Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields:
Western Connecticut
© 2002, © 2008 by Paul Freeman. Revised 7/16/08.
Bethany Airport (revised 7/16/08) - Jonnycake Airport / Mountain Meadow Airport (revised 3/11/06)
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Jonnycake Airport / Mountain Meadow Airport (22B), Burlington, CT
41.77 North / 73.01 West (West of Hartford, CT)
Johnnycake Airport, as depicted on the January 1963 NY Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
The date of construction of this former small general aviation airport has not been determined.
It may have been established at some point between 1957-60,
as it was not yet depicted at all on the 1957 NY Sectional Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe).
The earliest reference to Johnnycake Airport which has been located
came from Steve Walcott, who recalled, “We moved to Harwinton (2 miles southwest of JohnnyCake) in the late spring of 1960.
The airport was a well established airfield at that time, although the runway was turf.
Fred Pesce was Manager.
The flight shack, pumps, parking lot, and school hangar (and what would become the taxiway)
were located on the Litchfield County / Harwinton side of the line.
The general hangars, tie-downs, sock, and runway were on the Hartford County/Burlington side of the line.”
The earliest depiction which has been located of Johnnycake Airport
was on the January 1963 NY Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
It depicted the field as having a 2,400' unpaved runway.
Steve Walcott recalled, “I began flight training at JohnnyCake in 1965.
It then had a 2,800’ newly-paved runway (but no markings).
By late 1967 the south 400’ had deteriorated & the length was redesignated back to the original 2,400’.
Still no taxiway, still no markings.
The 3’ high boundary fence posts / truncated telephone poles & steel cable
were still at 2,810’ from the Runway 19 threshold
(I dinged the empenage on those in a Cessna 150 while on final approach due to wind shear that closed the airport after I landed).
The January 1971 NY Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy)
depicted Johnnycake as having a single 2,400' paved runway.
The 1987 Flight Guide (courtesy of Chris Kennedy)
depicted Johnnycake as having a single 3,420' paved Runway 1/19, with a parallel turf taxiway on the west side.
Two hangars were depicted on the east side of the runway,
along with the Prop Stop Restaurant on the southwest side, and the terminal & office on the west side of the field.
An undated (circa 1990s?) view of a Cessna 152 in front of Johnnycake's office building & hangars.
An undated (circa 1990s?) view of a Grumman American Tiger & a Piper twin at Johnnycake.
An undated (circa 1990s?) aerial view looking southeast at Johnnycake Airport.
In the 1991 USGS aerial picture, over a dozen light aircraft were visible on the ramp on the northwest side of Johnnycake Airport.
The 1993 Jeppesen Airport Directory depicted Johnnycake as having a single 3,420' paved Runway 1/19.
Several buildings were depicted on the northwest & northeast side of the runway,
including the offices of Interstate Aviation.
At some point between 1993-2004, the airfield was evidently renamed “Mountain Meadow” Airport.
In its last year of being listed in the FAA Airport/Facility Directory (2004),
Mountain Meadow Airport was described as having a single 3,420' asphalt Runway 1/19.
The field was said to be home to a total of 23 aircraft (21 single-engine & 2 multi-engine),
and it was said to conduct an average of 36 takeoffs or landings per day.
According to the Squadron One Flying Club, Mountain Meadow Airport was reported closed on 4/1/2004.
“Rumor has it that the two owners of the airport had an ongoing dispute about the property
and this is the sad outcome.”
An article entited "A Big Debate Over A Tiny Airport" by Don Stacom
appeared in the 5/10/04 issue of the Hartford Courant.
It described efforts to reopen the field.
It reported that Johnnycake Mountain Meadows Airport's flight school & fuel depot had closed years ago.
Vincent Scarano, manager of the FAA's New England Region airports division,
said “Airports like Johnnycake are important to aviation.
If you shut them down, those pilots & their planes go somewhere else that may already be congested.”
The FAA & the state Department of Transportation were reported to be holding out the lure of millions of dollars in aid
if the towns of Burlington & Harwinton were to buy Johnnycake &reopen it as a municipal airport.
But there's a problem: airport owner Richard Miller no longer wanted an airport on his property,
and he was refusing to sell.
He ridiculed the defense that it could be an engine for regional business growth.
"It's been there 50 years, and what do you have?
The Landing Zone & the Countryside," he said,
referring to two nearby restaurants that are popular with visiting pilots. "That's it."
Miller's position had municipal leaders talking about perhaps taking his land by eminent domain -
a prospect that unsettled even some of Johnnycake's supporters.
The FAA was interested in Johnnycake because of its location.
The agency's National Plan of Integrated Airports listed about 3,000 airports
that it considers significant to America's aviation system,
and Johnnycake was on it.
The field is one of only 15 Connecticut airports on the list, and the only one near Litchfield County.
Buying Johnnycake, local pilots said, would be a sensible use of public money.
But acquiring Johnnycake would be expensive.
Burlington First Selectman Ted Scheidel estimated Miller's 237 acres were worth $4.7 million,
and pilots said that improving the facilities might run another $1 million.
The price could climb higher if Johnnycake's western edge, which was owned by Frederick Pesce, was added.
As much as 95 percent of the cost could be covered by the FAA,
with the CT DOT paying another 3.75 percent, said Richard Jaworski, a DOT transportation engineer.
