Kansas City Municipal Airport Well Remembered

Just a bit of history about a place that was recently renamed for 101-year-old retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Charles McGee, a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, who served as the airport’s manager during the early 1980s.

Here's the start of the story . . .

This airport was dedicated as New Richards Field in 1927 by Charles Lindbergh and was soon renamed Kansas City Municipal Airport. Its prominent tenant was Trans World Airlines (TWA), which was headquartered in Kansas City. The airport was built in the Missouri River bottoms next to the rail tracks at the Hannibal Bridge. At the time air travel was considered to be handled in conjunction with rail traffic.

The airport had limited area for expansion (Fairfax Airport across the Missouri River in Kansas City, Kansas covered a larger area). Airplanes had to avoid the 200-foot (60 m) Quality Hill and the Downtown Kansas City skyline south of the south end of the main runway. 

In the early 1960s an FAA memo called it "the most dangerous major airport in the country" and urged that no further federal funds be spent on it. Kansas City replaced the airport in 1972 with Kansas City International Airport. 

The downtown airport was then renamed for Charles Wheeler who was mayor when Kansas City International opened. 

The premise for tonight's late night clip . . .

"The Kansas City’s Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport is in her blood. That's what prompted her to ask how the downtown airport helped build Kansas City."

Take a look via www.TonysKansasCity.com link/embed . . .

Hopefully, more for the morning update which might take place around noon . . . STAY TUNED!!!