AND SHORE PARK IN STRATFORD Representative Charles Wheeler Asks $300,000 for Two State Projects: Bills providing for the establishment of a state seashore park at Lordship and for the establishment of an airport at Stratford Point the first bill carrying an appropriation of $200,000 and the second an appropriation of $100,000 will be introduced in the General Assembly tomorrow by Representative Charles E Wheeler of Stratford. Under the bill providing for the establishment of the state park, Stratford seeks to net the park which was originally planned for Sherwood Island Westport. The town has many acres of available beach property in the vicinity of the bathing beach at Lordship. The stretch of property between the eastern boundary of Pleasure beach and the bathing pavilion at Lordship is largely town land leased to the present occupants at a nominal annual rental. Besides this tract of beachfront there are many acres of undeveloped land In the Lordship section proper which it is believed would make a suitable site for a park such as the one proposed. The terrain is of such a character that it could be used for this purpose without a great amount of money having to be spent upon it for major improvements it is the contention of those park established in Stratford. If the bill providing for the establishment of an airport at Stratford goes through, the aviation authorities will find that there is already at Stratford Point a large field which has been in use for several years as an aeroplane landing field. Representative Wheeler said today in speaking of his plans for the airport bill, that it is his Idea to have the proposed airport maintained in part as a government flying station where airmail planes could land with mall for Bridgeport, New Haven and other points in this vicinity. Located on the edge of the sound and near the mouth of the Housatonic River, it would be possible to use it as a landing place for sea planes as well as aeroplanes he points out. The proposal is in line with a suggestion in Governor Trumbull’s message. Mail landed at Stratford Point could be transferred to the Bridgeport post office by truck within 12 to 15 minutes and to the New Haven station within 45 minutes. The proposed site for the state park at Lordship also has great advantages in the way of accessibility to thousands of people in the western part of the state Representative Wheeler points out There is a trolley line from Stratford Avenue to Lordship at the present time and there are two main automobile routes connecting the shore colony who are in favor of having the site with the Boston Post Road.
JUNE 19, 1925 - TOWN CRIERS HEAR OF AIRPORT PROJECT Representative of Trans-Oceanic Company Meets with Stratford Men: Plans for the development of a large tract of land at Lordship as an airport were laid before the Stratford Town Criers by Armin DeMuth of New York, representing the Trans-Oceanic Airport Company of America at a meeting in the Planning Board rooms at the Town hall this evening. DeMuth submitted plans and blueprints showing how land at Lordship on the meadows between the bathing pavilion and Pleasure Beach could be converted into a landing field for airplanes and how a basin for seaplane and motorboats could be located adjacent to it, where seaplanes "taxi-ing" in from the Sound would find a safe anchorage. A study of the available property and the problems that would have to be overcome in establishing such an airport at this point has convinced that planes will be crossing the ocean between Europe and America on regular schedule within the next five or ten years, and that even in the event this does not come to pass, aeroplanes will begin to take their place in the commercial transportation field here within a few years just as they have already done in Europe. It was pointed out that this location is a good one for a large airport. It is within two hours ride of New York and is yet in a spot where other cities, Bridgeport, New Haven, and points in the vicinity of these cities can be easily reached. A detail shown on the blue prints of the proposed airport is a customs house, where persons arriving by air from Canada or from points across the ocean would be examined. The plan appealed to the Town Criers as somewhat visionary but nevertheless interesting and worthy of further study. DeMuth is not the first man to suggest the establishment of an airport at Stratford. Representative Charles E. Wheeler, president of the Stratford Town Crier endeavored at the last session of the state legislature, to put through an act appropriating funds for the purchase of land for an airport at Lordship adorning the government light-house reservation. This location is about half a mile distant from the location proposed by DeMuth. Representative Wheeler did not press the matter at the recent legislative session, preferring to let the matter go over to the next session in order not to interfere with plans for the development of Brainard Field Hartford. Having stepped aside in favor of Hartford at the recent legislative session, Representative Wheeler hopes that the upstate legislators will give Stratford's proposition first consideration at the next session.
