Thomas-Morse Aeroplane Hangar/ Ithaca Municipal Airport/ Hangar Theatre

"The Board of Public Works last night map preliminary arrangements for leasing a portion of the lake front at the southeastern corner to the Thomas Brothers Aeroplane Company, thus affording them an opportunity to launch their hydroaeroplanes. The leasing of this land will mean the establishment of an aero station and the erection of a large hangar.
On the north side of the hangar the Thomas company plans to provide quarters for its hydroaeroplanes so that they may easily be taken to the water in readines[s] for a flight. On the south side the land tractors will be housed. To the southward stretches a long tract of land over which the tractors and aerplanes[s] may commence their flight.
This big space of formerly waste land, which stretches away northward from the former city limits, constitutes what has become known as the Industrial Tract, a portion of land to be devoted to industries in the event the Industrial Commission is successful in its efforts to develop Ithaca commercially. The city limits were extended to include this land several years ago. The lake front land, about 300 feet in length, will be leased to the Thomas Company probably for about $50 a year...."

"To Lease Part of Industrial Tract To Aero Company," Ithaca Journal, May 27, 1915, 7.

"The construction of a hangar for the Thomas Brothers' Aeroplane Company on the shore of the lake on the industrial track is now well under way. The hangar itself will be a steel and frame building, 50 by 50, containing room for several machines.
A big door opens on the side facing the lake, from which the company's hydroaeroplanes may be taken out onto the water, while another large door opens on the south side of the building upon a big runway running from the hangar, three-quarters of a mile back. This runway has been plowed, graded and rolled. It is 200 feet wide. The airplanes may be moved out of the back door to this runway and ascend from there. Thus both branches of the Thomas service are to be accommodated by this hangar."

“Thomas Hangar Well Underway,” Ithaca Journal, June 18, 1915, 3.

"Ithaca as an established port on a national airway is envisioned as the outcome of a visit here by two government inspectors. Their assurance that the Thomas-Morse landing field, available as a municipal field for that purpose, will receive a high rating nationally indicates that the government may take a more definite interest in the local field in the near future.
Walter F. Parkin and W. R. Jones, inspectors for the aeronautical division of the United States Department of Commerce, have been here in Ithaca for the last three days. Their primary purpose was to license planes at the Thomas-Morse Aircraft Corporation, as well as the company's pilots and mechanics, but secondarily they came to inspect and make a report to the aeronautical division on their flying field. ...
Mr. Parkin and Mr. Davis, both pilots of long experience, declared the Ithaca landing field among the best in this section of the country and assured the committee that it would receive a high rating in the classification of fields which the Department of Commerce is preparing. The rating will be given on their recommendation.
The Department of Commerce is pushing a special effort to develop landing fields throughout the country, to lay out airways, and in general to promote civil and commercial aviation. One of their first activities in this direction is the classification of all existing fields as regards size, equipment, and possibilities of service.
The inspectors, after visiting the Thomas-Morse hangars and field at the head of Cayuga Lake, were enthusiastic at the prospect, and asserted that, with minor improvements, the field can be given a high class rating. The Thomas-Morse Corporation has proffered its field for municipal use, in conjunction with its own use of it for test purposes, by lease at nominal rental, and has also offered to make its mechanical and service facilities available to visiting aviators."

"Ithaca Air Port Project Assured After Visit by Government Officials," Ithaca Journal-News, March 31, 1927, 5.

"The hum of itinerant airplanes is sounding in the ears of the aviation committee of the Chamber of Commerce nowadays as the probability of Ithaca's becoming a government established airport draws nearer.
The committee is today in receipt of a complete file of bulletins from the aviation division of the United States Department of Commerce at Washington. It includes description of every aviation landing field in the country, and data which is considered valuable to the local committee in making improvements at the Thomas-Morse flying field preparatory to establishing it as a regular port on a national air route.
The immediate plans in this direction call for painting a marker on the top of the high gas storage tanks of the new plant of the New York State Gas & Electric Corporation at the foot of Cascadilla Creek."

"Ithaca As Airport Receives Impetus; Committee Active," Ithaca Journal, April 14, 1927, 5.

“The Ithaca Airways Corporation has been formed by a group of Ithacans for flight training and passenger flights purposes. The directors of the new corporation are Minor Bennett, John Gifford, Lawrence Morey [Groton] and H.M. Peters.

The corporation has obtained a new Waco 10, one of the latest type of airplanes, and the Ithaca Municipal Airport will be used….

Mr. Peters is a licensed mechanic and airplane rigger. He was trained in flying at the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Fla., and he expects to apply for a pilot’s license from the Department of Commerce.”

“New Company Will Promote Airway Travel,” Ithaca Journal, April 17, 1928, 5.

