Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields:
Maryland: Central Prince George's County area
© 2002, 2008 by Paul Freeman. Revised 4/16/08.
For a suburban community, Prince George's County has a remarkable aviation heritage.
A total of 12 airfields within the county are profiled on this web site (many of which have historic value).
Unfortunately, the county's proud aviation heritage is not very widely known.
A perfect example of this is the fact that of the 12 airfields profiled on this web site,
only three of them are still in operation as of 2003,
and all three of those will most likely be closing soon
as a result of heavy-handed government "security precautions" established in response to terrorism concerns.
More aviation history, soon to be largely forgotten.
Capitol Airport (1st location) (revised 7/9/04) - ERCO Field (revised 4/16/08) - Queen's Chapel Airport (revised 12/1/07)
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Capitol Airport (1st location), Bladensburg, MD
38.93 North / 76.93 West (East-northeast of Washington, DC)
The first location of Capitol Airport, as depicted on the 1935 Washington Sectional Chart.
Capitol Airport was evidently established at some point between 1932-33,
as it was not yet depicted on the May 1932 J-18 Washington D. C. Airway Map (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
According to the book "Maryland Aloft" by Preston, Lanman, and Breilhan,
a paper by Karin Thiessen gives Capitol Airport's original location in Bladensburg as "near the Peace Cross,
on River Road between Bladensburg Road & Kenilworth Avenue.
Thiessen states that the facility was owned by Edward Stitt,
who operated it with his wife Evelyn, at least as early as 1933."
Capitol Airport was depicted on a 1934 Sectional Aeronautical Chart (according to "Maryland Aloft").
The 1935 Regional Aeronautical Chart (courtesy of Scott O'Donnell)
depicted Capitol Airport as a commercial or municipal airport,
directly south of College Park Airport.
A 1936 Department of Commerce Bulletin described Capitol Airport as having two runways (1,400' & 1,200'),
as well as at least one hangar.
The Airport Directory Company's 1937 Airports Directory (courtesy of Bob Rambo)
listed Capitol Airport at its Bladensburg location.
It described the field as consisting of two runways,
with the longest being a 1,400' north/south strip.
According to the book "Maryland Aloft",
"Among the aviators using the field in its heyday was famed transatlantic pilot & barnstormer Clarence Chamberlain,
who offered aerial rides to the public."
An aerial view looking north at the Bladensburg location of Capitol Airport,
from The Airport Directory Company's 1941 Airport Directory (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
The field was described as being located 1 mile south of Bladensburg
and 5 miles northeast of the Capitol Building.
The field was said to have two gravel runways: 2,400' north/south & 1,800' northwest/southeast,
with a road running along the east side, and a railroad to the northeast.
Two small buildings (hangars?) were depicted along the road on the east side of the field.
Capitol Airport was owned by Horace Thompson,
according to Keith Lippincott, who spoke to Doug Thompson (the son of Horace Thompson).
Capitol Airport was still depicted at its Bladensburg location
on the November 1941 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
According to the book "Maryland Aloft",
the last Sectional Chart to depict Capitol Airport at its Bladensburg location was dated November 1941.
Thiessen stated that Mr. Stitt joined the military at the start of WW2,
which was evidently the reason for the field's closure.
Capitol Airport was no longer depicted at all on the 1942 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe).
Capitol Airport apparently reopened after the war at a new location in College Park (6 miles to the north),
as that is where "Capitol" Airport was depicted on the 1945 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of John Voss).
A 1957 aerial photo showed that new roads & buildings had covered the site of the former Capitol Airport,
and not a trace appeared to remain of the former airport.
As seen in the 2002 USGS aerial photo, not a trace of the airfield remains at the site of the former Capitol Airport.
According to Keith Lippincott "I am sure the 1st location for Capitol Airport is at 52nd Avenue & Simms Lane,
which is actually in Hyattsville although it is due south of Bladensburg.
That area now is all warehouse/industrial buildings."
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Queen's Chapel Airport, Hyattsville, MD
38.96 North / 76.97 West (Northeast of Washington, DC)
A 1938 aerial photo of Queen's Chapel Airport showed the field to consist of an open grass area,
with what may have been a single small building on the south side of the field.
