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54-476: The first flying field in New England was on the dunes and marshes of Plum Island, about a mile and a half east of the current airport, where from April to August 1910, Marblehead yacht designer W. Starling Burgess conducted a series of test flights with biplanes that he and Augustus M. Herring designed and built. On February 28, 1910, the first airplane flight in New England took place when Herring took off from

108-536: A Forward Air Controller (FAC) aircraft for vectoring faster fighter and attack aircraft and supporting combat search-and-rescue operations recovering downed aircrews. During the Vietnam War, the Bird Dog was used primarily for reconnaissance, target acquisition, artillery adjustment, radio relay, convoy escort, and the forward air control of tactical aircraft, including bombers operating in a tactical role. Supplementing

162-513: A tailwheel landing gear. The greatest difference from the Cessna 170 was that the 305A had only two seats in tandem configuration (the largest tandem-seat aircraft Cessna ever produced), with angled side windows to improve ground observation. Other differences included a redesigned rear fuselage, providing a view directly to the rear (a feature later dubbed "Omni-View", carried over to Cessna single-engine aircraft after 1964), and transparent panels in

216-589: A compressed air engine at Silver Beach Amusement Park in St. Joseph, Michigan . He could not get airborne. Herring was reported to have made a longer flight on October 22, witnessed by two locals. In 1909 Herring joined Glenn Curtiss to create the Herring-Curtiss Company . The next year, he left Curtiss and joined Starling Burgess in Marblehead, Massachusetts to design and build aeroplanes. He left Burgess after

270-722: A contract to Cessna for 418 of the aircraft, which was designated the L-19A Bird Dog . The prototype Cessna 305 (registration N41694) first flew on 14 December 1949, and it now resides in the Spirit of Flight Center in Erie, Colorado. Deliveries began in December 1950, and the aircraft were soon in use fighting their first war in Korea from 1950 through 1953. An instrument trainer variant was developed in 1953, later versions had constant speed propellers , and

324-619: A few years and operated the airport for the next 34 years. He leased it first from the Little family, and later from the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA) to whom the Littles donated their historic farm. Hordon extended the asphalt runway and added "T" hangars at the east end of the airport. In 1977, a fire destroyed the earlier hangars and office building. Several months later,

378-667: A mile south of the current entrance to the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge . The test range included approximately the area bounded by the dunes, the Plum Island Turnpike, High Road, and the Parker River. The aeroplane, called the Flying Fish, first made three short flights on April 17. In May Burgess brought additional aeroplanes from Marblehead and built an additional building. Tests continued through

432-463: A second runway (the current grass strip) and built an additional hangar. Frothingham, who had the sole Northeast dealership for Aeronca airplanes in the 1940s and 1950s, provided a variety of aviation services, including maintenance and flight training. The Raytheon Company used the airport for radar testing during this period. In 1966 Richard Hordon and two partners purchased the airport operation from Frothingham. Hordon bought out his partners within

486-461: A year, following disagreements with another Burgess partner, Greely S. Curtis. Herring brought suit against Glenn Curtiss, claiming he had been cheated out of his property and ideas. A patent Herring claimed to have did not exist. Herring did some aviation design work for the United States Army during World War I , he later was partially paralyzed by a series of strokes. He died in 1926 at

540-716: Is a liaison and observation aircraft that first flew on December 14, 1949, and entered service in 1950 as the L-19 in the Korean War . It went to serve in many branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, was not retired until the 1970s in a number of variants, and also served in the Vietnam War . It was also called the OE-1 and OE-2 in Navy service, flying with the Marine Corps, and in the 1960s it was re-designated

594-561: Is claimed by Michigan promoters to be the first true aviator of a motorized heavier-than-air aircraft. Herring was born in Covington, Georgia , to William F. Herring, a wealthy cotton broker, and his wife Cloe Perry Conyers. He studied in both Switzerland and Germany , before his family settled in New York in 1884. In 1885-6, as a student at the Stevens Institute of Technology , Herring

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648-511: Is still in the woods above Palmer Lake, Colorado, and can be reached by an 11.1-mile (17.9 km) hike. Captain Hilliard A. Wilbanks , USAF, posthumously received the Medal of Honor for sacrificing his life on February 24, 1967, while supporting an ARVN Ranger Battalion at Di Linh , near Da Lat , South Vietnam . After knowing their ambush had been compromised and fighter support would soon come,