The FAA, however, spends only $2-3 million a year on municipal airports in Connecticut,
and that's usually for improvements, not acquisitions.
Scarano acknowledged that the FAA hasn't subsidized the purchase of an airport in New England for as long as he can remember,
and that a potential $5-6 million price tag would be double the agency's yearly budget for municipal airport work in the state.
"We seldom buy an airport. But that doesn't necessarily mean anything," he said.
"It might be that the location would make it interesting to us."
Bill Thomas, president of the Simsbury Flying Club, said saving Johnnycake would benefit the state as a whole.
"As Bradley is growing, they'd prefer not to also have an influx of aircraft," he said.
"Aviation has an infrastructure - the fewer airports, the more planes will squeeze into the ones left."
Mountain Meadow was depicted as an abandoned airfield on the 2005 NY Sectional Chart.
Johnnycake Airport is located southwest of the intersection of Route 4 & Johnnycake Mountain Road.
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41.44 North / 72.99 West (Northwest of New Haven, CT)
Bethany Airport, as depicted on the Boston Chamber of Commerce's
1931 "Airports & Landing Fields of New England" (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
The date of construction of this former small general aviation airport has not been determined.
The earliest depiction of the Bethany Airport which has been located
was in The Boston Chamber of Commerce's 1931 "Airports & Landing Fields of New England" (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
It described Bethany as a Department of Commerce Intermediate Field.
The field was said to consist of a 33-acre irregularly-shaped sod field, measuring 2,400' x 1,000',
with the entire field available for flying operations.
The field was also said to have a 100' x 80' hangar.
The Airport Directory Company's 1933 Airport Directory (according to Chris Kennedy)
described Bethany as a auxiliary airfield,
serving as the Department of Commerce's Intermediate Field, Site 9 along the New York - Boston Airway.
The airfield was described as consisting of an irregularly-shaped 36 acre plot.
A 1934 aerial view of Bethany Airport, taken by the Fairchild Aerial Survey Company (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
A close-up from the 1934 aerial view of Bethany Airport (courtesy of Chris Kennedy),
showing the unusual airport marker, and the hangar marked with “Bethany” on the roof.
An aerial view looking north at Bethany Airport,
from the Airport Directory Company's 1937 Airport Directory (courtesy of Bob Rambo).
The directory described Bethany as a commercial airport having two sod runways: 2,450' north/south & 1,400' east/west.
A single hangar & some other small buildings were depicted along the east side of the field.
According to Ron Rex, "It was very well known in the 1930s
and many famous pilots visited there...Bert Acosta for one."
An aerial view looking northwest at Bethany Airport,
from the Airport Directory Company's 1941 Airport Directory (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
The directory described Bethany as a commercial airport consisting of a 52 acre rectangular field, measuring 2,280' north/south.
A single hangar & some other small buildings were depicted along the east side of the field.
Bethany Airport was depicted on the November 1942 Regional Aeronautical Chart (according to Chris Kennedy).
The April 1944 US Army/Navy Directory of Airfields (courtesy of Ken Mercer)
described Bethany Airport as having a 2,100' unpaved runway,
Bethany was depicted as a commercial or municipal airport on the 1945 NY Sectional Chart.
The 1962 AOPA Airport Directory described Bethany Airport
as having a single 2,800' turf Runway 18/36.
The field was said to offer fuel, repairs, hangars, tiedowns, and charter.
The operator was listed as Albert Porto.
The 1954 USGS topo map depicted Bethany Airport as an irregularly shaped clearing, with a few small buildings,
but did not depict any runways.
A 1965 aerial view of Bethany Airport (from the CT State Library, via Chris Kennedy)
depicted the field as having a single north/south grass runway,
with a single hangar on the east side of the field, and possibly one small aircraft just north of the hangar.
The 1965 NY Sectional Chart depicted Bethany Airport as having a 2,400' unpaved runway.
The Bethany Airport evidently closed (for reasons unknown) at some point within the next two years,
as it was no longer listed among active airports in the 1967 AOPA Airport Directory (according to Chris Kennedy).
Ron Rex reported in 2004, "The last time I was there, probably 20 years ago,
there were still some original hangars in existence."
According to Ed Walsh (who moved to Bethany in 1993), the Bethany Airport had closed as
"The airport surrendered air rights so a television/radio tower could be put up not far away down the hill."
Walsh continued, "The airfield has had horse show pens & exhibit areas,
a golf driving range & soccer field built on it in the early 1990s
and a recycling center was put near the hangar in 1995."
Remarkably, the 1991 USGS aerial photo showed that after more than 54 years
the former airfield appeared to remain almost completely intact,
with the areas of the north/south & east/west runways remaining largely clear.
Most significantly, what appeared to be the original hangar remained standing (the white building just right of the center of the photo)
and even the circular airfield marker (used in the 1930s & 1940s to mark a grass airfield)
also appeared to remain (in the center of the photo).
Ed Walsh reported in 2005, "The hangar is now a DOT office & storage area.
You could never land a plane of any size there anymore."
A 2008 photo by Matt Baker of the former Bethany Airport hangar.
According to Matt, “It was used until recently as a town garage but will soon be converted for use as recreation space for the town of Bethany.”
The site of Bethany Airport is located west of the intersection of Amity Road & Munson Road.
Thanks to Ron Rex for pointing out this airfield.
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