This fairly small former general aviation airport was located only three miles southwest of the College Park Airport,
and less than one mile from the Washington, DC, border.
According to the book "Maryland Aloft" by Preston, Lanman, and Breilhan,
"Queen's Chapel Airport opened in the mid 1930s,
according to a paper by Karin Thiessen.
The property was owned by the Barrett Brothers & managed by Bob Baber & Bill Henderson."
Queen's Chapel Airport was not listed
in the Airport Directory Company's 1937 Airports Directory (courtesy of Bob Rambo)
The earliest depiction which has been located of Queen's Chapel Airport was a 1938 aerial photo.
It depicted Queen's Chapel Airport as an open grass area,
with what may have been a single small building on the south side of the field.
Queen's Chapel Airport was not yet depicted at all on the 1939 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
Chuck Swim reported in 2003, "Mr. Rogers used to hang out at [Queen's Chapel] airport when he was younger.
He & his brother used to ride their bikes up to the airport & just watch the airplanes.
This was prior to 1940 & the war.
There was a bar/restaurant across the street from the airport (east) called the Greenwood Inn.
That is where the pilots hung out & ate.
I remember going there several times."
The earliest aeronautical chart depiction of Queen's Chapel Airport which has been located
was on the 1940 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe).
It depicted Queen's Chapel as a commercial/municipal field.
According to David Talley, “My father [John Talley] mentioned to me about walking 2 miles out to Queens Chapel Airport.
He says that they would walk down to the airport prior to 1940. All they had was Cubs.”
According to the book "Maryland Aloft",
a May 1941 Civil Aeronautics Administration bulletin described Queen's Chapel Airport
"as a 21-acre property… offering fuel & minor repairs.
It possessed 2 hangars & two sod strips, 2,000' & 1,500' long."
Queen's Chapel was depicted as a commercial airport
on the 1942 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe).
According to the book "Maryland Aloft",
"Thiessen states that the facility closed during WW2, reopening shortly after its end."
This was presumably due to wartime security restrictions,
like many other small civil airports along the east coast during the war.
It was not depicted on the 1944 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe).
However, Queen's Chapel Airport was listed in the 1944 US Army/Navy Directory of Airfields (courtesy of Ken Mercer),
and described as having a 1,900' unpaved runway.
Queen's Chapel Airport was depicted on the 1945 USGS topo map,
but no runways were depicted.
The 1945 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of John Voss),
depicted Queen's Chapel as a commercial airport.
According to the book "Maryland Aloft",
in a 1947 MD Airport Directory, "the owner was listed as Queen's Chapel Airport, Inc.,
however, Henderson remained the manager until retiring in 1949.
In that year, the operator became Maryland Flying Service
and the manager was John Dorr,
who received major assistance from his wife Debbie."
Queen's Chapel Airport, as depicted on a 1949 Shell road map (courtesy of Mike Keefe).
The 1950 MD Airport Directory (courtesy of Stephen Mahaley)
depicted Queen's Chapel as having two turf runways:
a 1,900' northwest/southeast strip & a 1,700' northeast/southwest strip.
Three buildings (hangars?) were south of the runway intersection.
According to Angelo, who talked to pilots who flew out of Queen's Chapel Airport,
"They say it was a real eye opener to get into & out."
Merton Meade recalled, “I remember going to to Queen's Chapel with Bob Ashburn in his Luscombe
to arrange for Johnny Door to fly an airshow at Hybla Valley in his 300 horsepower Stearman.”
Chuck Swim reported in 2003 that a friend of his "purchased his newly constructed house
in the Green Meadows development in 1952.
That is about a half mile north of the airport.
The airport was still there & operating.
He remembers that the airport operated for 1-3 years after he moved there & then closed."
Queen's Chapel was still depicted as an active airfield on the January 1954 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy),
and was described as having a 1,900' unpaved runway.
Queen's Chapel Airport evidently closed at some point between 1954-55,
as it was no longer depicted at all on the 1955 Washington Local Aeronautical Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe).
In 1955, the Queen's Chapel Drive-In movie theater was opened
on the southern portion of the site of the former airport.
It featured "the world's largest CinemaScope screen".
A warehouse was built just north of the drive-in,
and an apartment complex was built along the northern edge of the former airport.
