Falls Church Airpark

Falls Church Airpark (closed)

USGS Topographic Map, 1955
IATA: noneICAO: none
Summary
Airport type General aviation
Owner Falls Church Airpark, Inc.
Operator Ashby Rossen
Serves Metropolitan Washington D.C.
Location Fairfax County, Virginia
Elevation AMSL 250 ft / 76 m
Coordinates 38°51′54″N 77°11′48″W / 38.86500°N 77.19667°W / 38.86500; -77.19667
Map

Location of Falls Church Airpark

Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
9/27 2,650 808 dirt

Falls Church Airpark was an airport located in the Falls Church area of Fairfax County, Virginia from 1945 to 1961. The facility was located on a parcel of land owned by Eakin Properties, a Virginia real estate development firm.[1] The airport was primarily used for general aviation and civil defense purposes until encroaching residential development forced its closure. The area formerly occupied by the airport is now mainly used as a shopping center with the western end of the complex occupied by the Thomas Jefferson branch of the Fairfax County Public Library system. Parts of several apartment complexes are also located on some of the airport's former grounds.[2][3]

History and usage

The Falls Church Airpark was a pair of unpaved landing strips located in Fairfax County, Virginia. The license for the airport was granted by the state of Virginia on July 25, 1945[4] but the airport was not available for general use until 1946 when it opened with a single grass runway, 2,650' long. The airport was built on an area known at the time as "Eisenhower's Farm" and was located alongside U.S. Route 50.[3][5] A 1949 report, compiled by the state of Virginia, described the airport as being located two miles southwest of Falls Church, and featuring a single strip that was characterized as "...poorly graded and hazardous after rains."[6] By 1951, a smaller, crosswind airstrip was added to the complex. During the 1950s, the airport was used general aviation, civil defense, medical transportation, and air shows.[7][8][9][10] Pilot training was also offered at the facility[11] and airplane sales and rentals were made available through a Mooney aircraft dealer located on the property. The airpark also hosted a chapter of the Civil Air Patrol squadron, private flying clubs, a small building that contained a Link Trainer for student pilot use, a hangar used for maintenance work, and a converted house that was used as both an office and a snack bar complete with vending machines.[12] Despite the difficulties in landing and taking off due to the slope of the main runway and the restricting tree lines at the field's western end, the airfield was popular with local pilots and at its peak hosted approximately 75 planes.[2]

The airport’s popularity during the 1950s led to a feature article in the August 7, 1955 edition of the Sunday Washington Post newspaper. The article discussed the activities of the NBC flying club whose founding members worked for the broadcast network’s Washington, D.C. affiliate. Totaling 17 members, the club was not restricted to NBC employees and included local area residents. Several of the members interviewed stated that they flew their families to Rehoboth Beach, Florida, and other vacation areas. The article stressed the club members' opinion that the club's flying activities were very affordable compared to commercial air travel or traveling by car. At the time of the article, the club's assets included a four-seat Cessna 170 and a single seat Mooney.[13]

Significant events

Falls Church Airpark, circa 1950. The road at the top of the photo is U.S Route 50 (Arlington Blvd)
Falls Church Airpark hosted many events including this 1949 air show. Poster courtesy of Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields

Closure and aftermath

As early as 1956, Eakin Properties, Inc., the owners of the airport's land, had attempted to convert the facility to commercial use. Led by Leroy Eakin, the company had a significant presence in Northern Virginia and had been largely responsible, years earlier, in extending U.S. Route 50 through the parts of Fairfax County where Eakin had purchased over 1,500 acres of real estate for as little as $10 an acre decades earlier.[1][27] Concerned that a shopping center would lead to traffic problems, the county denied Eakin the permit.[28] After several more years of airport operations, Eakin Properties was named in a July 1960 grand jury indictment charging that the airfield's operation constituted a public nuisance. Neighbors charged that "airplanes taking off and landing raised dust that polluted the air and caused great annoyance inconvenience, and discomfort."[29] Eakin subsequently applied to the county for permission to build apartment complexes on the site of the airfield. On at least two occasions, the applications were denied due to local opposition and concerns regarding the lack of adequate sewage infrastructure needed to support the 832 unit complex proposed by Eakin.[30][31] Although the airport was still running classified advertisements in the Washington Post as late as August 6, 1960,[32] Eakin eventually succeeded in developing the airport into a shopping center and by 1961 the Falls Church Airpark was no longer shown as an active airfield on the Washington D.C. aeronautical sectional.[2] The shopping center that finally occupied the bulk of the airports former grounds was called "Loehmann's Plaza"[33] and as of 2016 is still in existence, now bearing the name "Graham Park Plaza".[34]

