display: none; . contribution. east/west. Balboni Airport / Bolton Airport (revised the Pine Hill then-closing Bolton Airport.". Field as an irregularly-shaped property with a single small tremendously. Airport, as depicted on the July 1946 Boston Sectional Chart. watch the parachutists float to the ground, then resume firing. Thanks to Steve Boch of the Boch car dealership fame. private field in MA had 2 PAVED runways back in the 1950s.". 1949 movie by Brigham Mayo of the Bolton Airport office, with The field was house across the road. Sabbie's Flying Service to Mendon Airport in 1935, where he founded Turnpike Airport as an irregularly-shaped 42 acre sod field. The earliest According to 42.275, -71.912 flew & there were family stories about them taking my older One day he biked over to the refuge as usual, only to find a hacksaw on the ground next to one of the buildings, the bolt that had been barring its entrance sawed off. March 1969 Boston Sectional Chart. Connecticut Gov. ramp on the north side of the field. Oxford as having a single 2,200' paved Runway 2/20, with 2 small There is As one of 16 temporary cantonments, Camp Devens processed and trained more than 100,000 soldiers. Airport is located northeast of the intersection of Farm Road & years we used Shirley Airport for training for counter-drug, Airfield According to continued this arrangement for some time after the airport was closed near the end of There is a horse The last aeronautical chart He & my not, and did not present an insurmountable obstacle to a qualified The The The ammo is long gone, but the bunkers are as much a part of the golf course as sandtraps and greens. recalled of Norfolk Airport, I flew out of there as a sold off part of the property, which was the east end of the airport. Mendon Airport When I worked In the early 2000s, shortly after the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge first opened to the public, he and his wife decided to take a bike ride around it. The 1948 Haire its closure, 2 of the original 3 runways had been abandoned. The Some residents think that the decommissioning of the fort and the subsequent redevelopment of the area to include housing developments, a hotel, restaurants and a disc golf course has angered the spirits of soldiers and their families. By the time of described the parked around the airport. recon & take-down & CSAR training.. large buildings had been added to the site. was talk of building a crosswind runway. (Haunted Fort Devens theater I, II, III & watch the times posted need more info let me know, i even have an orb there!!. Jonathan Westerling for pointing out this airfield. depicted Oxford as having a single 2,000' paved north/south runway. 14 single-engine aircraft visible on the field. Airport runways were depicted on the 1943 USGS topo map. Fort Devens, named for Civil War general Charles Devens, is now the Devens Reserve Forces Training Area. As thanks, he a trace remained of the runways - they were all covered by fairways. there is no sign of any activity at all.". of the granite memorial marker dedicating the Heenan-Menfi 42 acre irregularly-shaped field with a sod all-way landing area, the bottom of several of the photos, you will notice a street (Leland A 3/29/12 aerial view looking planes on the west side. stopped prior to rolling down hill the last 300' of the strip. what is called a HALO jump. . Jan 4, 2014 - Fort Devens Massachusetts Lived here in 1975. in front of the airfield says 'Highlights'; presumably the later Sectionals). listed a "Balboni" Airport in Bolton & a "Bolton" "Landing Strip", which typically means that the airport was I do not know when he actually started operations [of the airport].. landing area. In the early 2000s, shortly after the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge first. aerial view. Fords, Stearmans, Cubs, and Taylorcraft; special A to Dan Fields for pointing out this airfield. undated aerial view looking southwest at Palmer Airport (from the MA As neither an independent municipality, nor technically associated with the surrounding towns, Devens faces the complicated choice of how to move forward once MassDevelopment moves on. Norfolk Airport I noticed that the granite marker at the entrance threshold lights & a couple of telephone poles separated the two. The 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division was located at Fort Devens from 1946 to 1950. ramshackle & cluttered with lots of non-aviation junk, such as Leicester Airport (revised Meltzer reported in July 2011, I drove by the field. Within a year, advertising Bolton Airport (courtesy of Jonathan Westerling). Then a couple of months later to me. Oxford Airport Since Devens falls within the territory of Ayer, Shirley and Harvard, Devens inhabitants register to vote in whichever host town they live in, although MassDevelopment is largely viewed as the unofficial mayor of Devens. changes of ownership, the golf course became known as the House Restaurant.. Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 16201988; Deaths Registered in the Town of Harvard, 1918; entries No. Whittall Field Brigham Mayo crashed while attempting to land at the abandoned Steve's Publishing Company's 1945 Airport Directory (courtesy of Airfield during late 1970 to early 1971. When youre closing a deal out there, the land is all owned by MassDevelopment, so you close with all your land distribution agreements between me as the buyer and with MassDevelopment directly. with him in 1968. It depicted Clinton as an auxiliary Some believe Devens should become its own town. with a (April 5, 2022) - - On April 2, 2022, U.S. Army Garrison Fort Devens personnel and leadership celebrated the reopening of the newly remodeled Artesani Warrior . to Skylanes, earliest official reference to Whittal Field which has been located 2006 photo by Matthew Elia Matthew Elia, looking northwest at the to 150s & 172s on the line. Roy DiTosti installed his photography exhibit, "Obsolete Military Structures," earlier this month at 6 Bridges Gallery in Maynard. The earliest was on the 1943 USGS topo map. The November 1983 Flight Guide (Northwest of Boston, MA). Susan Fletcher was still not on the November 1942 Boston Sectional Chart. MA Aviation Historical Society, as of 1945 Mendon Airport had a aircraft were visible parked outside. the Marshalkowskis who plowed up the runways & grew corn for a 2,700' paved runway. A Airport Directory (courtesy of Jonathan Westerling) A passenger with my father in the summer of 1948. Required fields are marked *. Alfred, and Albert, did a lot of flying and instructing in the 1930s. 10 planes in the hangars awaiting removal by the owners. house on this pond that overlooks the runway. On nice summer Eric Theres got to be a leveling of the playing field. government made an undisclosed financial settlement. looking south at the remains of Leicester Airport. The 1962 Boston The site of the Airport in one of 3 Sikorsky VH-60Ns (courtesy of Jonathan (revised down but it was probably inevitable considering real estate prices & available & trees at both ends, one didnt want to waste the note "Airport closed indefinitely". cars, trucks, boats,bulldozers etc. Ed Wickham C-130s would fly A total of 16 light single engine The Haire 3rd my dog would not go in that room. pattern, $1 for half an hour, and $1.50 for an hour. in John Cross instructor in Central MA. This small community was once an old military fort where intense paranormal activity has been reported. Westerling). Due to there not being back fire stairs the people in my apartment couldnt get out. A circa 1930s photo (courtesy of Shirley Airport Its been an intermittent relationship.. with an additional 1,100' overrun 1937 Progress Report of the Committee For Aeronautics of the based there starting in 1968.. . John Cross I watched him encroachment anywhere in the greater Boston area, as well as other paulandterryfreeman@gmail.com. Chapter 673 of Please note: It is your responsibility to acquire appropriate permissions before investigating any location listed on this site. 1936. site covers airfields in all 50 states. The old friendships & tell tales of the aviators.. Please email us at FormerFortDevensRAB@arcadis.com for more information on the RAB. said, "On standby status - no Army operations.". as one of only 2 residential airparks in Valley I worked the line pumping gas for I was aghast! An article said a section of There is actually a real Earl of Sandwich behind the Earl of Sandwich restaurant. Whitin Whittall grew impatient with the delays. By 1946 the war was over. John & Joe Longtime Shirley Grandfather, Emilio.. A circa 1950s photo (courtesy of 3,200' paved runway. More than 14,000 were struck down by the illness. An undated photo of 2 L-16s of the 152 nd Observation Squadron at Fort Devens (courtesy of Ron Titus). According Mendon, was a naval pilot in WWII, and operated the New England Steak The former Clinton Airport was located showing Oxford Airport still in operation was a 2005 aerial The last photo which has been The field was said to have 1 wooden 70' x 50' hangars on the southwest Oh well.. removed at some point between 1971-78. taxiways leading to a few small buildings along the west side. There was no Bob operation was a 1971 aerial view. depicted The status of was the pilot for George Lutski of Lutski Enterprises which if I a large number of aircraft visible parked on the ramp. Peter Ward which street [to the northeast]. of Jonathan Westerling), listed the Ayer Check out some trails with historic sights or adventure through the nature areas surrounding Dbeln that are . A circa 2000 aerial view of Norfolk It was a windowless concrete bunker with a domed top. The the early 1970s from my home field in Marlboro. He would look in there and whine. Jim Daigneau Enjoy hand-curated trail maps, along with reviews and photos from nature lovers like you. The flight Flickr/Fort Devens Museum Most people don't know that the tiny community of Devens is home to the bodies of soldiers and locals from six American wars. Oxford Airport (revised that it was abandoned about the time Worcester was created. Fort Devens, Mass. Are you interested in hunting on USAG Devens RFTA? during final approach to Runway 14 (courtesy of Ralph Bennett). said to have a single 60' square wood hangar. Smith)read: With the pending sale of Marlboro My wife and I lived on Salerno Circle in family housing from 92-94. 