SEPTEMBER 15, 1927 - LORDSHIP FAVORED AS AIRPORT SITE BY RESERVE OFFICERS Special Committee Believes Bridgeport Should Act on Acquiring Meadow Tract: That Bridgeport has an ideal location for an airport in the salt meadows between Bridgeport and Lordship Manor, was reported to the local Reserve Officers at their monthly meeting at the University club last night. A similar report was made yesterday by a Chamber of Commerce committee. The committee which was appointed in June to make a careful and complete investigation of the possibilities of an airport in Bridgeport reported that in addition to the need of an airport as a business necessity, it was necessary as a matter of national defense to protect the city from any attacks from the air in time of war. The Reserve officer’s airport committee included Lieutenant Colonel Rex DeLacour and Theodore Beard. Colonel DeLacour is also connected with the State aviation commission. The resolution which was read last night to members of the Bridgeport chapter, follows "After a careful study of the subject of a suitable airport for Bridgeport and vicinity, which was assigned to your committee at the last regular meeting of the Bridgeport Chapter, your committee after considering several proposed locations, has come to the conclusion that the only available location which will come within the requirements of the Class A airports as defined by the rulings of the United States Department of Commerce, and likewise a location which will take care of the needs of future development, is a stretch of salt meadows located between the City of Bridgeport and Lordship Manor, known as the Lordship meadows. "We feel that aviation today in the United States is in the same relative position that shipping and marine commerce occupied years ago when there were no harbors protected by breakwaters, and no lighthouses to guide mariners to refuge in time of storm and trouble. There were natural harbors which compare favorably with some natural landing fields, and the communities with sufficient foresight dredged channels and built docks and warehouses, and these progressive communities soon became the shipping centers and home ports for most profitable trading with the West Indies and foreign ports. Until these various ports were established ships at sea depended on the lead line to inform them of shallow water, and on dead reckoning to inform them of their location, and when a storm came up their only chance was to put out to deep water and take a chance of riding out a storm. So it is with aviation today, ships of the air which are constantly flying between Boston and New York, they give Bridgeport a wide berth because if trouble should suddenly come in the air, they have a better chance of landing somewhere in the outskirts of the city. ''As a matter of National Defense your committee again urges the necessity of an airport for Bridgeport to properly protect the city from any attacks from the air in time of war for it would be very probable that an enemy fleet would attempt to launch an attack from aeroplane carriers off the Long Island shore, and a munitions city like Bridgeport would be one of the probable points of attack, and these air raids of the future must be met by defense in the air and thwarted before the enemy reaches his objective, the best wav to prevent such an occurrence is to prepare in advance and not wait for some ineffective defense when it is too late." "Experts in aviation have said that the Lordship Meadows affords one of the best natural airport locations along the Atlantic seaboard, both for the use of land planes and seaplanes, its approaches are ideal. It has the advantage of auxiliary landing fields on all sides.
OCTOBER 27, 1927 - SHORT BEACH LAND WILL BE CUT BY AIRPORT BACKERS Dredgers Will Start Work at Once as Town Grants Permission: By unanimous vote the Stratford town council at its meeting Tuesday night adopted a resolution granting the Bridgeport Airport Incorporated, a private concern, permission to cut in upon the public beach on the west bank of the Housatonic River and dredge a canal through the beach from mean high water in a general westerly direction to property now owned or leased by the airport company. The resolution states that the northerly side of the canal shall be approximately 75 feet north of the north wall of the northernmost cottage of the continuous row of cottages on Short Beach, and that the canal will run back westerly from the river to the site of the proposed airplane landing field on the meadows west of Little Neck bridge. The resolution was adopted as an emergency measure, and the reasons for adopting it without delay were embodied in the resolution. These reasons were:
1. That the canal is an essential aid in the establishment of the first public commercial Class A airport in the state of Connecticut and will bring the advantages of the establishment of such an airport to Stratford in preference to other communities in this vicinity now considering similar projects.
2. The establishment of such an airport immediately will materially aid in inducing the aircraft industry to locate in Stratford to the material advantage of the town and its citizens.
3. That by immediate action, work on the airport can start at once, whereas if not granted work on such an airport would have to be postponed until the spring of 1928 with the possibility of consequent loss in securing the first Class A airport for this vicinity.
