The AIAA Historic Sites Committee ended the Historic Aerospace Sites Program with two aviationrelated sites. Lunken Field, in Cincinnati, Ohio, was the largest municipal airport in the world when it
was built in the 1920s. Sivaram Gogeneni, AIAA Director of Region III, designated Lunken Field as an
AIAA Historic Site at a ceremony in September.
It is still home to the oldest standing control tower. Here, the Aeronautical Corporation of America
(Aeronca) built the economical but efficient C-2 airplane, helping to shape the future of general aviation.
The Metal Aircraft Corporation of Cincinnati built another airplane here, the Flamingo, which is best
known for being the first aircraft to fly over what is now Angel Falls, Venezuela.
In 1926, the Embry-Riddle Company, which already had passenger and mail service out of Lunken,
established the first government-approved flight school in the nation here. In 1929, Embry-Riddle
merged with the Aviation Corporation of Delaware (AVCO), renamed American Airways shortly
thereafter. Their earliest flights included ferrying passengers to Chicago. The Sky Galley restaurant, still
operating at Lunken, was the first to serve meals on airplanes.
Later that month, AIAA Region I Director Ferd Grosveld dedicated the Igor I. Sikorsky Memorial Airport
in Bridgeport and Stratford, Connecticut as an AIAA Historic Site. This airport was the site of much of
Igor Sikorsky’s work, particularly on the VS-300, the first practical helicopter flown in the United States
and the basis for the majority of helicopters constructed since then. Sikorsky also developed the F4U
Corsair airplane here, used by the Navy in World War II. Originally called Bridgeport Municipal Airport, it
was renamed in 1972 after Sikorsky’s death.
The American Helicopter Society International was a co-sponsor of the designation of Sikorsky Airport as
a Historic Site, and AHS International is now creating their own historic site program. AIAA and AHS were
privileged to have Nikolai Sikorsky, one of Igor Sikorsky’s sons, speak on his behalf at the designation
ceremony.
Due to a need to close AIAA budget gap, the Historic Sites Program has, unfortunately, been cancelled.
It’s been a good run – AIAA designated 60 sites; led to the creation of two other Historic Sites programs
(by AHS International, mentioned above, and the Royal Aeronautical Society); involved thousands of
AIAA members, company employees, and historians; and can count millions of media “hits” through its
13 years of ceremonies. Tony Springer, the chair of the Historic Sites Committee, would like to thank
former Executive Director Cort Durocher and former AIAA President Sheila Widnall for helping to kickoff
the program initially; former AIAA President the late John Swihart, for his cheerful willingness to fly
anywhere in the world to help out with ceremony; and many, many thanks to all the section and TC
members who participated over the years so enthusiastically in nominations and celebrations.