The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-12-15
Three Citizens To Realize
.2OXear-Old Dream Today

National All Lines plane Ie ndS
here today, inaugurating north
south mail and passenger service
to the city.
It all started in July 1, 1925,
which date saw the start of a new
concrete road to Wrightsville
Beach and in the course of several
months the road had cut through
E, tract of ground used by group
of Wilmington air-minded people as
an fairfield of Sorts"
That same year saw Frank M.
Ross, Wilbur Dosher, W. E. Yopp,
G. H. Trask and Addison Hewlett
serving as members of the County
Board of Commissioners. They had
appropriated some $4,000 to be
used as county aid on the road.
Two members of that same
board - Ross and Hewlett - had
long been advocating an airfield
for the county, with the balance OF
the boards members being in &C.
cord with such a plan, but the di-
rect need had never been placed
before them, so the matter had re-
manned status quo.
With the building of the Wrights-
vile Beach road, citizens of Will
mington no longer had access to
airport facilities. The six years
that had elapsed since the ending
of World War 1 had seen more and
more interest being taken in avia-
ton, SO when Neal Kelly and Ken
yon Woody, both of whom had
used the already defunct "cowpas
ture'' airfield, appeared before the
County board they found five men
who were anxious to help and who
made "off record" studies of the
possibility Of such a field.
Neal and Woody suggested the
present site of Bluethanthal airport
which, at that time, was but q
clearing of some 50-acres lying be-
tween the road, woods and 6
creek. 1t was county-owned anc
could be used pretty much as seer
fit by the group.
Labor Furnished
The commissioners agreed tt
furnish labor and materials for thu
new field, and, following plans out
lined by engineers from For
Bragg, built a cross-runway O
1000 feet, each, with a large whit
circle at the junction of tn,
Harms built from stone from tn
county stone pile.
Labor was done by a then larg
road gang working under Richar'
{ Dick } Burnett, superintendent o
county roads.
Following its completion, tn
field was named Bluethanthal i
honor Of Arthur Bluethenthal, Firs
Wilmington casualty of World Wa
I. Lieut.. Bluethenthal was kille
before the entrance of the Unite
States into the fiasco, serving wit
the French Canadian es quadrill
of the French Air Force.
Little thought was given by tn
group of pioneering county offici
ais and early aviators that With
a space of twenty years the worl
would be torn into strife wit
planes, faster than the huma
mind would have conceived at tina
time, flying through the. air
bombers flying over cities tearin
homes and people into scattere
debris; cross-country flights in les
than six hours. They could not cor
ceive the possibility that in les
than two decades their field woul
grow and multiply itself Is time
and that virtual cities of me
would be training on the spot i
planes that would have out-distant
ed the imagination at that time.
The 50-acre field continued t
grow and during the next Is year
through the assistance of publ
works programs; through FEEDER;
aid and the GAG the airfleld ha
grown to 634 acres with building
and equipment that met with tn
specifications of all GAG reguls
tons. An additional runway ha
been installed, cutting cross tn
original "ways'' giving pilots
chance to land in any wind diree
ton.
Came 1899 and the need of
large air force and new fields be
came necessity of the moment
AS the need became greater an
the war in Europe took to the all
the War department began to stao
around for potential fields and Il
cations for the training of tn
soon-to-be-needed air force.
In 1941 Bluethenthal field wa
chosen as one of four operations
air bases on the Atlantic coast fc
anti-submarine patro'. Early
1941 Mitchell B-25 operating fror
the field sank a German sub oil
the coast-the first submarine dc
stroyed by the United States Arm
air Forces in World War II.
After operating as an anti-subps
troll field, Bluethenthal was take
over by the AAF Training Com
mand in mid-1942, and the Ne1
Hanover county field was used a
an advanced training base fo
fighters and medium hombers.
The size of the AAF program
coupled with the size. of the plane
used in training, called for longe
runways and AN enlarged train
ing area. The government purchas