Queen's Chapel Airport was definitely closed prior to 1957,
as it was not depicted on the 1957 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe),
and no trace of it appeared to remain on a 1957 aerial photo.
Ron B recalled, “As kids in the late 1950s we snuck into the Queens Chapel drive-in movie, the Mighty Mo was open then also.
The one metal hangar & a small frame building were used by the P.G. Customs car club until the hanger burned down about 1969.”
Gene Darnell reported that "the Maryland National Park & Planning Commission
ended up with what was left of the Queen's Chapel Airport when the drive-in theater was built.
The property along the creek there in Queenstown housed two corrugated tin hangar buildings
and a small one story wood frame 'office'.
A car club, The Prince George's Customs, used one hangar
and the office for a few years... until the fire."
A 1965 aerial photo showed the drive-inn theater on the southern portion of the former Queen's Chapel Airport property,
with the warehouse on the northern portion.
Chuck Swim reported in 2003, "I lived adjacent to what was the airport property from 1965-73.
I returned to that area frequently until 1977.
The apartment complex was known as "Kirkwood Apartments".
The large building south of the apartments was called Kahn's Warehouse.
It was there in 1965 but was rather modern & new looking
compared to the apartment buildings that seemed to be older.
Just south of the warehouse was the Queens Chapel Drive-In Movies."
"Back in 1965-68 near the southern portion of the airport property
there was a drive-in restaurant called "The Mighty Mo".
I loved going there because all the hot rod cars would be there.
Next to the Mighty Mo, in a field, was a garage type building.
I always wondered why it was in an empty field of tall grass.
A bunch of the local hot rodders used the building for working on their cars out of the rain & weather.
The place was known as "The Mo Shack" by the locals.
It just appeared to be abandoned most of the time.
After seeing the chart it looks like it might have been in the area of the airport FBO buildings."
Kevin Russo recalled, “I grew up in the general area.
The Queens Chapel drive in theater was... torn down by 1977
and the adjoining land was being developed into the Forbes Industrial Park.
I used to fly radio-controlled planes on the site after the trees were cleared but before the buildings were built.”
In 1983, the WMATA took over the drive-in property via eminent domain,
and the drive-in & the Ford dealership closed to make way for a subway station on the new Metrorail Green Line.
An aerial photo of the site of Queen's Chapel Airport, circa 2001.
Note the circular gas tanks in the southwest corner of the photo,
the same ones depicted in the above maps from 1945 & 1950.
Not a trace remains at the site of the former airfield.
The large warehouse building remains on the northern portion of the former airport site,
and the Metrorail subway station occupies the majority of the site.
The site of Queen's Chapel Airport is located northwest of the intersection
of Queen's Chapel Road & Ager Road.
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38.97 North / 76.92 West (South of College Park, MD)
An undated promotional photo of two new Ercoupes posed in front of the ERCO factory.
Henry Berliner (who had previously developed the Berliner Helicopter at the nearby College Park Airport)
founded the Engineering & Research Corporation (ERCO) in Washington, DC in 1930.
One of ERCO's most significant achievements was the development of the Ercoupe aircraft.
The Ercoupe contained many innovative design features that produced an aircraft that was safe,
easy to fly, and certified by the Civil Aeronautics Administration as "characteristically incapable of spinning."
The aircraft was designed by Fred Weick, a noted aeronautical engineer,
who worked for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
before coming to ERCO in 1936.
The first experimental model of the Ercoupe was test flown at College Park Airport in 1937.
It had a single tail (unlike the eventual production Ercoupes, with their characteristic twin tails),
and was known as the "Jeep".
In 1937 Berliner purchased 50 acres of land in Riverdale,
just across the road to the south from the College Park Airport,
and built what eventually became the large ERCO factory.
The Erco factory & airfield were evidently not yet built by 1938,
as a 1938 aerial photo showed no trace yet of the facilities, just farmland & woods.
According to Betsey Weick (daughter of Ercoupe designer Fred Weick),
"Ted Waggy was a test pilot, Lester Wells was the President,
and Henry Berliner was the Chairman of the Board.
Bob Sanders ran Sander Aviation, who eventually handled all of the sales."
Construction of the Ercoupe production prototype was completed in 1939
and certification by the CAA was completed in 1940.
