Doane Airport
 | The topic of this article may not meet Wikitia's general notability guideline. |
Doane Airport, also known as Essex Airport, is a retired municipal/commercial airport in Essex, Connecticut. It is located north of the intersection of Route 153 and Westbrook Road.
History
Doane Airport was built in 1929 - 1931 by Everett Doane, according to Richard Calarco. The airport served student pilots as well as allowing Bill Doane, Everett's son, to give sightseeing tours over the Shore Valley towns.
The earliest known reference to the airport was located in the Pilot’s Handbook Publishing Company’s 1931 Pilot Handbook. It described the airport as auxiliary, but lacked any other details. The earliest depiction of the airport is located in the August 1932 NY Sectional Chart. It was described as a commercial/municipal airport. Doane Airport was also depicted in the Airport Directory Company’s 1933 Airport Directory as a commercial airport.
The Doane Airport was last depicted in the July 1955 NY Sectional Chart, showing it as having 1,900 foot unpaved runway. The airport closed down at some point between 1955 and 1956 mainly because of interest in developing the land. It was not depicted on the January 1956 NY Sectional Chart or the 1958 United States Geological Survey topographic map.
Doane Airport Today
As of April, 2023, Doane Airport remains undeveloped. It was bought in 2019 by Connecticut State Senator and Essex First Selectman Norm Needleman for $725k from Laura Parker, a member of the Doane family. Mr. Needleman restored the original hangar building in 2019 and cleared some invasive plants and abandoned buildings which were deemed unsafe by the town of Essex, Connecticut . As well as the Doane Airport, the parcels of land that Mr. Needleman purchased also contains Scott’s Farm & Greenhouses, a local farm stand. He states that he has no plans to develop the site in the foreseeable future.
Notable Figures
An article in a local newspaper which was circulated in the 1950s noted that Howard Hughes used the airport to visit Katharine Hepburn, who had a house in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. Howard Hughes was highly interested in flying and even taught Katharine how to fly herself. The two dated for 18 months in the late 1930s but reportedly remained friends for decades after the split.
References
External links
This article "Doane Airport" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles taken from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be accessed on Wikipedia's Draft Namespace.