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Davis Airport (Michigan)

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Airport in DeWitt Township, Michigan
Davis Airport
USGS aerial photograph, April 1999
USGS topographic map, July 1980
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerHarvey Sheren
ServesEast Lansing, Michigan
LocationDeWitt Township, Michigan
Elevation AMSL845 ft / 258 m
Coordinates42°46′12″N 084°29′24″W / 42.77000°N 84.49000°W / 42.77000; -84.49000
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
9/27 2,550 777 Turf
16/34 2,460 750 Turf
4/22 2,025 617 Turf
Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: Southeastern Michigan

Davis Airport (FAA LID: 2D8) was a general aviation airport located 0.5 miles (0.8 km) north of East Lansing, in DeWitt Township, Michigan, United States.

Facilities

Davis Airport was situated at an elevation of 845 feet (258 m) above mean sea level northwest of the intersection of Coleman Road and Chandler Road in southeast Clinton County. The airport had five hangars at the east end of the airfield.

Runways

Davis Airport had three runways.

  • Runway 9/27: 2,550 feet (777 m), surface: turf
  • Runway 16/34: 2,460 feet (750 m), surface: turf
  • Runway 4/22: 2,025 feet (617 m), surface: turf

History

Davis Airport is named after Major Arthur J. Davis, a Lansing aviator during the 1920s and 1930s, who operated Michigan Airways, Inc. from a field in East Lansing and at Capital City Airport.

Davis was an original "barnstorming" pilot prior to the war and a few who had the opportunity to fly with him in his "taper wing" Waco F series biplane in the years following the War cherish those memories.

After World War II Davis opened the airport, then located 2.5 miles (4.0 km) north of East Lansing, at the location of Chandler's Marsh. One of the earliest records of the airport is from the November 1954 Milwaukee Sectional Chart, which then depicted Davis Airport as having a 2,100 feet (640 m) unpaved runway.

The airport was the home to many local pilots for years. Many pilots learned to fly at the airport under the instruction of Harold D. Coakley, who became a flight instructor upon the close of WWII after serving in the Army Air Corps.

The airport was managed by Dale H. Sheren for many years, who was a close friend of Art Davis. Sheren managed the airport until his death in 1976.

In January 1992, three man faced five felony charges for larceny, malicious destruction, and breaking into airplanes and a van at the airport. On August 6, 1992, a small plane skidded past a runway, hit an embankment, and flipped over Chandler Road, landing upside down in a ditch.

In 1999 approximately 20 aircraft were based at the airport.

The airport closed on May 5, 2000, and was developed into apartment buildings.

See also

References

  1. Davis Airport, Online Highways, ohwy.com, retrieved 2010-Apr-28
  2. ^ Freeman, Paul. Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: Southeastern Michigan Archived 2010-01-22 at the Wayback Machine, airfields-freeman.com, retrieved 2010-Apr-26
  3. National Park Service, Chesapeake/Allegheny System Support Office. Photographs Written Historical and Descriptive Data, Historic American Engineering Record, p. 2, memory.loc.gov, May 1995, retrieved 2010-Apr-28
  4. Morris, David D. (1976). Lansing, Jackson, Ann Arbor and Automobiles. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Edwards Brothers. p. 106. LCCN 76363304.
  5. Associated Press. "Men named in grave robbing charged again in airport thefts". Ludington Daily News. Associated Press. January 30, 1992. Retrieved April 27, 2010.
  6. Associated Press. One pilot avoids kids, dies in crash; another survives, Owosso Argus Press, google.com, August 7, 1992, retrieved 2010-Apr-27
  7. Trout, Sally (April 15, 1999). "Some want more business; some worry about noise, traffic, safety". Lansing State Journal. p. A1.

External links

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