The very first Ercoupe was purchased by George Brinckerhoff (the operator of the College Park Airport),
and now belongs to the National Air & Space Museum.
A total of 112 Ercoupes were produced in Riverdale before the war forced the company to suspend production.
A 1941 photo of an Army XPQ-13 Ercoupe performing the world's first JATO takeoff at March Field.
According to Merton Meade, “That's Max Karant flying the JATO Ercoupe.
The caption says someone else is flying the Ercoupe, but Max told me it was him! Who knows...”
In March 1941 at March Field in California,
an Army Ercoupe piloted by Lt. Homer Bushey conducted the world's first takeoff utilizing Jet-Assisted Takeoff (JATO) rockets.
The Ercoupe used for the JATO tests was serial #11, NC28655.
It was built in December 4, 1940, and sold to the Army Air Corps for the princely sum of $10.
It was designated by the Army as an XPQ-13.
The black powder burn released 174 pounds of thrust for 12 seconds.
The first burn tests were conducted at an altitude of 6,000 feet.
That was followed by a series of tests at take-off that provided spectacular results.
JATO cut the take-off distance in half, in all weight configurations.
These tests led to widespread use of JATO during WW2.
During WW2, the ERCO factory converted from aircraft manufacturing
to producing a variety of military products, including aircraft gun turrets.
ERCO earned an "E" award for excellence in meeting manufacturing goals in its war contracts.
Employment at the Riverdale plant rose to nearly 4,000,
becoming Prince George's County's largest industrial employer at the time.
A February 1942 photo by Dottie Waggy of Ted Waggy in a Ercoupe,
presumably taken at ERCO Field (courtesy of Carol Waggy Lenza).
According to Carol, the picture “was taken about the time the war started & aluminum was unavailable.
It was called the plastic Ercoupe & was made of plywood according to Mom.
She says it flew great but proved to be too heavy for production.
She was a secretary at the ERCO plant, before I was born.”
ERCO established an airfield adjacent to its factory
at some point between 1942-43 (according to the book "Maryland Aloft").
ERCO Field was not yet depicted on the 1942 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe).
The earliest depiction of the airfield which has been located
was on a November 1943 Sectional Chart (according to the book "Maryland Aloft").
ERCO Field, as depicted on the 1944 Regional Aeronautical Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
The 1944 US Army/Navy Directory of Airfields (courtesy of Ken Mercer)
described ERCO Field as having a 3,400' unpaved runway.
Inexplicably, the 1945 USGS topo map did not depict the ERCO airfield at all,
even though it did depict the ERCO factory building.
According to the book "Maryland Aloft",
"Publications for the 1945-47 period show that it had 3 sod runways,
ranging in length from 3,600' to 2,650', in a triangular configuration.
The airfield lay just north & east of the plant area."
A circa 1946 photo of the interior of the ERCO plant, showing the many Ercoupes on the assembly line.
After World War II, ERCO reached a peak production of 34 Ercoupes per day.
A total of 4,000 planes were produced at the Riverdale factory in 1946 alone.
ERCO's marketing campaigns included the displays of its aircraft inside Macy's & other department stores.
“Horace Thompson who was the test pilot for ERCO”,
according to Keith Lippincott, who spoke to Doug Thompson (Horace Thompson's son).
According to Doug Thompson, “My dad was a test pilot for ERCO & Sanders Aviation.
Uncle Gene [Wendell Miller] also worked at ERCO & Sanders.”
According to Betsey Weick (daughter of Ercoupe designer Fred Weick),
"They built Ercoupes madly. They were building 10 a day
and then they put on a 2nd shift & they were building 20 a day
and then they put on a 3rd shift & they were building 30 a day!"
A 1946 ERCO advertisement placed in Skyways Magazine.
Unfortunately, the economic downturn of 1946 & 1947 reduced demand for light planes,
which was coupled with the fact that ERCO had quickly saturated the general aviation market.
In the words of Betsey Weick, "Suddenly the demand was filled
and they had ordered the materials for the next 6 months
and they just could not make it past that.
It came up too suddenly for them,
so Henry Berliner just went out of the airplane business."
ERCO founder Henry Berliner sold the drawings, tools, parts,
materials & distribution rights for the Ercoupe to Sanders Aviation in 1947.