Colonel Rex B. Delacour, president of the Bridgeport Airport Incorporated appeared before the council and pointed out the advantages that Stratford would gain by cooperating in the move to establish a Class A commercial airport on the Lordship meadows. He said that the Colonial Air Mail Company will have its planes stop at the field for five pounds of air mail a day and said that this amount of mail is now available, as from seven to ten pounds of air mail now goes out of Bridgeport daily by train to Brainard Field, Hartford. With the establishment of the airport at Lordship air mail can be picked up and delivered within three miles of the Bridgeport post office. He pointed out that the company is ready to rush work on the airport to completion, that the construction company already has a force of 35 men on the job, making soundings and doing other preliminary work at Lordship, and that the War Department stands ready to lend encouragement to the project, realizing the tremendous advantage such a field would be in protecting the great munitions manufacturing plants in Bridgeport in the event of another war. The value of the completed field should be in the neighborhood of $250,000, he said, to say nothing of the value of the aeroplane manufacturing concerns it is expected to attract to its immediate vicinity. Speaking along this line, he said. "Our investigations disclose that at the present, time there is a very critical situation in the aircraft industry. Many of the large aeroplane manufacturers are embarking on campaigns that involve quantity production. Several firms of international reputation are enlarging their plants. At the present time they have no adequate facilities for testing their planes. Since our company has been started we have had several inquires with reference to these plants locating on our field. They think very favorably of our site which will undoubtedly be one of the best airports that has yet been established in this country.” "It so happened that there was in this vicinity a large dredge one of the two largest on the Atlantic seaboard, that was just completing a piece of work in this vicinity and could immediately come to our site and undertake the necessary dredging and filling at a cost that would be a saving to our company of thousands of dollars. If their offer were not taken advantage of we could not secure our necessary fill before spring, then only at a greatly increased cost and a wonderful opportunity would be lost. "This airport is being built by the firm of William E. Arthur and Company who have constructed some 22 airports throughout the country, among these cities being Buffalo, Cleveland, Portland, Elmira and Schenectady. The plans and specifications that they have prepared call for a 250 foot channel from the Housatonic River to the Stratford road at a point near Little Neck bridge. The material that will be obtained from this dredging will furnish the fill for our runways and landing areas on the main field.” In order to proceed with the work the manner planned, permission is requested of the town of Stratford to use a strip of land across Short Beach 250 feet wide, the exact boundaries of which are defined on the plans for the airport. This strip of land will be a considerable distance south of the cottage on the beach known as the Nearing cottage, and also a considerable distance north of the row of cottages on Short Beach so that there will be no interference with property holders in that vicinity. Our company has acquired all the property between the Stratford road and the beach needed for this canal. "In order to establish this airport in accordance with plans laid down, our company is going to need the cooperation of the Town council of Stratford and the other town authorities. We appreciate the fact that this request has had to be made very suddenly but we hope that your honorable body will understand the way the situation arose and grant the permission requested. We feel confident that the undertaking is going to be of vast importance to the town of Stratford and the benefits will be forthcoming in the very immediate future." He added that, if immediate permission were granted to cut through the strip of beach north of the existing line of cottages, the sand dredger would start work probably Thursday or Friday of this week, and the airport would be ready for an opening air now by Thanksgiving. Upon the suggestion of Councilman Walter Redfern, the town attorney was instructed to draw up a resolution granting the requested permit. A clause was included at the suggestion of Councilman E. Fairfax Ludlow reserving to the town the right to construct a bridge across the cut in the beach if in future years it should be decided to build a shore drive along the river front. Immediately after the matter had been put to a vote, with every councilman voting in favor of it, Colonel Delacour communicated with his associates, and by midnight a man was speeding to Washington, D.C. to obtain from the War Department the necessary permits for the dredging work. These permits are expected to be approved within 48 hours so that work can start before the end of the week. There will be a 16-foot channel in from the present river channel, giving seven feet of water in the seaplane basin at its shallowest point at low tide. Bulkheads will be constructed on both sides of the basin, with a ramp at the Little Neck bridge end of the artificial harbor so that planes may be hauled without difficulty out of the water. The plan which Colonel Delacour showed the councilmen called for two landplane runways on the main field between the Lordship meadow road and the Stratford road, each runway 300 feet wide and 40 inches high, one running northwest and the other southwest, the first 2500 feet in length and the other 3000 feet in length. The main field upon which the runways will be laid out comprises about 200 acres of flat meadowland. Seaplanes will be able to alight upon and take off from the Housatonic River at a point just inside the Stratford lighthouse, and taxi into the sheltered anchorage basin. The sand dredged from the 250-foot wide basin will be pumped up onto the meadow land for use in constructing the two wide runways for the landplanes. The planes call for the construction of ten hangars along the eastern edge of the main field, together with other necessary buildings.