702-766: The Ector Mountaineer with their original powerplants and as the Ector Super Mountaineer with the Lycoming O-540 -A4B5. In United States Service, it was mostly replaced by the O-2 Skymaster and OV-10 Bronco, although it lingered in many roles due to unique advantages. In the early 1970s, as the O-2 Skymaster and OV-10 Bronco replaced the O-1 in frontline USAF service, several former USAF O-1s were turned over to

756-537: The Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), and the southern edge of North Vietnam. Its quieter noise footprint, lower speed, tighter maneuverability, short runway ability, and better visibility (even to the rear) kept it highly valued by the ground units it supported and highly feared by enemy units it flew over. The last U.S. Army O-1 Bird Dog was officially retired in 1974. During the Vietnam War, 469 O-1 Bird Dogs were lost to all causes. The USAF lost 178,

810-510: The 1970s, the SIAI-Marchetti SM.1019 . An experimental variant was the Cessna 308 , a one-off to explore the possibility of a 4-person liaison version. The U.S. Army was searching for an aircraft that could fly over enemy locations to collect information related to artillery fire target locations and distances, as well as perform liaison duties, and preferably be constructed of all metal, as

864-570: The Air Cadet gliding program. These particular L-19 variants are used in the Atlantic, Eastern, and Pacific regions. They have been modified for noise reduction using a smaller-diameter, four-blade Hoffman composite propeller in all regions except the Pacific Region and exhaust modification. The fuel delivery system has also been modified from the original design, placing the fuel selector valve closer to

918-480: The Great Blizzard of 1978 caused extensive flooding that damaged the runway and the T hangars and destroyed a number of planes. These facilities were soon replaced, and the airport continued providing aircraft maintenance, pilot training and services for transient aircraft, and served as a base for crop-dusting, aerial photography, parcel delivery, and occasional medflights. In the 1970s airline pilot Geert Frank used

972-641: The O-1 Bird Dog, and soon entered the Vietnam War . During the early 1960s, the Bird Dog was flown by the Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF), U.S. Army, and U.S. Marines in South Vietnam and later by clandestine forward air controllers (e.g., Ravens ) in Laos and Cambodia.  Because of its short takeoff and landing (STOL) and low altitude/low airspeed capabilities, the O-1 also later found its way into USAF service as

1026-603: The O-1, then gradually replacing it, the USAF switched to the Cessna O-2 Skymaster and North American OV-10 Bronco , while the U.S. Marine Corps took delivery of the OV-10 to replace their aging O-1s. Both were faster twin-engine aircraft, with the OV-10 being a turboprop aircraft. Still, the U.S. Army retained the Bird Dog throughout the war, with up to 11 Reconnaissance Airplane Companies (RACs) deployed to cover all of South Vietnam,

1080-485: The O-1. It remains a civilian-flown warbird aircraft, and there are examples in aviation museums. It was the first all-metal fixed-wing aircraft ordered for and by the United States Army following the Army Air Forces ' separation from it in 1947. The Bird Dog had a lengthy career in the U.S. military as well as in other countries, with over 3400 produced. It was further developed into a turboprop-powered version in

1134-533: The U.S. Army and Marine Corps inventories.  The aircraft were used in various utility roles such as artillery spotting, front-line communications, medevac , and training. In U.S. service, the L-19 replaced the Piper L–4 Grasshoppers and Stinson L–5 Sentinels . With the adoption of the 1962 United States Tri-Service aircraft designation system , the Army L-19 and Marine Corps OE were redesignated as

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1188-493: The U.S. as a reliable and robust vehicle to tow gliders into the air. As with most aircraft used for glider towing, the aircraft has also been outfitted with mirrors mounted to the struts. Others went to museums, where they are usually displayed in their military combat markings. In Canada, the Royal Canadian Air Cadets use former CAF L-19 aircraft equipped with a towing rig to tow their Schweizer 2-33A gliders for

1242-562: The U.S. by individuals and flying organizations. American television personality and actor Ed McMahon was a Marine Corps aviator who piloted an OE during the Korean War, flying 85 combat missions and earning six Air Medals in 1953. Captain Sidney Harrison, U.S. Army, a decorated veteran of World War II and the Korean War , crashed his Cessna O-1 on a flight from Wichita, Kansas, to Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado, in 1952. The wreckage