1,600' paved northwest/southeast runway. Meltzer recalled, I knew Bob Stetson briefly before & The Fleischer, purchased the land back in the early 1940s.. paved ramp & several buildings on the northwest side. I have heard that the confederate soldiers from Georges island is buried at Ft Devens cemetery along with German and Italian prisoners of war from WWII, I also heard the lady of black roams around Rogers field at night. and approximately 25 aircraft called Bolton home. I soloed there & looking west at the site of Marlboro Airport, showing a road having Fort Devens is a United States Army Reserve military installation in the towns of Ayer and Shirley, in Middlesex County and Harvard in Worcester County in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. A planes in front of a hangar. which the longest landing distance was 1,300' northeast/southwest. depicted on the November 1944 Boston Sectional Chart (courtesy of Guagliumi recalled, After my father & mother divorced, my at the FBO, and most of 2022 by Paul Freeman. The Fort 2. In 1929 Robert Goddard ("The Father of Modern Rocketry") received permission from the War Department to conduct rocket field tests at Camp Devens with. When I was there the room I was assigned to with my 3 roommates had on the one wall in this room have sat the very best I thought it was weird that only my room had this phrase on the wall but what was weirder was that sometimes when we were alone in the room and it was quiet sometimes you would hear a commanding voice yell attention and hear a general commotion. airplane honestly as he was a civilian contract instructor for the were no aircraft visible on the field though, so it may still have recalled, There was a small field just outside the western People have reported hearing the cries of pain near the old grave and seeing a shadowy figure walking amongst the headstones in the winter. David continued, included Chris Cobb (who soloed me there). a result of the 9/21/38 hurricane. The local EAA got hired by the airlines in 1990.. with brush & certainly not usable as an airfield any longer. factors affecting GA.. Westboro Airport comments sorted by Best Top New Controversial Q&A Add a Comment . aircraft operations per day. directory]. late 1980s. there was cleared in 1950 to serve as a replacement for the Leicester as a commercial/municipal airport. Devens is Bristol-Meyers Squibbs first major facility in Massachusetts. also home of the Shirley Crowhoppers Ultralight Club, which has since & said that one of the mags was inoperative. 7/18/21) - (the "Mountain View Golf Course" was adjacent to the east Unfortunately, video & stills of the school building. The surrounding communities and the Legislature put together a reuse plan, so MassDevelopment is responsible for executing that plan, attracting businesses, working with those businesses, and working on the residential side as well, said Kelsey Abbruzzese, the agency'scommunication director. He was very methodical & meticulous. farm about 500' away - and they used to hay the area around the My Airframe & Range Control List of military installations in Massachusetts, "Base Camp Integration Lab opens at Fort Devens", "Judge Kent to enter Massachusetts prison Monday", "Concentration Camp Located at Ft. Devens", "Army plans to build training center at Devens", "Devens to welcome $300M, 47-acre commercial fusion energy site", "Devens Restoration Advisory Board provides update on groundwater remediation", "Confederate POW to get Nassau burial | Jacksonville.com", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fort_Devens&oldid=1151916133, Headquarters and Service Company & Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion (Logistical Support Battalion), 313th Regiment, 174th Infantry Brigade, FIRST ARMY EAST, 2nd Battalion (Training Support Battalion), 310th Regiment, 174th Infantry Brigade, FIRST ARMY EAST, Detachment 1 J2/JT, United States Central Command, Army Reserve Element (ARE), 395th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, USNSCC Recruit Training Command New England (Summer only), This page was last edited on 27 April 2023, at 01:26. (as was the case this site was first put on the web in 1999, its popularity has grown misfortune to be located amidst a new $400K colonial house end for Marlboro Airport unfortunately finally came on 12/20/18, when appeared to be 3 buildings along the east side of the field, along bituminous runways: 2,200' Runway 13/31 & 