OCTOBER 27, 1927 - WORK STARTED ON AIRPORT – COMPANY ANNOUNCES PLANS First Class Four-Way Aviation Field Will Be Ready in Summer: The Bridgeport Airport Incorporated, has started work on an airport that will be ready for use next summer. The field will be in Lordship, within three miles of the center of the city, on land acquired from the Stratford Land and Improvement Company and from other owners of land that is known as the Lordship Meadows. The Bridgeport Airport Inc. is a local company headed by Colonel Rex Delacour, member of the State Aviation commission, representative from Stratford in the General Assembly and member of the governor's staff. Contracts have been made for the necessary dredging and filling in and the town of Stratford, through its town council, Tuesday night cooperated with the sponsors of the plan, and granted permission for a 250 foot cut through Short Beach, near the mouth of the Housatonic River so that seaplanes also may use the new airport. William E. Arthur and Son, aeronautical engineers and builders, have already begun work on the field. Bridgeport's airport and aviation field will be located on the northwest corner of the salt meadows between the city and Lordship. There are 200 acres of meadow land in the field, bounded south by the Lordship Road, east by the Lordship Park and on the north by South Main Street, Stratford. Then is a right of way north of South Main Street, so that hydroplanes may land on the river, at Sniffen's Point, come up a canal, 3,000 feet long, and carrying 7 feet of water at low tide, which will enable the water planes to be hauled up to a landing close to the main road. There will be erected a line of hangars. The dredging, building of the dykes to complete the filling in of the low spots of the meadow lands and the elimination of the slice ways has already been started in a preliminary way. The huge ocean dredge to be used in the digging of the canal for the water planes is from the Columbia Dredging Company of New York. It is expected that the clearing of the field of all obstruction and the leveling of the held will be completed by Thanksgiving. By spring the surface of the field will be hardened and solid, and ready for treatment for grass. When completed it will be the first commercial class A field in Connecticut. Hartford has a good municipally owned field, leased by the National Guard and operated under their auspices. The government will make Bridgeport an air mail stopping point provided the city can supply five pounds or more per day and Bridgeport is now averaging nearly ten pounds, plus considerable air mail freight. The new flying field will therefore provide air mail by direct connection. President DeLacour issued the following statement today “Bridgeport Airport Inc. is a corporation organized under the laws of Connecticut, formed several months ago, shortly after Colonel Lindbergh’s transoceanic flight, at which time such a wave of enthusiasm for aviation swept over the country.” Bridgeport Airport Inc. has been during the past six months quietly engaged in investigating the matter of a site and the cost of construction of an airport for Bridgeport. It has consulted with the members of the Municipal Airport committee appointed by Mayor Behrens and some of the members of the company were also members of the committee appointed by the Chamber of Commerce to investigate the matter of an airport for Bridgeport. Competent aeronautical engineers were consulted, who flew over the city many times, both during the day and night time. The advice obtained was that the Lordship salt meadows were the most desirable site for an airport for the city in view of the wide areas available in this vicinity, the easy access of these meadows, the freedom from obstructions of the boundaries of any fields selected and the readiness with which such a site might be located from the air. These and other advantages entered into their recommendation of the Lordship salt meadows. Further investigations were made, air currents were tested, prevailing winds were checked up, soundings made in the ground, and, after the benefit of these had been obtained, a lease with an option to purchase was made, with a company owning the property, of approximately two hundred acres of ground with a right of way to the Housatonic River.
