The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-09-19
By s. BURTON HEATH
 NEA Staff Writer

NEA stan Writer
 You're going to buy Q little plane ell your own, to fly to camp week. ends. on pienics Sundays, on fishing krips--to All the places your eArth- bound car won't 60 in the time you have.
 You're going to pay no more than for an automobile - though, to be sure, c more expensive automobile than you ever did own, And It won't cost more to operate Of as much) than your flivver does now.
 So far, SO good. But where are you going to store your planep Whence will you take oh for the trout stream9 Where will you land when you get therer
 The automobile became com monplace only after streets and roads were tied together In net- work of highways, with filling and service stations within splitting dis- kAnce anywhere you might be,
 The airplane can't become 0 hum- drum unless and until every eom- paunity big enough for Q Grange Hall has also landing strip. It IS looking toward that goal that the Civil Aeronauties Authority pro. bcses federal assistance to build some 5000 landing fields, mostly for nersonal planes, bringing the total klp to more than 5000.
 AIR PARK IS CHEAP
 Many communities have no such facilities because they are fiabber- sasted by the enormity and huge Sost of on Idlewild or c Burbank. They do not yet realize that 1t Is possible to provide ample facili. &lns for their residents personal pianes - and those of visitors - ct an outlay that Is oil but insig- mtfieant.
 William A. Mara, of the Bendix Aviation Corp, reports that many ok the nations le,762 communities already are ct work preparing, Waodestly and within their financial means, for the coming air age.
 An air park should not be con- Fused with on air port" he says. Essentially the air park is only e level, grassy piece of land, per- haps 300 feet wide and 1000 feet long. It need not be hard-surfaced, but 1t must be well-drained and, above all, must be near road"
 There now are only i79i land. Ing facilities suitable for personal planes, the CAA says. But If there were 5000. located properly, no point in the country would be bnore than IS miles from adequate personal plane landing and take- 6fs facilities.
 The air parks now being con- etructed and planned include 1iightstops along highways; urban landing fields; air harbors in quiet river or lake or seashore waters; and suburban air parks.
 Perhaps the most widely pub- Mcized is that at Eldon, Mo. El- don's population is only 2,590. But the town sold $5,000 worth of bonds, spent $l1,000 for land and is using the rest for clearing. grading, draining, landscaping. fencing, seed- Ing and erecting small service and administration building. Wartime restrictions have delayed work, but planes already are using the field. @EE.y-SUPPORTING
 It is planned to leave the pro- 0ect to an operator so that the community vii have no upkeep cost. A nine-hole golf course, tennis courts and other recrea- &onal facilities will help to sup- port 1t.
 If s5,OOO seems too much for your Gown, there is Redmond, Oregon
 population 2,000. A local sports mans club gave 40 acres of land and the county commission added as much more. The Redmond Civil Air Patrol members took over.
 The resident state engineer help cd stake out runways in line with prevailing winds. A neighboring Army air field lent a large grader and bulldozer, the city lent scrap- Ing equipment, neishboring Banner volunteered his tractor. a 4airyman sent his rake and other cleizens brought trucks, equipment and human muscle.
 Tn just seven hours the 80 acres W* H#&E VI G3f1 AAHbS AAo4b bt1 VI xVtQ~ mond had been transformed with out community outlay, into a going cir park that was used that same 4ay hy D small private plane.
 Since then Q three-plane hangar HAz been built by the same com- snunitg cooperation, a flying club Has been organized and an airplane has been purchased.
 coldWater, Mich. with 1000 in- 1e1llants raised SS9.00O through popular subscription and created iA air park as a memorial to its
 Eleemen.
 n some instances. in metropolitan areas. suburban air parks are re- ported being provided by gasoline
 ananies ln return for the exclu- |s kIshl lo sell fuel al them.
 Through iis pefHnnai AiFcraie
 khe Aircraft Industries As-
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