1296-580: The USAF directed CAP that all O-1 aircraft in CAP service be eventually replaced for safety reasons by single-engine tricycle-gear civilian Cessnas common to general aviation, primarily Cessna 172 and Cessna 182 aircraft. The only O-1 remaining in the CAP inventory is a permanent static display aircraft on a pylon in front of CAP Headquarters at Maxwell Air Force Base , Alabama. Many former USAF and former CAP O-1 and L-19 aircraft were sold to private owners as recreational aircraft, and others went to glider clubs in

1350-507: The USAF's civilian auxiliary, the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), for duties such as aerial search in support of domestic search and rescue (SAR) operations. However, since very few CAP pilots had prior training and experience as professional military aviators and/or significant experience with tailwheel aircraft, many CAP O-1 aircraft were damaged in ground loops and other takeoff, landing, or taxiing mishaps. To reduce both risk and repair costs,

1404-713: The USMC lost 7, and 284 were lost from the U.S. Army, RVNAF, and clandestine operators. Three Bird Dogs were lost to enemy hand-held surface-to-air missiles (SAMs). Two O-1 Bird Dogs were loaned to the Australian Army 's 161 Reconnaissance Flight operating out of Nui Dat in Phuoc Tuy Province . One was lost to ground fire in May 1968, killing 161's commanding officer. Another Bird Dog was built by this unit's maintenance crew, using aircraft sections salvaged from dumps around Vietnam. It

1458-421: The USMC were also designated OE-1. The USMC issued a requirement for a larger and faster version, prompting Cessna to adapt Cessna 180 wings and a more powerful 260 hp (190 kW) Continental O-470-2 engine to the aircraft, which was designated OE-2 ; 27 of these improved aircraft were delivered, but the sharp price increase dissuaded the USMC from future orders. Cessna produced 3,431 aircraft; it

1512-503: The Viet Cong charged into the Rangers. Trying to slow them down, Wilbanks shot the rest of his phosphorus rockets at the enemy. After he ran out of rockets, he made strafing passes, firing his M16 rifle from the side window of the plane. After the third pass, he was wounded and crashed, and died while being evacuated by helicopter. On 29 April 1975, the day before the fall of Saigon during

1566-622: The Vietnam War, Republic of Vietnam Air Force Major Bung-Ly loaded his wife and five children into a two-seat Cessna O-1 Bird Dog and took off from Con Son Island. After evading enemy ground fire, Major Bung-Ly headed out to sea and spotted the aircraft carrier Midway . With only an hour of fuel remaining, he dropped a note asking that the deck be cleared so he could land. As there was no other way to make room, Midway' s commanding officer, Captain (later Rear Admiral) Lawrence Chambers , ordered US$ 10 million worth of South Vietnamese Bell UH-1 Iroquois ("Huey") helicopters to be pushed overboard into

1620-458: The age of 59, survived by his wife, the former Lillian Mellen. Ironically, four years later Herring won his suit against Curtiss with a sizeable financial award. Aviation historian Phil Scott in The Shoulders of Giants: A History of Human Flight to 1919 (1995, ISBN   0-201-62722-1 ) wrote that he does not consider Herring a candidate for the first flight claim. Scott says Herring's glider

1674-491: The airport from SPNEA and contracted with two successive operators to operate the airport. Victor Capozzi of Beverly managed the airfield until September 2002, followed by Eagle East Aviation of Lawrence, which managed it until 2005. PICA managed the airfield itself for the final year of its five-year lease. In June 2002, a volunteer group led by PICA president Ted Russell opened the Burgess Aviation Museum to promote

Plum Island Airport - Misplaced Pages Continue

1728-427: The airport has been leased from Historic New England , and has operated under the name Plum Island Aerodrome. Since then, a hangar has been constructed and the museum has been improved. In July 2010, the 10/28 asphalt runway was resurfaced. The runway was resurfaced again in 2022. Augustus M. Herring Augustus Moore Herring (August 3, 1867 – July 17, 1926) was an American aviation pioneer, who sometimes