November 1927 - MUNICIPAL BODY WILL URGE CITY TO TAKE AIRPORT: Lordship Project, Launched by Private Corporation, Is "Best Proposition Yet." Bridgeport's Committee Expected to Recommend Acquiring of Undertaking Bridgeport's airport committee will in all probability recommend that the city take over the airport which is to be established and developed by Bridgeport Airport, Inc., at Lordship, Tax Attorney Edward L. Kelly, chairman of the municipal airport committee, said yesterday. "This is the best proposition that the committee has encountered thus far," said Chairman Kelly. "The company doesn't desire anything except to acquire and develop the airport for the city. In all probability the committee will recommend that the city take it over. This proposition can be taken over at a tremendous saving to the city." When asked if the private concern of which Colonel Rex DeLacour, of Stratford, is president, has been working with the Bridgeport airport committee, Mr. Kelly said that he and the two other committee members, Augustus Bullard and Edward Willett had known of the company's plans. The city is not in a position to undertake the acquisition and development of an airport at the present time he said. A saving of between $75,000 and $100,000 will accrue because of commencing operations immediately he said. It happened that a huge dredger was in the vicinity and about to start on its way south when it was engaged to do work at Lordship, he explained. The company is willing to have the city take over the airport at cost when it is in a position to do so. Beacons set up at Easton and other points in the hills north of Bridgeport to mark the air mall route between New York and Boston, will soon be moved down to the shore line, it was revealed by Colonel DeLacour of Stratford yesterday, following his return from Washington. Colonel DeLacour is president of the Bridgeport Airport, Inc. and which announced Wednesday the purchase of 200 acres at Lordship for a Bridgeport airport, and also announced the signing of contracts for the beginning of work to put the property in shape for airport purposes. In discussing aviation developments in this vicinity, he revealed that the government is doing much to encourage aviation progress and is constantly taking advantage of data collected in the field to improve the air service. Experience has shown that the air mail beacons set up in the hills north of the shore line are of little practical use to aviators flying by night, due to the fact that the ground fogs which gather in the valleys along the route obscure the rays of the beacons. One air mail flyer reported that in 700 trips between Boston and New York he has seen the Easton beacon but once. The night flyers have changed their course so that they now follow the shore line instead of trying to follow the course by the Airmail beacons. The experience of Commander Byrd on his trans-Atlantic hop is duplicated nightly by the mall flyers. Colonel DeLacour asserted. Byrd "found himself" when he got over the shoreline and noted the white surf breaking on the shore. Night flyers have found that there is a certain phosphotescent quality to the shore line surf and they have been able to guide themselves by this surf line along the shore when unable to see the beacons. Another innovation which may shortly be introduced by the government to aid night flying will be the conversion of lighthouses, such as the one at Stratford point, into vertical as well as horizontal ray light-houses. At slight expense, there will be installed a light which will throw its beams up into the air to augment the one which now throws its light offshore. Both lights will probably be operated at the same time and with the existing power plant. A force of men is at work at the site of the new Bridgeport Airport, located between the Lordship Meadow Road, and South Main Street, Stratford, making preparations for the work of dredging and filling which is scheduled to start today or tomorrow. The huge dredger or "sand-sucker" which is being brought to Stratford from Oyster Bay for the work of digging the canal from the Housatonic River to the Little Neck Bridge, for a hydroplane basin, will be in constant operation, day and night, once it starts in. It is estimated that the dredging work will be finished in ten days and nights, and that the runways built on the main field for the use of aeroplanes, will be ready for use by Thanksgiving Day. The new company has been able to purchase the entire site needed for its airport, with the exception of a small piece near one corner of the field. The failure to acquire this small piece will not impede progress in building the airport, as it will be possible to fill in the land around it. The only change made necessary by the unwillingness of the owner of the property to sell is that there will be available room for but nine hangars instead of the ten originally planned. "I can see a material advantage to the city in the immediate development of the Bridgeport Airport. Inc.," Mayor William Behreus declared in commenting upon the start of a private nature to transform part of the Lordship meadows into an aerial terminal.
NOVEMBER 26, 1927 - AIRPORT COMPANY OFFERS CITY SITE AT PRESENT COST Bridgeport and Operating Company Will Share in Profits for First 20 Years Eventual Cost to Municipality Estimated at Quarter of Million: In order to allay suspicions that have been aroused and to quiet rumors that have been circulated, Mayor F. William Behrens will today make public the report of the special municipal airport committee, the proposal of Bridgeport Airport, Inc., for the acquisition of its port in Lordship by the city, and a statement from himself, noncommittal, regarding purchase of the private company's airfield development. The special committee's report favors the city taking over the airport now in process of development in the salt meadows of Lordship by Bridgeport Airport, Inc. of which Colonel Rex B. Lacour is president. In substance the proposition of the company is that the city takes over the port at cost, to be approximately $250,000 eventually, but the company will share in the profits of its operation for the next 20 years on an equal basis. The company proposes to hand its project over to the city now for $25,000 provided the city agrees to meet remaining payments on its $169,000 contract with the William E. Arthur Company, of New York, and to purchase the 200 acres involved before January 1, 1931, when the option expires and to split the profits 50-50 for a score of years. The $25,000 represents the amount of money expended so far by the company, the initial payment on its contract with the New York concern. It is further stipulated in the proposition that Bridgeport Airport