Sanders continued to produce the Ercoupe at the Riverdale plant for a few more years, though.
According to the book "Maryland Aloft",
"ERCO field offered fuel to transient pilots at least as early as 1947.
By 1948, it was taking on the aspect of a full-service general aviation airport
under the management of Sanders Aviation,
which had also become the marketer of the Ercoupe line.
The airport had 9 T-hangars & 2 larger ones,
as well as an office & a sandwich shop.
Although the longest landing strip was now replaced by a taxiway,
the two remaining runways were paved for 1,500' from the point of their intersection.
These runways were oriented roughly north/south & east/west,
forming a wide 'V' pointing toward the southeast.
Flight instruction & aircraft rental were offered at ERCO Field in the postwar years,
and an Ercoupe Flying Club was active during the era of Sanders management."
In 1949, ERCO began to develop & produce flight simulators
upon the encouragement of the Special Devices Center,
a branch of the Office of Naval Research.
ERCO eventually manufactured some of the first aircraft-type-specific flight simulators,
including simulators for the F9F Panther & F-86D Sabre jet fighters.
ERCO also diversified by producing school bus bodies & rocket launchers.
ERCO Field, as depicted on a 1949 Shell road map (courtesy of Mike Keefe).
ERCO Field was described on the 1949 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe)
as having a 2,800' unpaved runway.
As depicted in the 1950 MD Airport Directory,
ERCO Field consisted of a 2,800 turf north-northeast/south-southwest runway
and a 2,300' northwest/southeast runway, both of which contained a 1,500' bituminous insert.
A diagonal taxiway connected the two runways.
The ERCO factory & office buildings (which still exist as of 2001)
sat at the southwest corner of the property, along the railroad.
In between the factory & the runways was a large ramp area,
with several hangars, including one row of T-hangars along the south side which was 500' long.
ERCO Field was described on the 1951 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe)
as having two runways, with the longest being a 2,800' strip (of which 1,500' was paved).
A sad day for the disappearing Maryland aircraft industry came in 1952,
when the last Ercoupe rolled off the production line in Riverdale.
In all, ERCO & Sanders Aviation produced 5,140 Ercoupes in Maryland.
The Ercoupe design continued to live on, however,
as a succession of other smaller companies continued to produce the Ercoupe design in other states,
as late as 1970.
Ed Lyon recalled, “I worked at ERCO from 1953-61.
From 1953-57, ERCO Field was still in use by the ERCO company plane, an Ercoupe built in 1946 or 47,
and by about 20 other planes, mostly Cubs & Ercoupes.
I used to fly the company plane on business trips that required travel to places like Philadelphia, Camden, or Norristown.
I was not the company pilot; he was Ralph Queen.
I was a flight simulator design engineer, designing flight simulators for the USAF & USN,
but Ralph let me take the controls as soon as we had finished company radio calls & got on our course.”
Ed continued, “Back in the 1950s, of course, all simulators were analog.
I designed the whole simulator, except for the radar & radio aids,
which were done by engineers who had been trained in the particular radar & radio equipment to be used in the particular aircraft.
The radar subsystems & radio aids complement were then dropped into our nearly-finished simulator,
and we married these systems into the rest of the aircraft flight simulation.”
Ed continued, “I was chief design engineer (called computer engineer in those days)
for the flight simulator for the F-86D & F-86K,
and assisted others in the design of the P2V-5, F4D, A3D, AD5N, RB-66, S2F, and ZP4K.
ERCO was expert at simulation of Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) functions,
and usually had all these subsystems (sonobuoy dispensers, sonobuoy receivers, plotters,
radars, dipping sonars, depth-charge dispensers, etc.) all in one semitrailer,
with the flight station in another identical trailer.
The two were wired together & operated as a unit,
or the ASW part could be programmed to 'fly' a generic course, for added ASW-intensive training.”
Ed continued, “My F-86D flight simulators (ERCO built 66 of them)
were huge systems with many racks of electronics (all vacuum-tubes)
and a cockpit & instructor's station.
They went to USAF training bases, like Perrin AFB, where there were 22 of them,
and Tyndall AFB, where there were another 20.
The rest were at McGhee-Tyson AFB, McGuire AFB, McClellan AFB, and in Japan.”
