#GeneralDeWittSpainAirport

[darlenefblog]

General DeWitt Shy Spain Airport - Memphis, Tennessee

2787 North 2nd Street

Taken directly from Wikipedia with only slight modifications.

General DeWitt Spain Airport began as an idea in 1928 when the Memphis Chamber of Commerce Engineering Committee suggested turning Mud Island into Memphis' Airport. They decided against that location for a main airport and moved Memphis International Airport to its current location in South Memphis. However, the idea apparently did not fade.

In 1959, Memphis Downtown Airport was put into service about where Mud Island Park is today to service the general aviation community. It had the slogan: "You're strictly uptown when you land downtown." A ferry boat took travelers from the Island to the cobblestones, and then it was just a short walk to the offices of Memphis' city center. Private pilots who worked downtown and business travelers had the perfect arrangement. By 1961, 30 planes were landing per day, according to newspaper reports.

*I think this sounds like a lovely way to travel. Memphis International Airport is a sprawling 1960's design monstrosity. I personally would not cry if they tore it down and started over. *

By the mid-1960s, Interstate 40 was scheduled to cross the Island. Airport owners fought the I-40 Bridge, but in August, 1970, the last plane departed the island airport. *I-40 runs from East to West coast across America. The only leg not completed is in Memphis. The planners wanted to run the interstate through the Memphis Zoo, located in Overton Park. The city sued and after a long court battle finally won. As it turns out the I-40 bridge only obstructs a small portion of Mud Island but it would have interfered with airplane traffic*. Quickly the airport authority purchased available land just to the north of the island so downtown commuters could once again have their landing strip back. The following May, Memphis Downtown Airport was replaced by General DeWitt Spain Airport, honoring local war hero General DeWitt Spain who died in 1969. It has been and still is an active general aviation airport.

*This is a cute epilog, the only crash at the airport was a drone.*

On April 11, 2016, General Dewitt Spain Airport suffered its first accident of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle after a Phantom Quadcopter impacted the side of a hangar. No fatalities were reported. The Quadcopter was unregistered and unable to be traced to the operator.

*I found this information on General Spain from his obituary. I've lived in West Tennessee all my life and had no idea who he was. He died in 1969 in Maryland; I was almost 8 so it wouldn't have made my young self's radar. He sounds like quite a guy.*

Dewitt Shy Spain

BIRTH 24 Apr 1919

DEATH 28 Apr 1969 (aged 50) BURIAL Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington County, Virginia

Evening Star, April 29, 1969 Page 20

Brig. Gen. DeWitt S. Spain, 50, deputy chief of staff for plans at the Tactical Air Command Headquarters, Langley Air Force Base, died of cancer yesterday at the Andrews Air Force Base hospital. He was born in Memphis, Tenn., and attended Southwestern University there (now known as Rhodes College) and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

In 1940 he became an aviation cadet and was commissioned a second lieutenant in May of 1941. For four years during World War II he was active in the Asiatic-Pacific theater, finishing as commander of the 15th fighter group.

After the war he was discharged from active duty and returned to Memphis, where he participated in the air National Guard and air reserve programs. Returning to active duty in 1950, he became director of combat operations of the 26th Air Defense Division in New York. *Memphis is a large distribution hub, being situated on the Mississippi River in a middle of the country location. The military also found the city to be a good location for the Naval Air Station in Millington and a large Air National base where the Memphis Belle airplane was on display for many decades.*

Upon graduation in 1961 from the Industrial College of Armed Forces at Fort McNair, Gen. Spain was assigned for a year to the Pentagon's deputy chief of the Air Defense Division, followed by two years on the Pentagon's national Security Council. Assigned in 1963 the USAF headquarters in Wiesbaden, Germany, he served as director of operations and training, until 1966, when he assumed his Langley post, he was attached to the 10th tactical reconnaissance wing of the Royal Air Force at Alcan Barry England.

His decorations include the Legion of Merit with Oak leaf cluster, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star, the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Purple Heart, and a commendation ribbon.

He leaves his wife Joan of Hampton Virginia and a daughter Mrs. James Romanchk of Chanute Air Force Base, Illinois. Services will be held at 3 PM Thursday at Fort Myer Chapel followed by burial with full military honors in Arlington Cemetery. The family suggests that expressions of sympathy be in the form of donations the American Cancer Society.