Inc. will operate the field for the 20 years during which the profits will be shared. It is the intention of the company to delegate in its turn the operation of the port to the Arthur Company, now directing the operation of 22 fields throughout the country. During this period of 20 years the city will not share in the cost of operation, that is should the port show a deficit, the city will not be required to assume half of it, or any of it, it is proposed. Bridgeport Airport, Inc., does not now own the 200 acres at Lordship which is involved in the airport protect, but has leased it from the Stratford Development Company. During 1928 use of the property will be had rent-free, but rental will be paid in 1929 and a larger rental in 1930. There is no option to renew the lease, but there is an option to purchase the property at $75,000 on or before January 1, 1931. If the city takes over the port, it will be required to make this purchase. Under its contract with the Arthur Company, Bridgeport Airport Inc , paid $25,000 when the contract was signed. It will make another payment when work of dredging out the proposed canal is started, probably December 1. Another payment will be due, probably about January 1, when the dredging work is completed. The contract provides for the removal of about 480,000 cubic yards of material. The city will be able to take over the port by making payment to the company of the amount expended up to the time of its being actually transferred. Officials of the company expect that the port will be completed and ready for use by June 1. The Arthur Company contract includes all work necessary to put the field in operation, construction of the canal for seaplanes, filling and leveling the property for land planes, erecting of hangers, offices and all other requisites. W. Parker Seeley, as secretary of Bridgeport Airport, Inc. has written the letter to Mayor Behrens containing the proposition, which, the mayor has admitted, will be published today together with the committee report made by Tax Attorney Edward Kelly, chairman, Augustus Bullard and Edward Willett. The private company is actuated solely by a, desire of those connected with it to see that Bridgeport procures the best sort of airport possible early enough to enable the city to keep to the fore in aviation development, particularly commercial, according to its officers with this aim. It has acquired control of the Lordship property and has been co-operating with the special municipal committee. Through the arrangement by which this company proceeded to obtain the field with the intention of ultimately turning it over to the city, the municipality will be able to have airport facilities at a saving of from $150,000 to $200,000 over what it would have cost had the city itself undertaken to secure this same property, it is pointed out. It happened that the dredge to be used was in this vicinity when the contract was made and company officials say that approximately $100,000 will be saved in the dredging alone. It is estimated that about $50,000 was saved in the purchase price because it was arranged by a private corporation. Surveys of Bridgeport and vicinity by members and by aeronautical engineers resulted in the decision that the most suitable site for an airport would be the Lordship meadows, the committee report says. Unlike many other cities which have their fields at a distance, use of Lordship will provide a field within 12 minutes of the center of the city, it is pointed out, a port suitable for both land and seaplanes. The layout of the property and its advantages as to size and situation, will cause it to be designated a Class "A" field, it is understood Although it has previously been reported as probable that the administration would cause the committee report to be approved and the company proposition accepted at the first meeting of the new Board of Aldermen on December 5, it is possible that the project may be referred to a Common Council committee at that time for study. City Attorney Delaney is now inquiring into the legal aspects of the project. Administration leaders as well as company officers feel there will be speedy and favorable action both on the report of the committee and on the proposal of the company, provided nothing now unforeseen develops.
APRIL 14,1929 - BRIDGEPORT IS TAKING RANK AS FLYING CENTER: Bridgeport is fast assuming a leading position as an aviation center. The Bridgeport Airport, opened for flying on November 11, 1928, has proved a tremendous asset in attracting airplane manufacturers and manufacturers of allied lines to Bridgeport. Bridgeport's air-mindeness has been more and more apparent the last few years and this was stimulated by the visit here in May, 1927, of Major Herbert Dargue, Commander of the Pan-American Good Will Flight. A committee appointed by the President of the Chamber of Commerce in 1927 investigated the desirability of an airport for Bridgeport, its most appropriate location and the approximate cost, and after an extensive survey on September 1st submitted a report favoring the establishment of an airport in Bridgeport and recommending the Lordship Meadows as a site. Shortly afterwards, members of this committee were the leaders who formed a private corporation, Bridgeport Airport, Inc., and announced the acquisition of 250 acres on the Lordship Meadows, with right of way to the Housatonic River mouth, thus making available a site for both sea and land planes. A seaplane canal, 2,000 feet by 250 feet has been dug from the Housatonic River, the fill from the canal being used for constructing the runways on the main flying field. The airport is situated between two improved roads and the mouth of the Housatonic River, within three and one half miles from the Bridgeport Railroad Station. The Curtiss Flying Service is managing the field, which was opened for flying operations on November 11, 1928. One hangar, accommodating eight planes, is completed, and another to accommodate fifteen planes is in process of construction. Shortly after the flying field was made available for flying, one of the largest manufacturers of aircraft in the country, the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation of College Point, L. I., builders of amphibian aero planes, announced the purchase of thirty acres of land adjacent to the airport for the erection of a new plant, and construction is going forward rapidly. Initial plans called for a plant to cover four acres of ground with a floor space of 510,000 sq ft, but March 1st it was announced that production schedules having been increased tenfold a large addition to the plant originally planned will be made. The main plant will be ready by June 1st approximately and production will begin at once.
