2 weeks Ago By Page Brinkley
Some people question why there is no airport near Airport Road in Williamsburg. The answer: an airport was there from the early 1930s until 1967. Several aircraft, a hangar and the operations building were once visible from the intersection of Airport and Mooretown roads.
More than half a century has passed since the airport closed, and now a dense forest hides the airport that was. The first airport in the Williamsburg area was not at the Airport Road location, but instead at Scott Field, which in the 1930s was an undeveloped area approximately 2 miles north of Duke of Gloucester Street. In 1931, Julian Alvin Chandler, then president of William & Mary, foresaw a future in aviation and added it to the school’s curriculum.
He also negotiated for an airport at Scott Field that became known as the “College Airport” because it was operated by W&M. The airport had two runways that were 1,800-feet long in an “L” shape formation and a building with both hangar and office space. William & Mary became the first college in America to have an aviation program that also included flight training.
A campus flight club was organized and invited Amelia Earhart to the campus. Earhart accepted the invitation and spoke at Phi Beta Kappa Auditorium in March 1933. She urged women to pursue their interests in aviation and predicted that women would occupy an important role in aviation; later that evening she attended a banquet at the Williamsburg Inn.
Meanwhile in the early 1930s, about 2 miles north of Scott Field, there was a large track of land owned by William & Mary where construction had started for an improved airport. It included longer runways (2,800 feet long vs. 1,800 feet at Scott Field) in an “X” formation layout, a hangar and an operations building.
Airport Road was built to give access to and from Mooretown Road. At that point there were two airports in the Williamsburg area. The plan had been for the new airport to become the home for William & Mary’s aviation program.
In 1934, however, W&M determined that the cost of insurance and plane maintenance made the program too expensive and the aviation program ended. Unfortunately, the cancellation of the school’s flight program in 1934 limited the new airport’s startup, which was also negatively impacted by the Great Depression (1929-1939) and World War II (1939-1945). However, this airport was used during World War II by the Civil Air Patrol.
In 1946 the outlook improved when Aviation Services Inc. moved its operations from Scott Field to the Airport Road location. Several aerial photographs reflect approximately 10 to 13 parked aircraft.
Initially, this airport was also called the “College Airport,” which caused confusion with the nearby Scott Field. In 1955, William & Mary leased the airport to Floyd G. Clark, who learned to fly in the 1920s, had participated in Civil Air Patrol operations during World War II and had previously managed a small airport on Richmond’s east side.
The airport provided fuel and repair services, plane rentals and flight instructions. The airport’s name was changed to Central Airport. The runways were never paved, and the airport’s radio communications were not manned on a regular basis.
Pilots were expected to see and be seen when taking off and landing. Starting in 1963, the airport was used for flight training by William & Mary ROTC students with Mr. Clark as the flight instructor.
The first class included about 12 students who had undergone extensive Army physical tests, attended weekly classroom instructions and took flying lessons at the airport. Most of those students continued their flight training as officers in the Army after graduating. Mr.
Clark died suddenly from a heart attack in 1967, and he was posthumously inducted into the Virginia Aviation Hall of Fame by the Virginia Aeronautical Historical Society. After Mr. Clark’s death, operations at the airport ceased.
The airport land was sold by William & Mary to the city of Williamsburg during the 1980-1985 period. Trees have since camouflaged the former runways. Magnified views of Google Maps reflect a slightly different color for much of the growth covering the old runways.
Most of the original Airport Road was converted into a hiking/biking trail, and Airport Road was moved a short distance north of its original location. As a result, a portion of Airport Road currently traverses through part of a former runway. A forest has erased most traces of the airport.
The movements and sounds of the once active airport have been replaced with silence and the occasional rustling sounds caused by wind passing through the trees. However, two airport remnants lie partially hidden like sleeping ghosts from the past — the operations building and a hangar. The operations building still reflects portions of its foundation, and there are scattered sheets of twisted metal (probably from its roof).
The site of the former hangar contains collapsed metal girders and mangled sheets of metal. In most theater plays, the stage curtain closes after the last act, but nature was the final curtain for the airport that was. Page Brinkley is a William & Mary graduate who was in the 1963 ROTC flight school and made 30 flights from the Central Airport as documented in his pilot’s flight logbook.
Research for this article came from the “B. Traver Hulse Scrapbook,” the W&M Flat Hat newspaper, the website Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields and the Virginia Aeronautical Historical Society. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Click to share on X (Opens in new window) Most Popular Police identify 34-year-old Newport News man killed in motorcycle crash Police identify 34-year-old Newport News man killed in motorcycle crash Motorcyclist killed in car crash on Jefferson Avenue in Midtown Newport News Motorcyclist killed in car crash on Jefferson Avenue in Midtown Newport News USPS agrees to work with DOGE on reform, planning to cut 10,000 workers USPS agrees to work with DOGE on reform, planning to cut 10,000 workers For filmmaker, Ken Burns documentary also a homecoming to Williamsburg For filmmaker, Ken Burns documentary also a homecoming to Williamsburg Does the city of Hampton need 2 public golf courses? Analysts pitch investing in just 1.
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