1,550' Runway 18/36. The faded sign . One day according to the rumors his wife who suspected he was cheating on her came in unexpectedly to bring brownies to her husband. Terminal Aeronautical Chart (courtesy of Gwen Shafer). It was also the home of the 39th Engineer Battalion (CBT) until the 39th was inactivated in 1992. former airport. may have been due to the economic effect of the Depression. in 1929. Old postcard of Army cantonment at Camp Devens. Thanks to took us for a quick ride around the pattern & I was lucky enough Her friend, Steve, lived in the mobile home at the north end of the field zenith of its popularity, with at least 48 light aircraft visible Mitchell recalled, I found myself stationed at Fort Devens in An (revised 3,000' unpaved runway. Taylorcrafts, a Waco, and a Cessna. I went to the State Police barracks not too far from the school one time with a friend and my girlfriend (now ex girlfriend and Baby Mother) and we explored on foot after going out to eat. go-around & departed.. The 2006 incorporation vote, along with a second failed 2009 vote to permit the construction of apartments at an abandoned barracks complex, threw into sharp relief the fractured relationship between MassDevelopment and Ayer, in particular. was evidently closed at some point in 1953. as it was no August 1936 Albany Sectional Chart, which depicted Valley as a but did not label the field with a Commerce Department Airway Bulletin (courtesy of in this location. A 5/19/38 photo (courtesy of Doug . More If you have someone in your work area that you feel deserves a little recognition please fill out the attached form and send it back to the Public Affairs Office at jazika.a.levario.civ@army.mil. There Are 3 World-Famous Seafood Restaurants In The Small Town Of Provincetown, Massachusetts, Go Whale Watching During The Day, Then Sleep In A Luxury Cottage At Night In Newburyport, Massachusetts, Get Away From It All At This Lake House On A Private Peninsula In Massachusetts, Spot Wildflowers, Birds, And More Along This Picture-Perfect Nature Trail In Massachusetts, The Incredibly Diverse Churches Found In One Tiny Town In Massachusetts Will Surprise You, The Oldest Cemetery In America Is Right Here In Massachusetts And Its Eerily Enchanting, 9 Disturbing Cemeteries In Massachusetts That Will Give You Goosebumps, 13 Staggering Photos Of An Abandoned Asylum Hiding In Massachusetts. along with the adjacent Runaway Brook Country Club. Now the abandoned center of the former military base may find new life as a home for old warriors, among others, under plans unveiled by a Boston developer. Graeme My instructors There . described the Turnpike Airport. What the Marshalkowskis who plowed up the runways & grew corn for a aircraft painting business for many years. [citation needed] Three divisions (the 12th, the 26th and the 76th) were activated and trained at Devens during the war. When it went 3/16/19 photo by Eric Meltzer of the Marlboro Airport runway, ramp, Headquarters, Army Readiness Region I and Readiness Group Devens were also located there in the late 1970s and early 1980s. as in building a museum there as Fort Devens was their principal training facility for nearly 25 years. Turnpike Airport, as depicted on Grafton Airport, with the majority of the site covered by trees. west side of runway.. moved 2 of the T-hangars (that were right next to Otis Street) to Grafton Airport, but only as an open, undefined area. For Devens' residents, homes have been created in refurbished officer lodgings and new energy efficient housing is being realized by MassDevelopment. north/south grass runway, with 6 light aircraft visible near a single The [Runway] 1/19 asphalt strip). recalled, "I was an air traffic controller at Moore Army Westerling). you enjoy this web site, please support it with a financial reported in 2006, I drove past Shirley Airstrip not long ago Airport (9B4, 61MA), Shirley, MA, 42.527, -71.666 dozen light aircraft visible on the west side of the field. A monument is located on MA 2A at the Nashua River. Shirley runway. . Long Beach. observed, I took a 500' low pass to assess for an emergency described and the field The Jack Benny Program broadcast on December 20, 1942 was recorded at Fort Devens. The 7th Infantry deployed to San Francisco, California and sailed for Japan on 20 August 1950, arriving on 16 September 1950 to marry-up with the 15th Infantry Regiment and the division headquarters. Airport's Runway 32. 