Take to the Sky
By Colleen Nelson
When Federal Airway Expansion Superintendent W.O. Snyder came to pitch the great notion of an airport in Greene County, the Chamber of Commerce was all ears. George Worley’s farm, located just outside of Waynesburg had a fine flat field and Waynesburg was on the flight path from Washington, DC to Dayton, Ohio.
By 1930, three pilots had flown over but could not see where to land. Volunteers, including Company K, hustled out to cut the weeds back, throw down some surface material and use lime to paint a big white circle on the ground.
And so the Greene County Airport project was born. Two other flat spots in Carmichaels and one in Dry Tavern were considered, but in the end Worley’s field won out. By 1936, at the height of the Great Depression, WPA project funds were used to hire the men to finish the first landing strip and the old farmhouse became the official office. By the 1950s, the runway was 3500 feet long and airshows became the rage. Runway lights, taxiways and T- hangers were added. In the 1990s, the old farmhouse was removed and replaced by an administration building that included a restaurant and space for the Greene County Magisterial District Court 13-93-02.
But the real story of this little county airport and others of its kind scattered across America, is how many kids stopped by to check out the planes and ended up becoming pilots.
There’s that magic age of twelve to fifteen years when the young mind is in flux, waiting for the right adventure to become the passion that the career of a lifetime can be built around. That’s the window SOAR (Support Our Aviation Resources) is always on the lookout for, when the right kid takes his or her first flight and when they land you can see it in their eyes.
The pilots and aviation enthusiasts who belong to SOAR have a mission to keep interest in flying alive by sponsoring an annual Aviation Day the third weekend in August and holding fly-in pancake breakfasts to raise funds in lieu of dues.
Their spin off group Greene County Flying Club is a 501c3 with a more ambitious agenda “to provide access to safe and affordable flight and flight instruction to club members and to promote and support aviation in all forms including drones, electric aircraft, ultra-lights and alternative airborne vehicles.” The club has four planes for training new pilots and offers an extremely affordable annual or quarterly commitment and family discounts.
Learn more about SOAR of Greene County and the Greene County Flying Club at www.SoarOfGreeneCounty.org.
