With the development of larger multi-engine aircrafts and the restrictions on runway lengths, Halley Field quickly become obsolete. The Lexington Board of Commerce appointed an Airport Committee to development a larger airport for Lexington.
Aerial view of Cool Meadow Field <BGAirport>
Lexington Airways:
In October 1929, the Lexington Airways Incorporated was organized for “general training and flying business, sales of airships and operations of an airport.” The company organizers were Harkness Edwards, Monroe Bradley and James Davison. Edwards was a member of the Airport Committee of the Board of Commerce. W. F. Brown was the firm’s manager. The company ordered ten Aeronica C-2 monoplanes, from the American Aeronautical Corporation of Cincinnati. The company received delivery of the aircrafts as they were completed. The company also indicated it was considering two tracts for its own airfield. Both tracts were within three miles of Lexington. [i]
In February 1930, the Airport Committee of the Board of Commerce leased the Glengarry Farm for a new, larger municipal airfield. The farm was located on Newtown Pike, five miles from Lexington and owned by James Blythe Anderson. The lease was for ten years, for $5,000 per year ($20 per acre on 250 acres), with an option to purchase for $500 per acre. Both the city and county governments each agreed to appropriate $1,500 towards the lease payment. The field was originally named Glengarry Field, later changed to Cool Meadow Field. The site today is Fasig-Tipton Sales Company.[ii]
Cool Meadow Field, 1936 <LS>
The board also agreed to grant the Lexington Airways an exclusive operating agreement for ten years, in exchange for building a hanger and preparing the field. The city agreed to provide the building materials for the hanger. The runways were 2,000 to 2,500 feet in length.[iii]
The committee included Jesse O. Creech, (Chairman), E. Sayre Courtney (Vice Chairman), Harry E. Bullock, George B. Wurtz, J. Arthur Graves, Morris Levy, Fred Bryant, James D. Van Hooser[1], Salem Wallace, Harkness Edwards, C. L. Thompson and Ed Wilder.[iv]
Cool Meadow Field, 1936 <LS>
Cool Meadow Field, 1936 <LS>
In October 1931, a four-day air show and races were held at the new Municipal Airfield. On the first day, Fearless Freddie Lund was killed when his plane collided with another plane. Lund was one of the foremost stunt flyers and a popular writer.[v]
Air Mail Pickup at Cool Meadow Field, circa 1939, a hook caught the line between the poles (which was attached to the mail sack) <Wright>
In 1936, the Lexington Air Taxi Company leased the field for $1 per year, plus the upkeep of the field. [vi]
Cool Meadow Field, circa 1950 <Wright>
Enlargement of Hangers
In 1937, temporary airmail service was established into Lexington. In May 1938, the Post Office established regular mail service flights from Lexington, [vii]
In 1946, Blue Grass Field replaced Cool Meadow Field as the municipal airport. The Bohmer Flying Service’s hanger was relocated to the new field. George Young operated a flying service from Cool Meadow Field during the late 1940s. In 1951, the last commercial flight took off from the field. For two years, beginning in 1952 the Kentucky Aerospray, Inc., owned by John Day, operated a crop dusting service from the field. The field continued in use for roughly 100 private airplanes until 1953.[viii]
[1] In 1923 Hooser became one of the first transcontinental air travelers. Van Hooser, with his wife, flew aboard the sixteenth "Airway Limited" from Columbus, Ohio to Los Angeles. The "Airway Limited" was one of the first commercial passenger airlines in the United States. The trip took over thirty-five hours (including an overnight train ride) and involved eight fuel stops. During the refueling stop at Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Van Hoosers met Charles A. Lindbergh (one of the airline organizers).
[i] Lexington Leader, October 31, 1929, page 1, column 8.
[ii] Wright, John D., Jr., Lexington – Heart of the Bluegrass, Lexington-Fayette County Historic Commission, 1982, page 182, Lexington Leader, January 22, 1-7.
[iii] Wright, John D., Jr., Lexington – Heart of the Bluegrass, Lexington-Fayette County Historic Commission, 1982, page 182, Lexington Leader, January 22, 1930, page 1, column 2, February 2, 1930, page 1, column 7, February 27, 1930, page 1, column 8, March 2, 1930, page 1, column 3, March 10, 1930, page 1, columns 4-5 and June 30, 1931, section 2, page 10, column 3 and Lexington Herald Leader, May 19, 1963, page A-19, columns 1-7.
[iv] Wright, John D., Jr., Lexington – Heart of the Bluegrass, Lexington-Fayette County Historic Commission, Lexington, 1982, page 182.
[v] Lexington Leader, September 29, 1931, page 1, columns 405, October 4, 1931, page 1, column 8 and October 10, 1931, page 1, column 8.
[vi] Wright, John D., Jr., Lexington – Heart of the Bluegrass, Lexington-Fayette County Historic Commission, 1982, page 182 and Lexington Herald Leader, May 19, 1963, page A-19, columns 1-7.
[vii] Lexington Herald Leader, May 19, 1963, page A-19, columns 1-7.
[viii] Wright, John D., Jr., Lexington – A Century in Photographs, Lexington-Fayette County Historic Commission, Lexington, 1984, page 223 and Lexington Herald Leader, May 19, 1963, page A-19, columns 1-7.