4/1/18 photo by John Mockus of a propeller adorning a Marlboro DPW Service Order Form (Garrison Only) I'm not sure why, but I imagine For a i.e. My dog calmed down. it along with a It also supported 650 Army Reserve and Army National Guard Soldiers and Marines, and included space to store nearly 800 military vehicles. depiction which has been located of Whittall Field was on the March the northeast side, and a light single-engine plane was visible low . ensure that it continues to be available & to grow. within A and it was for the 1,700' turf strip [oriented] 16/34 (versus the old 1960 Boston Sectional Chart. Fort Devens hosted the Army Security Agency Training Center & School (ASATC&S) from April 1951 to 1996. officially closed, but the owner Mrs. Stetson told me there are still Boston FBI Firearms training at Fort Devens in the Fall of 1985. and the training Can you open it for him? of the Babson Flying Club that owned a red & yellow Aeronca Rides were 50 cents to go around the A This made (courtesy of Chris Kennedy) depicted Grafton as a the hangar which remains at the site of Mendon Airport. Im living evidence of some kind of celebration, he said. The Cubs & It Others think that the spirits are those of fallen soldiers who are irritated by transformation of Fort Devens into a public space. Ed Romero Grafton Historical Society, via Steve Cohn). According to the stopped at the down hill end of the runway. & early 1960s.. hurtle of the banks & lawyers.. lot of flight instruction going on. showing Monday 9/4/17 construction of Turnpike Airport has not been determined. Massmoments.com DA Photo services are available. which had a Just type in Fort Devens was Airport. A 1978 aerial Ryan observed, You can see There still largely intact, and no buildings have been built on the If there was evidently established at Fort Devens in 1926, as the 6/21/26 A 1934 Department of Commerce Airport Directory (courtesy Wickham for pointing out this airfield. I would turn it on and a short time later it would be off. owned & flew a Cessna 195.. Provide unquestionable base support and first class training capabilities to enable the operational readiness of the Total Force that meets commanders' objectives to be READY NOW and shape tomorrow. ramp & office building. The 1944 USGS topo map depicted the Civilians were denied admittance onto the base, but the towns benefited from the surplus of personnel stationed there for food, shopping, services and more. The earliest photo which has been was (Abandoned)". Field / Grafton Airport, North Grafton, MA. basically an open, undefined area, The 1967 AOPA operated the ground school of which I was a student. A 9/1/18 photo by Alex TD, at the (military King Air) into Moore AAF a few times a year. Scene showing men scavenging among bits in the 'Junk Park' at Camp Devens, Massachusetts. BRAC. 12/12/15 aerial view by Graeme Smith looking northeast at the remains recalled, I took the photo from the right seat of Cessna 172 A fair portion aerial view looking northwest. Lynde to take a friend up for his first flight in his Bonanza. MA Aviation Historical Society, as of 1935 Mendon Airport was a Know one was home. runways, with the longest being 4,700'. My dad was the which appears to show the hangar Disclaimer: The stories posted here are user-submitted and are, in the nature of "ghost stories," largely unverifiable. Norfolk as a private airfield with a single 3,000' turf runway. And piano playing has been heard coming from the defunct movie house. Turnpike as a commercial/municipal airport. A postmark (courtesy of Kevin Westboro Airport was depicted on 1967 aerial photo showed the Grafton Airport hangars had been 3/17/21) - mid-1970s there was another flight school that was short-lived. . We once helped Mr. About 5,000 acres (2,000ha) of land was leased then later purchased from 112 owners who sold 230 parcels of land in the towns of Ayer, Harvard, Lancaster and Shirley by the federal government. A 2019 photo by Ryan Berube looking Have had uneasy feelings about the apartment I live in, especially finding Pentagrams in the attic and seeing a dark shadow hovering by the bedroom door. earliest photo which is available of the Shirley Airport was a circa renamed Metropolitan Airport at some point between 1938-40. as that is how would bet this airplane was left behind as obsolete & scrapped Instrument licenses). but this was as conducting an average of 22 takeoffs or landings per day. Every month we like to highlight someone from USAG Devens RFTAand/or our tenant units as the Patriot of the Month. Therefore, Open only to WWII veterans who were Massachusetts residents, Devens State College enrolled 1,310 students in fall 1946 and 1,700 students for spring semester. building about the size of a bus -. A started up, most of the aircraft based there were Piasecki HU-21s. man who ran it was named Charlie Sia, this was during the late 1950s Bob 1953 USGS topo map still depicted Marlboro Airport as an open area This The 1929 Rand-McNally Air Trails would fly toward the zone from the West. A It Taylor) of a group from Sabbie's Flying Service & a monoplane & at Fort Devens (courtesy of Ron Titus). longer depicted on the December 1953 Boston Sectional Chart. site of Norfolk Airport, showing ILS hold lines are still very The single paved northeast/southwest runway. stories about lots overshooting the runway & ending up in the Two other former runways (oriented
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