Peoria Station

In the previous installment, we analyzed scheduled airline service, and interest by a myriad of air carriers. Now, we look at various happenings during the year 1948. First, it should be mentioned that two months before 1947 closed, Springfield’s new Capital Airport was added as a stop on existing American Airlines and Chicago & Southern Air Lines routings which included Peoria. The new facility was managed by the Springfield Airport Authority, an independent municipal corporation enabled by a 1945 Illinois law to own and operate airports in a designated area. A NEW MANAGER Dwight Rohn desired to devote more time to his Rohn Flying Service, so the Park Board replaced him with DeWitt Collins, who had previously served as manager from 1934 to 1942. Collins was born October 29, 1901 in Winthrop, Iowa. An aviation pioneer, he heard about a plane crash near Cedar Rapids, bought the parts for $100 and had them hauled by truck 40 miles to his home where he re-assembled them int...

A Peoria guy visits O'Hare! There are almost 24 minutes of video here showing selected arrivals to Runway 10C at Chicago-O'Hare International Airport between 0800 and 1700 Saturday, July 29, 2017. Highlights include nine 747s, most foreign widebodies, an American Airlines 787-9, a Lufthansa Cargo MD-11, two FedEx DC-10s and a WOW Air A-321 from Reykjavik, Iceland! Most scenes were shot from the same location, but I had to improvise on three occasions. - David P. Jordan

The last installment of this series covered airport improvements which were made following the restoration of scheduled passenger flights and establishment of an Air National Guard base. Now it is time to cover growth in local passenger flights during 1946-1947 . TWA – INTERNATIONAL CARRIER Most of you remember TWA, or Trans World Airlines. The carrier, created by a merger of Transcontinental Air Transport and Western Air Express in 1930, began using the “Trans World Airline” moniker on January 1, 1946. The carrier officially renamed itself “Trans World Airlines” in 1950. Before going on, we need to discuss regulation of the airline industry. The Civil Aeronautics Authority Act of 1938 created the Civil Aeronautics Authority, which absorbed non-military responsibilities of the Bureau of Air Commerce, created in 1926 as the Aeronautic Branch of the US Dept. Commerce. The CAA became the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) in 1940. CAB was given the authority to regulate air fare...

The last installment of this series covered the restoration of scheduled commercial airline service at the Peoria Municipal Airport. Now we’ll cover some subsequent airfield improvements. Although touted as one of the most modern airfields in country when American Airlines and Chicago & Southern Air Lines resumed service on May 1, 1945, the airport was unable to handle night flights. The issue was resolved when flush contact and range lights were installed on all runways in the spring of 1946. Plans for a control tower built atop the airport’s weather bureau office also began to move forward at this time. Tower construction, however, would not begin until late-December 1947. In addition, the Park Board desired “No. 4 Skyport” designation by the Civil Aviation Administration (CAA), which required extension and widening of runway 12-30 from 100′ to 150′ and extension from 4002′ to 5000′. The 3,603′ East-West runway, 8-26, was also widened from 100′ to 150′. These improvement...

The previous installment of this series covered efforts to improve Peoria’s Municipal Airport so that commercial airline service could be restored. Now, we will detail the actual restoration of service in 1945. RESUMPTION OF FLIGHTS In 1942, the Air Transport Command was formed to coordinate air freight and passenger service with the airlines. Personnel involved with the war effort were given priority, thus limiting air travel for the general public. By early 1945, an Allied victory over Nazi Germany seemed assured so commercial airline service could once again primarily cater to the general public. Since both American Airlines and Chicago & Southern Air Lines retained Peoria on their respective operating certificates, the only hurdle prior to resumption of flights was completion of a new terminal. By early April, representatives of the two carriers agreed to resume flights on May 1, 1945 as that was the estimated completion date for the terminal building. A Peorian...

The previous installment of this series covered scheduled airline service at Peoria Municipal Airport from 1932 to 1937. Now we’ll cover efforts to restore service.   NEW MANAGEMENT After commercial airline service ended July 16, 1937 a citizens’ committee quickly organized a petition drive proposing the maintenance and operation of Peoria Municipal Airport by the Peoria Pleasure Driveway & Park District. The petition, if successful, called for a special election to approve a tax levy for funding improvements. A total of 5,775 signatures were presented on August 18, 1937 but the Park Board deferred action pending a report that was presented on September 1. A favorable vote set October 5 as the date for an election. Voters approved the tax levy, and Peoria Airport Inc. stockholders subsequently agreed to transfer their ownership of the airfield to the Park District and cooperate with the transition. The good news was that a tax levy would bring in $75,000 a year for f...

