Chapel Hill’s first airports, 1928–1934

In the chronology

Events in this storyline, in date order. See these 10 dated events in the chronology →

1. By June 1928 Contractor Charlie Lee Martindale opens an airfield north of Chapel Hill Martindale bought a 50-acre plot from philosophy professor Horace Williams and laid out an airfield he called Martindale Field. He leased it to George A. Noah and Yawger Pickall, who flew passengers from it and by December 1928 ran it as the North State Aircraft Company. By 1931 it was known as the Chapel Hill airport. People: Henry Horace WilliamsSearch the index · UNC-Chapel Hill (University Gazette, May 22, 2018): Cleared for landing · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, June 8, 1928, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, July 27, 1928, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, December 7, 1928, p. 1
2. by July 27, 1928 Aviators lease Martindale's field and begin carrying passengers By July 27, 1928, George Noah and a partner had leased Charles Martindale's landing field north of Chapel Hill and were carrying passengers in a three-place biplane flown by two licensed pilots. They planned a hangar for four or five planes and a flying school, and hoped the field would become a stop on an east-west air mail line.Search the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, July 27, 1928, p. 1
3. by December 7, 1928 Five planes are based in the new hangar at the airport north of Chapel Hill By early December 1928 five planes were kept in the new hangar at the airport two miles north of Chapel Hill, which G. A. Noah and Yawger Pickall ran as the North State Aircraft Company, agents for Eaglerock and Monocoupe planes. Their pilot-instructor, E. H. Brockenbrough, was giving regular lessons to a Carolina student and a Duke student.Search the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 7, 1928, p. 1
4. by February 8, 1929 Air marker naming Chapel Hill is painted on the Carolina Theatre roof By February 1929 the name Chapel Hill, in yellow letters 12 feet long on black, with an arrow and the figure 2 pointing to the airport two miles away, had been painted on the roof of the Carolina Theatre by the local American Legion post with the Guggenheim Fund, the Ford Motor Company and the Post Office Department. Pilots said they could read it from 2,000 feet.Search the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, February 8, 1929, p. 1
5. by June 7, 1929 The Chapel Hill airport lengthens its runways and gets onto the air-trail maps By early June 1929 the landing field two miles north of Chapel Hill had been extended by grading and tree-cutting to an east-west runway of 2,500 feet and a north-south runway of 2,200 feet. Six planes were based there, three of them the operating company's, and the Weekly reported the field had been placed on the air-trail maps; the company also began a free bus from the Carolina Smoke Shop.Search the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, June 7, 1929, p. 6
6. June 30, 1929 Crowds watch a parachute jump at the Chapel Hill airport On the afternoon of June 30, 1929, scores of people went out to the Chapel Hill airport to watch Dick Hunter leap from a plane at about 2,000 feet and fall several seconds before opening his parachute. He landed near the spectators, who added coins to a collection taken up before the show.Search the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, July 5, 1929, p. 2
7. by July 5, 1929 Southern Airways, Incorporated, takes over the Chapel Hill airport By early July 1929 J. E. Burroughs, Y. Pickell and Charles H. Martindale had formed Southern Airways, Incorporated, to succeed the North State Aircraft Company as operator of the Chapel Hill airport, keeping former army pilot Charles G. Lore as manager. They planned a four-passenger plane for charter trips and sought an electric line from the university's service plants for beacons and night landings. People: Charlie Lee MartindaleSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, July 5, 1929, p. 1
8. late August 1929 Chapel Hill's American Legion post wins three state trophies At the state American Legion convention in Raleigh in late August 1929, the Chapel Hill post won three trophies for its work in its membership class, and the post's chaplain, Rev. Alfred S. Lawrence, was elected state chaplain. The post was credited with school prizes, sponsoring the Boy Scouts and a junior baseball team, helping get the landing field started, and service officer George Lawrence's aid to veterans' widows and orphans. People: Alfred Stratton Lawrence, George H. Lawrence, Paul H. RobertsonSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 30, 1929, p. 1
9. August 1931 The Commerce Department puts Martindale's Chapel Hill airport on its air maps C. L. Martindale, owner and manager, reported that the Department of Commerce had placed the independently owned Chapel Hill airport, two miles north of town, on its official air maps. The field measured 2,200 by 2,500 feet, and its hangar held three small planes.Search the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 14, 1931, p. 1
10. late April 1934 Pilot I. M. Tull opens the University Airport on the Ray farm Ousted from Charles Martindale's Chapel Hill airport when Martindale gave G. N. Pickell exclusive rights there, pilot I. M. Tull opened his own field on the Ray family's farm on the Antioch road about half a mile west of University Lake, clearing trees, piping a ditch and marking it with a wind sock and a white circle. Chapel Hill thus had two airports, with flying announced at both for April 29.The Chapel Hill Weekly, April 27, 1934, p. 1