Ed continued, “Since aircraft motion is described in differential equations, analog computers are a natural.
Their problem was that they were not programmable to emulate other aircraft.
The equations were hairy, and a typical servo unit might have upward of 100 potentiometers turned by the servo-motor,
each pot representing a function of that servo parameter.
The hairiest servo, in that context, was the Altitude servo, followed closely, in jet aircraft, by the Mach servo.
Amazing how many aircraft flight parameters are functions of altitude & Mach number.
The Mach 'system' was a very hairy equation, too.
To arrive at Mach number involved every other aircraft parameter imaginable.”
Ed continued, “The sound simulator was impressive.
All the possible aircraft sounds, like hydraulic motors, actuators, the engines, of course, air flow,
canopy leaks, >outdoor thunder (during simulated rough weather), were produced,
modified as functions of Mach, altitude, aircraft attitude, engine control settings, canopy closure, and all,
and sent to a huge McIntosh tube-type amplifier and twin 15-inch Jensen speakers
mounted just under the floor of the cockpit, aimed upward.
It made the pilot's butt tighten when the afterburner was lit off, for example.”
Ed continued, “I used to have to test fly most of the fighter-type aircraft,
mainly because I had learned from the huge numbers of F-86D & F-86K simulators that I tested,
exactly how to fly certain 'required' maneuvers, like the 'maximum-economy climb to 30,000 feet'.
The F-86D, of course, was a dream to fly, as was the F4D. But the A3D was a bugger.
It was longitudinally semi-stable, and it had a +/- 2 degree tolerance on pitch angle on landing.
If 2 degrees nose high, the tail skid dragged;
2 degrees too nose-low, and the nose gear landed first.”
Ed continued, “I used to marvel at Henry Berliner’s flying ability.
He had only one arm, and had to do everything with one hand,
and that included calming down his huge German Shepherd dog, Baron, during takeoff,
when the dog would invariably begin jumping up & down on the right seat, trying to lick Henry’s face.
He would be fending off the dog & taking off at the same time, all with one arm.
When he used the east/west runway, we could stand at the plant & see right down the runway
and watch his plane zig-zagging its way into the air.
Once airborne, the dog apparently calmed down, because his flying was smooth & straight.”
ERCO Field was still depicted as an active airfield on the January 1954 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy),
and was described as having a 2,800' unpaved runway.
In 1954, ERCO was purchased by American Car & Foundry Corporation (later known as ACF Industries, Inc.).
ACF was a diversified manufacturing company
whose products ranged from railroad equipment to nuclear power equipment.
The ERCO operation was renamed as the ERCO Division, ACF Industries Inc.,
and eventually became designated as the Flight Simulation Division of ACF.
ERCO Field was described on the 1955 Washington Local Aeronautical Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe)
as having 2 runways, with the longest being a 2,800' strip (of which 1,500' was paved).
Ed Lyon recalled, “The field would be closed occasionally in earlier years [before 1957]
when ERCO had to take their ball turrets (for the B-47 & Martin Mariner aircraft) down to the east end of the field
and build a gun range butt to shoot the guns into, during military acceptance tests.
Apparently blanks did not provide the same recoil kick that live ammo did, and did not stress the turret like the real thing,
so they shot real ammo down at that end of the field.
During the week or two of such tests, the field would be closed.”
John Turner recalled, “I remember picking up my Dad after work at the ERCO Riverdale facility back in the late 1950s.
I used to pester my mother to get there early so we could watch the planes take off & land.”
The earliest aerial photo which has been located of Erco Field was a 1957 aerial view.
It depicted the Erco factory & 2 paved runways, with a connecting taxiway.
The last photo which has been located showing planes at Erco Field was a 1957 aerial view.
It depicted 2 single-engine aircraft parked on the east side of the factory.
Ed Lyon recalled, “In 1957 I was transferred to a new department at ERCO, designing Over-the-Horizon radar;
we prototyped one such radar at ERCO, erecting the huge antennas at the west end of the airfield.
That closed the field for aircraft use.”
Ed continued, “After I got transferred to the OTH radar research department,
ERCO went on with the flight simulator for the KC-135, the P5M, and the F-105, as well as several submarine simulators.
They also turned out a great number of Navy generic 'Twin-engine trainers'.