I finally made it to St. Louis this morning (July 21) to capture brewery rail operations. Foster Townsend Rail Logistics, or "FTRL Railway," a subsidiary of Patriot Rail, has operated Anheuser Busch-owned trackage since October 2, 2011. FTRL replaced the historic Manufacturers Railway Company. The FTRL crew used PNRW 1451, a GP15-1 painted for ex-sister Piedmont & Northern Railway, to run engine lite across South Broadway at 0657. At 0721, it pulled seven empties from A-B's "Barley Cleaning House." I stuck around awhile longer because I noticed three loads sitting in the FTRL yard. Sure enough, 1451 shoved these cars across S. Broadway at 0815. It left engine lite at 0821. I lingered again because I suspected the warehouse needed switching...and I was correct. Beer shipments by rail ceased in March 2011 as A-B prepared to transition from Manufacturers Railway Co. to FTRL Railway. Four years later, A-B resumed limited rail shipments (via Union Paci...

The last installment covered the air mail fiasco, which actually prompted airlines to place greater emphasis on passengers but also led to greater federal regulation. Now it is time to analyze commercial airline service at Peoria’s Municipal Airport during 1932-1937. American Airlines, Etc .  When American Airways added Peoria as a stop on its Chicago-New Orleans mail route, it was using nine-passenger Fairchild “Pilgrim” F100 aircraft. Service began December 10, 1932. The schedule below, culled from an American Airways timetable dated October 27, 1933, shows five arriving and five departing flights daily, including one in each direction on a Chicago-Peoria-Springfield-St. Louis-Jackson (MS)-Memphis route, one in each direction on a Detroit-Chicago-Peoria-Springfield-St. Louis route and a northbound St. Louis-Springfield-Peoria-Chicago flight. The Air Mail Fiasco, and the subsequent termination of existing contracts, took Peoria off the air mail routes effective Tue...

After work this afternoon, I immediately headed for Wesley Road to check on Canadian National’s Peoria Local.  I learned that an SD70, still in Illinois Central black, was second unit when the train made its northbound run out of Decatur late this morning and early afternoon. CN acquired the IC in 1999 and seeing locomotives wearing original IC black paint is becoming increasingly rare, so I had to check it out.  Sure enough, when I got there (about 4:10 p. m.), the CN crew called the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's St. Albans [Vermont] Dispatcher for permission to depart East Peoria. Once a TZPR Industry Job cleared, the CN local itself was cleared to depart East Peoria and run to IC Jct. in Pekin (where it returns to home rails). I waited a little while until CN 2253 & IC 1005 crept across Wesley Road with 21 cars, including two CB&I bent steel loads received from the IAIS. Video shot at Hilliards and downtown Pekin, both views on TZPR trackage. ...

(Originally posted at peoriastation.com on September 18, 2015) Last time, we covered the development of the existing airfield, originally called “Peoria Airport Inc.” Next, we’ll explore how the Air Mail Act of 1930 prompted airlines to emphasize passenger business over air mail, but also led to the “Air Mail Fiasco.” Commercial aviation got its start through government air mail contracts, so one could cynically, yet truthfully, expect corruption. Air mail operations began with Army Air Corps flyers in August 1918, but then the Contract Air Mail Act of 1925 authorized the use of private carriers. Subsidies were based on weight, and some of the carriers exploited this by handling junk mail and heavy freight as “air mail” and at one hundred percent profit. By 1929, some 45 carriers were involved. Naturally, the federal government discovered its patriotic duty to regulate private air mail services. In 1926, then-Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover named William P. McCracken ...

(In the previous installment, we covered Big Hollow Airport, which operated from 1926 to 1931.) Big Hollow Airport was inadequate from the start. Excessive rainfall in May 1927 created bumps, making landing and takeoffs precarious. That summer, Caterpillar tractors spent a few days leveling out the airfield. By early 1929, local aviator E. B. Cole Inc. intended to build a new airfield. Initially, Cole favored the Bontjes farm just north of Bradley Park.  Legislation allowing creation of airport authorities still lie in the future, so efforts to establish a larger Peoria airfield eventually involved the Pleasure Driveway & Park District of Peoria, founded in 1894. On July 15, 1930, the Park District sponsored an election so the public could vote on a plan for a new airfield, but it failed. Meanwhile, the Big Hollow site lost commercial airmail and passenger airline service in 1931. Local business interests understood the economic value of restoring this service, so ...