1782-413: The airport to restore a large number of World War II era airplanes, and the appearance of these unique planes provided an additional attraction for plane watchers along the Plum Island Turnpike. In the 1980s, the airport became the local center for ultralight aircraft. In 2000 the airport was briefly closed after SPNEA declined to renew Hordon's lease citing concern for the safety of a historic structure on

1836-420: The airport. Polando was nationally famous as the holder of the long-distance flight record, together with Russell Boardman , for their 1931 non-stop New York to Istanbul flight . With his partner, Warren Frothingham, Polando expanded airport facilities as business increased. In July 1937, a green light was added to the beacon, thus permitting all types of aircraft to land there. Three hangars, an office building,

1890-594: The asphalt runway, and a small building beside the beacon tower were built before World War II. The small building (the current airport office) was used for many years as a restaurant known as the Cockpit Café, named by a local girl in a May 1938 contest in return for flying lessons. By 1940, the Civilian Pilot Training Program began operating at Plum Island. The CPT used the airport extensively until early 1942, when all civilian airports within 25 miles of

1944-477: The coast were ordered closed and flight training moved further inland. During World War II, the Coast Guard used the hangars, and a group of small airplanes, probably a Civil Air Patrol unit, was based at Plum Island. This combination of military and civilian craft, under military control, was used for reconnaissance and offshore patrol to locate German U-boats and their victims along the New England coast. The airport

1998-523: The fabric-covered liaison aircraft used during World War II (primarily Stinson and Piper products) had short service lives. After the specification for a two-seat liaison and observation monoplane was issued, the Cessna Aircraft Company submitted the Cessna Model 305A , a development of the Cessna 170 . The Cessna 305A was a single-engine, lightweight, strut-braced, high-wing monoplane with

2052-527: The final version, the L-19E , had a larger gross weight. Around 1950, U.S. Air Force (USAF) orders for sixty L-19A aircraft were diverted to the United States Marine Corps (USMC), which designated it OE-1 under the 1922 United States Navy aircraft designation system , took delivery from 1951 to 1953, and deployed the aircraft in Korea. In 1959, two L-19E aircraft transferred from the U.S. Army to

2106-688: The first U.S.-built aircraft sold abroad. Burgess also drew the interest of the Wright brothers, who contracted the Burgess Company to build Wright Flyers under license. Burgess built over a hundred airplanes of various designs through the end of World War I, when his factory in Marblehead burned up. He built the world's first flying wing, the Burgess-Dunne, which he sold to the Canadian armed forces. He also built

2160-434: The first aircraft to both take off from and land on water. In 1915, he was awarded the prestigious Collier Trophy, still recognized as the pre-eminent aviation award for the greatest progress in aviation in the preceding year. The earliest record of possible aviation activity at the current Plum Island Airport was in 1926, when the U.S. Army Air Service designated the field as an Emergency Landing Field. Sometime in 1926–1929,

2214-523: The frozen surface of Chebacco Lake in Hamilton, Massachusetts, in a pusher biplane he and Burgess built. (Herring had first tested gliders in 1895 with the 'Father of Aviation', Octave Chanute , on the Lake Michigan dunes.) After the single flight, Burgess sold the plane and moved the operation to the marshes at Plum Island. He built a building and a wooden "runway" near where the dunes meet the marshes, about

Plum Island Airport - Misplaced Pages Continue

2268-452: The history of aviation at Plum Island and the region. PICA's last president was former National Parachute Champion David "Butch" Crook of Rowley. From 2006 to 2012, Plum Island Aerodrome housed Noyes Enterprises, which restored and sold Cessna L-19 Bird Dog aircraft. During this time, the hangar and facilities were used to repower and modify a large number of Cessna L-19 aircraft for the Royal Canadian Air Cadets . Ever since October 2006,

2322-660: The new Civil Aviation Administration (now the FAA) installed a beacon tower at the Plum Island field as a primary navigation aid to mark the Boston-Portland air route. The base of the beacon tower can still be seen at the bend in the Plum Island Turnpike. Commercial operation of the airfield began in August 1933 by Joseph Basso and W.F. Bartlett. In May 1937, John Polando began passenger service, airmail service, and pilot training flights at

2376-682: The pilot. The L-19/O-1 is a popular warbird with private pilots. In the U.S., the Franconia Soaring Association in Franconia, N.H., uses an O-1, tail number N4796G, to tow its gliders, including Schweizer SGS 1-26 gliders and Grob G103 Twin Astir and Pilatus B4-PC11 sailplanes, as of July 2012. As of June 2009, more than 330 were registered with the US Federal Aviation Administration . Others are owned and operated outside