References

  1. 1 2 Bredemeler, Brandon (November 9, 1970) "At 95 Former Va. Realtor Still Donates to Build Park" The Washington Post, page C1
  2. 1 2 3 Freeman, Paul "Falls Church Airpark, Falls Church, VA" Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields. Retrieved March 19, 2014
  3. 1 2 Rollo, Vera (2003) Virginia Airports : A Historical Survey of Airports and Aviation From the Earliest Days. Richmond, VA: Virginia Aviation Historical Society
  4. "Annual Report of the State Corporation Commission of Virginia. Compilations from Returns of Railroads, Canals, Electric Railways and Other Corporate Companies, Volume 58" (1945) Virginia State Corporation Commission, page 32
  5. Staff writer (July 25, 1945) "Airfield Plan Weighed" The Washington Post, page 3
  6. "Division of Aeronautics, State Corporation Commission" (1949) Virginia State Corporation Commission, pages 50-51
  7. 1 2 Staff writer (December 15, 1952) "Disaster Teams Swarm in Falls Church as Imaginary Atom Bomb Drops on Airport" The Washington Post, page 3
  8. 1 2 Staff writer (December 14, 1952) "Mock Air Raid Today in Fairfax" The Washington Post, page M8
  9. Staff writer (July 10, 1950) "Here's a Model Speed Demon" The Washington Post, page B2
  10. Staff writer (April 10, 1953) "Weekly Blood Flights" The Washington Post, page10
  11. 1 2 Staff writer (December 1, 1947) "Student Pilot Hurt in Crash at Falls Church" The Washington Post, page B2
  12. Staff writer (June 17, 1950) "Washington-National Airport Now Has 150 Vending Machines" The Billboard, page 110. Retrieved March 21, 2014
  13. Cheshire, Maxine (August 7, 1955) They're Flying High - At Low Cost" The Washington Post, pages F7 & F12
  14. Staff writer (September 4, 1947) "Man, Woman Perish in Air Crash" The Washington Post, page 1
  15. 1 2 Staff writer (September 5, 1947) "Woman Pilot Seriously Injured In Crash Near Falls Church" The Washington Post, page B1
  16. Staff writer (September 6, 1947) "CAB Begins Full Probe of 2 Va. Crashes" The Washington Post, page B2
  17. Staff writer (August 27, 1951) "Kids of All Ages in Air Show at Falls Church" The Washington Post, page B1
  18. Staff writer (November 5, 1951) "4 Men Escape Serious Injury In Plane Crash at Falls Church" The Washington Post, page 1
  19. Staff writer (June 17, 1952) "Woman Flier Injured as Plane Noses Over" The Washington Post, page 22
  20. Staff writer (November 17, 1952) "Air Force Plane is Forced Down at Falls Church" The Washington Post, page 1
  21. Staff writer (December 5, 1952) "Air Raid Sunday in Falls Church" The Washington Post, page 26
  22. Staff writer (June 29, 1953) "District Office Machine Broker Crashed When His Motor Fails" The Washington Post, page 1
  23. Staff writer (October 26, 1953) "Two Flee Forest Fire After Crash" The Washington Post, page 1
  24. Staff writer (February 28, 1954) "Plane Crash Kills 2 Men; 5 Children Imperiled -- Craft Pancakes Into Annandale Backyard Where Girls Are Playing" The Washington Post, page M1
  25. Staff writer (January 7, 1960) "Blaze Destroys Planes, hangar" The Washington Post, page A1
  26. McBee, Susanna (January 17, 1960) "Pilot Wrecks Light Plane Landing in County Street" The Washington Post, page B4
  27. Bonner, Alice (April 20, 1972) "Developer Leroy Eakins Dies" The Washington Post, page B6
  28. Guinn, Muriel (April 26, 1956) "Shopping Center Is Denied" The Washington Post, page 26
  29. Staff writer (July 20, 1960) "Rock Quarrying Firm Indicted as Nuisance" The Washington Post, page C2
  30. Staff writer (November 22, 1960) "Zone Shift in Fairfax is Deferred" The Washington Post, page B2
  31. Staff writer (December 20, 1960) "Fairfax Rejects Rezoning Plea" The Washington Post, page B8
  32. Classified advertisement (August 6, 1960) "Aviation - 115" The Washington Post, page C10
  33. Day, Kathleen (September 21, 1987) "Small Airports Nosediving in Number" The Washington Post, page B1
  34. Ashford, Ellie (2014) Loehmann's Plaza renamed Graham Park Plaza. Annandale, VA blog
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