These were twin-radial-engined aircraft that had the usual systems,
like navigation electronics, automatic landing, multiple fuel tankage, etc,
to give single-engine pilots some twin experience before they went into a particularized aircraft.”
ERCO Field was no longer depicted at all on the 1957 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe).
In 1957, ERCO Division merged with another division of ACF,
the Nuclear Energy Products Division, and became known as Nuclear Products, ERCO Division.
The Riverdale plant served as the Nuclear Products Division Headquarters.
ERCO Field was labeled "Abandoned airport"
on the 1960 Washington Local Aeronautical Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe).
According to Ed Lyon, in “1961... our research department [ERCO's radar group] was moved to Bladensburg, MD.”
Ed Lyon continued, “Link eventually bought the ERCO flight simulation group, in about 1963,
and that is when the ERCO plant was finally abandoned.
That's when the ERCO people had just built their first digital flight simulator
and had a very good group of people doing visuals & cockpit motion.”
A 1965 aerial photo showed the Erco factory & 2 paved runways,
with the northern end of the north/south runway having been bisected by a road.
There were no aircraft visible on the field.
Other sources indicate that in 1965, the General Precision Equipment company purchased the operations
of the Riverdale plant of the Electronics Division of ACF Industries, Inc.
The company moved in 1967 from Riverdale to a new building in Montgomery Industrial Park in Silver Spring.
This operation later became part of the Link Company (founded by the inventor of the flight simulator, Ed Link).
The paved runways of the abandoned ERCO Field were still very prominent
in this 1967 aerial photo by Chris Kennedy, looking south.
ERCO Field remained abandoned for years as overgrown field,
and was occasionally used by local residents to operated remote-controlled model aircraft.
The 1979 USGS topo map continued to depict the 2 paved runways of Erco Field,
even though it had been closed for 22 years by that point.
According to the book "Maryland Aloft",
by 1985, ACF Industries was still the owner of the former ERCO facility,
but several federal agencies were using the former factory building
(including being used as a distribution center for aeronautical charts).
By the time of this 1989 USGS aerial view, the paved runways at ERCO Field had deteriorated,
with trees starting to encroach around them.
A 2001 photo by Paul Freeman of an Ercoupe suspended from the ceiling of the College Park Aviation Museum.
Although the museum's Ercoupe display mentions that it was initially flight tested at the College Park Airport,
it makes no mention of the former ERCO Field, or even of the ERCO factory which remains standing less than a mile away.
A 3/01 photo by Paul Freeman looking northwest at the former ERCO factory.
A 2/01 aerial photo by Paul Freeman looking northeast at the former ERCO factory (the white building in the center foreground).
The area behind the factory was previously the location of the runways of ERCO Field,
but had been redeveloped at some point between 1989-2001 with several large office & industrial buildings.
A new road (River Road) had been built over the former northwest/southeast runway.
However, the majority of the former north/south runway remained intact (north of River Road),
although significantly deteriorated.
The runway of the College Park airport is visible at the top left of the picture.
According to the book "Maryland Aloft",
as of 2002 the factory building was owned by the University of Maryland.
In 2002, the Maryland Historical Trust recommended that the main building was eligible
to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
A 2002 USGS aerial view of the site of the former ERCO Field,
with the factory remaining standing at the southwest corner.
Note the remnants of the former north/south runway pavement, on the east side of the image.
A 2002 USGS aerial view of the remnants of the former north/south runway pavement, just north of River Road.
Paul Freeman drove by the former ERCO factory building in 2003,
and was pleased to see it still standing, though apparently abandoned.
It still bore a sign indicating its use as an aeronautical chart distribution center for the federal government.
A 2004 photo by Fernando Rodriguez looking north at the site of ERCO's north/south runway.
"The property was purchased by University of MD College Park & is currently under development."
A 2004 photo by Fernando Rodriguez of the former ERCO factory building.
"It does appear to be abandoned. However, the outside lights were on & there was a civilian truck parked inside the fence."
A 2005 aerial view looking north at the former ERCO factory building.
Keith Lippincott reported in 2006, “The original ERCO factory is being sold by the University.
It will probably be developed into additional housing.”
The ERCO factory is located at 6501 Lafayette Avenue in Riverdale,
north of Tuckerman Road & east of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad line.
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