2430-436: The property. Hordon prevented use of the airport runway by future lease holders by erecting a 27-foot tall barrier on the portion of the runway on his property adjacent to the airport, eventually failing in attempts to prove ownership of the property. From 2001 to 2006 a non-profit organization, Plum Island Community Airfield, Inc., (PICA) – begun by Marc David Sarkady and others as a grassroots community-based group – leased for

2484-591: The spring and summer of 1910 with longer and higher flights. In August 1910 Burgess and his team discontinued the test flights in order to prepare for the Harvard-Boston Aero Meet to be held the following month in Squantum, on Dorchester Bay. As a result of Burgess's interaction with the world's leading aviators at the H-B Aero Meet, he sold seven biplanes to English aviator Claude Graham-White, believed to be

2538-477: The wings' center-section over the cockpit (similar to those found on the Cessna 140 and the later Cessna 150 Aerobat model), which allowed the pilot to look directly overhead. A wider door was fitted to allow a stretcher to be loaded. The Army held a competition in April 1950 for the contract, with contenders from Cessna, Piper, Taylorcraft, and Temco;Cessna's entry was selected for service. The U.S. Army awarded

2592-521: Was already building models of flying machines. By 1893, he had built a full sized glider – which he crashed when trying to leave the ground. He began studying glider expert Otto Lilienthal 's work. In 1894, Herring built a Type 11-monoplane glider based on Otto Lilienthal ‘s 1893 German patent. Herring was then hired by Octave Chanute to build and test aircraft models from plans drawn up by either Herring and Chanute. Later in 1895, Samuel Pierpont Langley hired Herring to assist in his experiments. Herring

2646-517: Was also built under license by Fuji in Japan . Initially, 2486 were produced between 1950 thru 1954, and an additional 945 produced through 1958, and 60 more were produced in Japan. The L-19 received the name Bird Dog as a result of a contest held with Cessna employees to name the aircraft. The winning entry, submitted by Jack A. Swayze, an industrial photographer, was selected by a U.S. Army board. The name

2700-466: Was also used during the war to make movies such as "Wake Island" with naval aircraft based at N.A.S. Squantum. Polando left in 1942 to fly planes for radar tests at MIT, and then to serve in the Army Air Force. Frothingham's son Everett, who had learned to fly at Plum Island, became a Navy pilot and died in the war. Frothingham continued to operate the airport for the next 24 years. In 1946, he added

2754-487: Was chosen because the role of the army's new aircraft was to find the enemy and orbit overhead until artillery (or attack aircraft) could be brought to bear on the enemy. While flying low and close to the battlefield, the pilot would observe the exploding shells and adjust the fire via his radios, in the manner of a bird dog ( gun dog ) used by game hunters . The United States Department of Defense (DOD) ordered 3,200 L-19s that were built between 1950 and 1959, entering both

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2808-592: Was difficult to steer and his two-cylinder, three-horsepower compressed air engine could operate for only 30 seconds at a time. Scott considers Herring as having simply expanded the traditional hang-gliding by adding an engine. Herring's defenders point out that hang-glider fliers today steer their aircraft by shifting their body, as Herring did. This method was superseded by the Wright Brothers system of dynamic three-axis control used by most aircraft flying today. Cessna O-1 Bird Dog The Cessna O-1 Bird Dog

2862-531: Was rehired by Chanute in January 1896, but continued experimenting on his own. In December 1896, he applied for a patent of a man-supporting, heavier-than-air "flying machine" that was motor powered and controllable, but the patent application was rejected. On October 10, 1898, Herring telegraphed Chanute to come and watch him fly a powered aeroplane of his own design, based on the Chanute-type biplane structure, using

2916-406: Was test-flown and later smuggled back to Australia in pieces, contained in crates marked as "aircraft spares". This aircraft now resides in the Museum of Army Flying at the Army Aviation Center at Oakey , Queensland . As the USAF phased out the O-1 in favor of the O-2 and OV-10, many O-1s in the United States were sold as surplus. During the 1970s and 1980s, Ector Aircraft remanufactured many as

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