I spent Friday afternoon and early evening shooting video of airliner arrivals and departures at Central Illinois Regional Airport. The airport serving Bloomington-Normal has far less activity than Peoria's facility but is easier to spot at and around. Despite some clumsy camera work capturing distant aircraft movements, I think the results were pretty good. An American Eagle turnaround from Chicago-O'Hare flown on a CRJ200 (painted in SkyWest "house" colors) used Runway 29 for both arrival and departure. All others used Runway 2. These were turnarounds from Minneapolis/St. Paul (Delta Connection CRJ200), Dallas/Ft. Worth (American Eagle CRJ900), Atlanta (Delta Connection CRJ900) and St. Petersburg/Clearwater (Allegiant Air A320). Due to its late arrival, I left before the Allegiant Air A-320 departure. Not this aircraft is painted for the "Make-A-Wish" foundation. - David P. Jordan

In the previous installment, we covered Peoria’s first airmail flights and the fact that they were flown by the soon-to-be famous Charles A. Lindbergh. Now we shift to Peoria’s next airfield, Big Hollow Airport, which was located along then-Illinois Route 30 (north of US 150 and west of Rt. 91 today). There appears to be some disagreement over when this facility opened. Bill Adams wrote in his November 26, 1990 Yesterdays column that  Big Hollow opened in the late summer of 1926 and Kellar Field was closed.   Actually, that is when construction began on the new airfield, but it opened on December 20. Newspaper articles alternatively call it the "Municipal Airport," "Peoria Airport" or "Airport of Peoria." The map below appeared in the Peoria Evening Star on April 24, 1927. Shoppes at Grand Prairie occupies the present location.  AN AIR SHOW AND SCHEDULE AIRLINE SERVICE The Peoria Aero Club organized an air show here on June 10, 1...

(Originally posted August 31, 2015) The previous installment covered early aviation and facilities in Peoria. Here, we will cover our city's first scheduled air mail service. Robertson Aircraft Corporation was founded at St. Louis in 1921 by brothers William and Frank Robertson, who served as president and vice-president, respectively. Operations started at Forest Park, but soon after expanded to a second facility, St. Louis Flying Field, which the brothers helped establish on 170 acres of leased farmland in St. Louis County. In 1923, St. Louis Flying Field was renamed Lambert-St. Louis Flying Field after Major Albert Bond Lambert. Major Lambert purchased the property in 1925. That same year, President Calvin Coolidge signed a bill transferring airmail flying from the Post Office Department to private contractors. Robertson Aircraft Corporation won the Chicago-St. Louis air mail route (CAM-2) which included stops at Peoria and Springfield. It began on April 15, 1926. O...

This blog is for transportation discussion but thought I'd share video showing a developing tornado near where I live in Dunlap, Illinois. My video caption describes locations. Three views of tornadic activity in north central Peoria County, Illinois on July 10, 2017. The first scene shows the wall cloud from the intersection of Mendenhall and W. Parks School roads west of Dunlap, Illinois. Tornado then begins to develop just northwest of town (seen from Duggins Road). Final view shows the offending storm cell from a gas station on N. Knoxville Road in Peoria. I should note, this being a transportation blog, that the radio chatter in the first scene is from a BNSF Railway dispatcher in Fort Worth, Texas. She's informing a train crew of a high wind warning in the area. - David P. Jordan

( Originally posted August 20, 2015 on peoriastation.com .) BEGINNINGS Peoria’s aviation history began with balloons. Captain H. E. Honeywell of St. Louis built a balloon and named it Peoria . He won the “Greatest Distance Achieved” award during a balloon race at Peoria in 1909. Honeywell ended up in Missouri’s Ozark Mountains. Soon, the “Aircraft Club of Peoria” was organized. Two years after the balloon flight, a plane named the “Falcon” was built here and flown from a meadow near Chillicothe. The plane was unsuccessful, and on its last flight, in 1912, ended up crashing and severely injured its pilot. But the foibles of early aviation failed to deter others from bringing their planes to Peoria. Walter Brookins visited the Mile Track (now Peoria Stadium) in 1913 with a Wright Biplane and James Ward came the following year with a Curtiss aircraft. Glenn Curtiss, it must be noted, had actually lived in Peoria while working for a bicycle manufacturer (probably Rouse-Haz...

I saved the Peoria Airport history posts... ...and I plan to restore them here when I get time. Also, while I failed to keep copies of my series on early Boeing 747 domestic service, I can probably rewrite those at some point in the near future. The "Gritty, Industrial Railroading" series will also continue, and I'll probably rewrite those as well. - David P. Jordan

I spent Saturday plane-spotting at my hometown airport. Gen. Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport lacks constant airliner traffic, but being local it is worth a visit now and then. The last time I spent much of one day plane-spotting there was April 26, 2013. Four years hence, route and equipment changes has finally prompted me to do it again.  Scenes shot were between 0900 and 1900 hours. All scheduled airlines represented - Allegiant Air, American Eagle, Delta Connection and United Express. I missed the Allegiant A-319 on a turnaround from Phoenix-Mesa but managed to shoot 10 seconds of it at the terminal. I believe I also missed one Delta Connection CRJ200 departure. Hope you enjoy! - David P. Jordan