"Ithaca's chance of being included in national air maps and of becoming a stop on air mail routes and a commercial center for aerial activities appeared bright today after the Common Council's action yesterday in approving a $65,963 CWA [Civil Works Administration - New Deal] project for the flying field.... 
A new hangar to be located on the west side of the field and constructed of cinder block is to be erected. It will be 100 feet in length and 80 feet wide. Two runways, 100 feet wide, will be constructed. They are to be of gravel base with a light asphalt top dressing. The north-south runway, 2,500 feet long, will be the main one while another 1,800 feet in length will bear off at a 40 degree angle from the main stretch.
In connection with the improvements the water department will extend its services on Cliff Street to the airport. A parking area will also be laid out and a tile drainage system constructed.."

"Big Airport Project Here Is Approved," December 20, 1933, 3.

"Three official[sic] of the New York State TERA [Temporary Emergency Relief Administration] will arrive here by airplane Saturday morning to make an official inspection of Ithaca's new municipal airport to participate in the two-day community celebration in connection with the field's dedication....
The new airport was constructed at a cost of $82,000 with funds appropriated by TERA."

"TERA Group Will Inspect New Airport," Ithaca Journal, September 6, 1934, 3.

"Taking off shortly before 10 a.m. today in crisp, sunny weather over Ithaca Airport, 2 airplanes of Robinson Aviation Inc., headed southeast to inaugurate non-stop air service between Ithaca and New York....
The opening of passenger service brings to Ithaca an airline designed solely to meet the air transportation needs of this one community, Robinson said today.
...It is hoped, Robinson explained, that the New York run will be only one of a number of spokes radiating directly from Ithaca to other areas within the State of New York. A need for direct service from Ithaca to Albany is developing, [C. S.] Robinson said....
The service provided by Robinson Airlines also is quite different from the great long-distance high-speed operations employing the huge air transports of the future which have lately fired the imagination of the public, Robinson said. In contrast, Robinson Airlines has been developed exclusively to meet the equally great need existing for nonstop direct service over comparatively short distances to bring the advantages of air transportation closer to the everyday requirements of the average business man."

"Airline Opens Inter-City Plane Service," Ithaca Journal, April 6, 1945, 3.

Snow storm can't stop local aviator from saving Saratoga newspaper. By Grace Heckman Bull, the aviator.
The Ithaca Journal, Jun 27 2003, P. 14, Cols. 1-3, with photo

'In January 1947, the gears in the priming press of the newspaper in Saratoga Springs broke, and the only spare gears were at the Ithaca Journal, another paper in the Gannett chain.
  The Journal called Mohawk Airlines to arrange to ship the gears, but Mohawk at the time had not gotten authorization to fly in bad weather. So the paper called the Ithaca Flying Service, based at the Municipal Airport at the head of Cayuga Lake and operating out of what is now the Hangar Theater, to see if they could fly the gem's to Saratoga.
  I worked for the Ithaca Flying Service as a commercial pilot and flight instructor, and I was assigned the task. H.M. Peters, the manager, gave me my orders: I was to go to the Journal early the next morning. pick up the two gears and fly them to Saratoga or some nearby airport, depending on the amount of snow on the runway, and if the weather was so bad I couldn't make it, I was to "land somewhere in the Mohawk Valley and put the gears on a train, and if you can't do that, get a wheelbarrow and push them there." The gears had to get through.
  The next morning was gray with lowering ceilings as I set off early, heading east with the big, heavy gears strapped down on the back seat of the Aeronca Champ. When I encountered freezing rain which glazed the windshield, I changed to a more northerly course where I would find lower terrain in the Mohawk Valley. Visibility was poor due to snow and I had to go around the city of Utica because I was too low to fly over it legally. The ground was covered with snow at Saratoga.
  The runway was not plowed and I had no way of knowing how deep the snow was and the Aeronca was not equipped with skis. Fortunately, the Aeronca was tail heavy and even more so with the gears in the back and I had no trouble landing. It took a lot of power to taxi in the deep snow.
  There were newspaper people and photographers waiting as I climbed out of the little Aeronca, stiff with cold. I had not counted on the sheet of ice under the snow, and my feet slid out from under me and I sat down hard. Fortunately, the photographers were gentlemen and did not take pictures of me sitting in the snow. They helped me to my feet and interviewed me, and I learned that the paper had dispatched crews to various airports in the area in case I had to land elsewhere.
  Subsequently, I received clippings from a clipping service in New York City with an article that had appeared in the New York Times, of the rescue flight with the gears so that the "Saratogian" could go to press.
  The editors of The Gannetteer, the Gannett Newspapers magazine, published the gear story and used my photo on the cover.
  Now I can truthfully say that I was once a cover girl."

"Ithaca Festival was the only bidder Wednesday for use of the 72-acre former Municipal Airport site, and Common Council unanimously accepted it and authorized Mayor Johns to execute the lease agreement..."

"Festival Makes Bid, Gets Airport Lease," Ithaca Journal, May 6, 1965, 13.