NOVEMBER 8, 1959 - Mollison's Death Recalls 1933 Crash-Landing Here: The death of Capt. James A. (Jim) Mollison, 54, noted British aviator, in a nursing home on the outskirts of London, on Oct. 30, recalled the crash of the Mollisons, Captain Mollison and his first wife, noted aviatrix Amy Johnson—at the Bridgeport airport, July 23, 1033, in their plane, the "Seafarer." Twenty minutes by airline from their goal, Floyd Bennett field, New York, the "Flying Mollisons “ as they were known, crashed in the marshland adjoining the airport in the black monoplane that had just borne them across the Atlantic from Pendine, Wales. Capt. Mollison suffered lacerations of the scalp and abrasions of both legs. His wife suffered from shock and a bruised chest and right hand. They were removed from the almost complete wreck and rushed to Bridgeport Hospital in the Stratford police ambulance, which arrived at the airport before the Mollisons landed and was on hand in case of trouble. The plane, which had landed on its nose in the salty marshland south of the airport, was removed from the meadows by a crew of Stratford firemen under command of Chief Allan D. Judson, now retired; and towed onto the airport. According to eye-witnesses of the near fatal tragedy, the accident resulted when Capt. Mollison mistook his distance in the dark in trying to land on the field, and struck the marsh some 200 feet short of the edge of the field. This occurred after the plane had made nine circles above the field trying to pick out a landing spot. News that the famous flying couple might stop at Stratford for gas had come to the officials at the airport early in the evening, but the word had not been broadcast. When, shortly after 9 p.m., their arrival was expected, not more than 150 persons had gathered. However, Fred Moller, manger of the Northeastern Air Service, had ordered floodlights ready to be turned on as soon as the ship appeared. It was not thought likely that the plane would land for gasoline so near her ultimate destination. As the small crowd waited a radio set in the office of the company was listening to a program from Floyd Bennett field, where a huge crowd was waiting for the plane. As the frequent announcements were made those at Bridgeport airport gave up hope of seeing the plane and were prepared to return to their homes. Suddenly, out of the east, and in he gathering darkness, they heard the staccato roar of a plane. The floodlights were turned on and the revolving beacon on the roof of the office picked up a black plane, without lights, which roared up over the field and disappeared toward Pleasure Beach. But soon she came back again, this time lower and a roar went up from the small crowd of spectators as they realized that here was the ship which at six o'clock the previous morning, had taken off from a beach in Wales bearing one of the most famous flying couples in the world. Capt. Mollison said later in Bridgeport hospital that he did not trust the landing area, although the margin of the field was marked sharply with white and green lights, and the expanse of the runway was well lighted. Aviators, standing on the roof of the Northeastern Air service office building for a better view commented that Capt. Mollison seemed to be intending to make a down-wind landing, that is to come in the same direction the wind was blowing. Some commented that this was a daring thing to do in any case, and a precarious one on a field with which he was unfamiliar. After making nine tries for a safe landing, Capt. Mollison, on his tenth try, come in over the marshes, low down and headed for the field. Two Bridgeport men who were driving along the road to Lordship, told later of hearing the engines stop on the plane as she passed over their heads, but to the waiting crowd at the airport, there seemed to be no stop of the whirring of the twin engines until the sound of a crash. Accounts of the crash tell how the plane plunged into the marshland, its nose striking the soft earth and turning over three times before it finally came to a stop. Captain and Mrs. Mollison were thrown clear of the machine. With the sound of the crash, Fred Moller led the rush from the hangers across the field to the scene. With him went the office staff at the airport. As soon as news of the disaster reached this city hundreds, made their way to the airport to view the wrecked plane. It did not catch fire. Fire apparatus from No. 6 Fire station, Barnum Avenue, sped to the scene to aid Stratford firemen. Dr. Isaac L. Harshbarger, of this city, who attended the Mollisons when they were taken to Bridgeport hospital, said that Capt. Mollison attributed the crash in the Lordship meadows to "extreme fatigue."
