Aerial view of Youngstown -Warren Regional Airport
I wonder why I’m thinking about airports today? Perhaps it has to do with writing this (on Friday) while sitting in an airport in Austin, Texas.
I’m not such a big fan of flying these days, just something I have to do with my work. But I remember a time when I was a kid and my parents or grandparents would make the 10 mile or so drive out of Youngstown, and park by the fences on Route 193 and watch the planes land and take off.
There seemed to be lots of flights in and out of Youngstown back then. The airport at one time was served by United, US Airways (and its predecessor Allegheny), Northwest and its predecessors) and even Pan Am. Back then, I suspect there was much more company travel on commercial aviation. For a time when my dad was a department store buyer, he flew regularly out of the airport.
That brings me to one of my favorite flying memories–the first time I flew. My dad was on a buying trip to Washington. I don’t remember much about the actual flight, which was on a turbo-prop plane. I got to go to dinner with all these business types and then hung out at the hotel while my dad did some business. Then we had all day Saturday to tour Washington. This was back in the late 60’s when no one worried about security threats. He had to stay in DC so I flew back alone–my first flight alone!
That’s actually the only time I flew out of what was then Youngstown Municipal Airport. I do remember one time when my grandparents went out to see Barry Goldwater during his 1964 presidential campaign. He got off the plane, made a short speech, talking about how we should send LBJ back to his ranch to toss beer cans out his window!
The airport had its beginning as a WPA project in 1939, opening a year later. It was not Youngstown’s first airport. That distinction belongs to Lansdowne Airport, on the northeast side, which opened in 1926. It’s longest runway is just over 3000 feet and it did not have the room to expand to accommodate the larger planes. On the other hand, Youngstown airport’s longest runway is over 9,000 feet long and can accommodate planes as large as a Boeing 757.
Air travel declined in the years after the mill closings and in the early 2000’s there was no scheduled service. In 2006 Allegiant Air started serving the area. Just under 7,000 people flew out of what is now called the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in 2005. By 2014, that number was up to 60,000, along with charters to destinations like Atlantic City. Nevertheless a large part of the airport traffic is still general aviation and military, with the Youngstown-Warren Air Reserve Station a major user of the airport.
Will air travel ever come back to what it once was in the heyday of the airport? I kind of doubt it. Under today’s air system, it is far easier to go to Cleveland and Pittsburgh where one can get a direct flight to many destinations. Apart from favorite vacation locations, there are few routes that would warrant the traffic except possibly a flight to a hub.
Nevertheless, the airport is still an important part of the greater Youngstown economy, between the general aviation and military use and Allegiant’s presence. And Lansdowne? The airport was part of a scheme to bring in a blimp company in the 1980’s that never flew. My understanding is that it is owned by Boardman Steel and still used for general aviation but is in poor condition. The AirNav website indicates the asphalt is breaking up in places and advises calling the airport manager before landing to determine the pavement condition. I’ve seen online discussion of converting the airport to an industrial park, which given its location near I-80 would make sense.
Like other aspects of Youngstown redevelopment, the use of the area’s airport space calls for intelligent and entrepreneurial decisions driven by real economic demand and not “pie (or blimp) in the sky” fantastic schemes. Hopefully the experiences of the last 40 years can lead to some wiser choices.
What are your memories of the Youngstown Airport? Did you ever fly out of there?
Even if you could land at Lansdowne, you wouldn’t want your plane to leave the runway. Just looking at the aerial views from Google Maps and the taxiways are basically gone or so crumbled as to be impassable for aircraft.
That’s what I gathered.
I don’t know how old you were on that first flight of yours – alone – but my youngest took his first flight as well – alone – at 16 from Nashville to California with what was supposed to be just a layover – if even that, maybe just a plane change – in Denver but because of fog I think in Cali – they wouldn’t fly out and he ended up spending the night in the airport at Denver, with some rather nefarious goingson between a couple of the staff there I believe – at least they enough decency to hide it behind a pole – but made for a rather nervous mama
A few weeks ago I was visiting Youngstown and stopped at both Landsdowne, and what will always be “Youngstown Municipal Airport” to me.
After getting my first pilots license at Kent State back in 1980, I would occasionally rent Cessnas from Landsdowne to take family and friends up sightseeing.
That little airport was in kinda rough shape back then, and in the past forty years things have only gotten worse. I was hoping to find some signs of use, as I heard some folks were flying from there in the early 2010s. But it looked totally abandoned.
YNG looked much better with general aviation traffic, a school for mechanics and of course, the Air Reserve Base, but the Airline Terminal sits deserted. It’s clean, lit up and even was decorated for what probably was military charters, but not a soul was there.
Brought back memories of standing on the Observation Deck upstairs with my Dad and watching the United and Allegheny flights come and go sporadically on a Sunday afternoon after mass over fifty years ago.
Dad worked at the Youngstown Sheet and Tube and we couldn’t possibly afford to fly on a family vacation back in the sixties, so he would take his airplane crazy son to Youngstown Airport or Greater Pittsburgh to watch planes and spend time together.
Sometimes we’d have a bite to eat in the terminal restaurant, who’s claim to fame, or infamy, was that it’s beautiful large picture windows were once blown out by an early jet leaving the gate with a captain who most-likely applied a little too much thrust to get moving.
Kinda sad to see these touchstones derelict, but they still carry wonderful memories for me.