AUGUST 4, 1933 - Mollisons Return To Scene Of Crash: Captain Jim and Amy Johnson Mollison returned to Bridgeport today - this time to a noisy, warm welcome from a host of friends, rather than the still white welcome of a hospital. With an escort of air aces the British flying couple landed at the Bridgeport airport, where their flight over the north Atlantic ended in disaster July 23. Frank Hawks, American air speedster, arrived a half hour before the Mollisons, completed a non-stop flight from Regina, Sask., in the unofficial time of eight hours and two minutes, to join in honoring the Britishers.
MARCH 31, 1963 - The crash of a twin-engine plane in Long Island Sound, off Milford, Sunday morning, March 17, recalls to residents of this area the miraculous escape from death on July 23, 1933, of Capt. James A. (Jim) Mollison, and his first wife, the famed aviatrix, Amy Johnson, both of London, when their plane crash-landed at Stratford airport, now Bridgeport Municipal Airport. In the evening dusk of that July night nearly 30 years ago, Jim, one of England's foremost aviators of that era, and Amy, while speeding to New York City on the last lap of their non-stop transcontinental flight, crashed into the mud of the Lordship Meadows. The meadows are adjacent to what was later rechristened the Mollison airport in honor of the flying couple. Just 20 minutes of flying time separated the Mollisons from their goal crash occurred. Fatigued by their grueling trip from London across the ocean in poor weather, the aviators, known as the "flying sweethearts," miscalculated the boundaries of the airport, overshot the mark and plunged into marshland 25 yards from the edge of the landing strip. The Mollison's monoplane, "The Seafarer," flipped over in a double somersault, throwing Capt. Mollison out of the craft. He suffered severe lacerations from bits of shattered windshield. Amy Mollison was trapped in the wrecked plane, but she suffered only bruises and shock. The crack-up of the transatlantic fliers, attracted a large crowd of spectators to the airport, but many were cheated of a glimpse of the pair, who were rushed to Bridgeport Hospital. There the remained overnight, continuing on to New York by plane the next day. First to report the news of the accident was Fred Phelan, of The Post reportorial staff, who resides in Stratford. Two weeks later the Mollisons returned to this city to take part in the rededication of Stratford flying field as Mollison airport. Following the dedication the fliers were guests of honor at a dinner in the Stratfield hotel. A host of famous American aviators turned out to honor the Mollisons at the airfield when their ocean hop had ended. Among those taking part were the revered Frank Hawks, air speedster who later was killed in a plane crash, and Elinor Smith, who held several altitude records. Gerald Shepherd, British consul general at New York attended the airport dedication and later spoke at the dinner. The Mollisons left Bridgeport the next day, but they had made themselves so well known here that their exploits were watched eagerly and applauded by Bridgeporters. In 1934 the flying couple entered the Melbourne, Australia air race and gained a commanding lead over the field in a 12 hour, non-stop 2,553 mile flight from London to Baghdad. Plane trouble plagued them from then on and they withdrew from the competition. Amy, who had set distance flight records in 1930 when she was 22 years old, smashed the England to Capetown record in 1930. Her time was three days six hours, and 26 minutes. That year the Mollison marriage broke up, friendly enough, but each decided that "soloing was their best marital course. They were divorced in 1938. Britain's famous Amy Mollison died in the service which she one said she would choose if England ever went to war. On Jan. 5, 1941, she drowned in the icy waters of the Thames estuary in London after bailing out of an airplane she was flying for the Air Transport auxiliary. Britain was at war at the time. Jim Mollison, who reversed the feat of Charles Lindbergh by becoming the first flier to cross the Atlantic solo from east to west, died of pneumonia Nov. 1, 1959, in a nursing home near London at the age of 54 years. A section of the aircraft's wing and other parts of the "Seafarer," including a canvas and metal cot used by the Mollisons, was presented to the Barnum Museum in 1956 by Gus S. Horvath Sr., Fairfield who was given parts of the plan as compensation for helping in the dismantling of usable parts lot the wrecked aircraft.