Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields:
Southwestern West Virginia
© 2002, © 2007 by Paul Freeman. Revised 2/26/07.
McDonald Airport (revised 8/27/06) - Wertz Field (revised 2/26/07) - Swope Farm
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McDonald Airport, Earling, WV
37.75 North / 81.9 West (Southwest of Charleston, WV)
McDonald Airport, as depicted on the October 1948 Winston-Salem Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
This unusual little airport was located on a narrow slice of land on the south bank of the Guyandotte River,
with the grass runway following the curve of the riverbank.
McDonald Airport was evidently established at some point between 1945-48,
as it was not yet depicted at all on the March 1945 Winston-Salem Sectional Chart (according to Chris Kennedy).
The earliest depiction of the field which has been located
was on the on the October 1948 Winston-Salem Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
It depicted McDonald Airport as having a 2,500' unpaved runway.
According to Bill Napier, “McDonald Field Airport was near my home town, Logan, WV.
I have never been on the field, but have driven past it & flew over it.
I was never able to really make it out from the air. It was definitely from another era.
When I found it on sectionals in the late 1980s it was marked as 'Hazardous.'
I can assure you it was. But that was another era.”
The 1989 USGS topo map depicted “McDonald Field” as having a single 2,600' unpaved runway (somewhat curved, following the riverbank).
Two small buildings (hangars?) were depicted southeast of the runway.
The 1996 USGS aerial photo showed that the runway remained clear at McDonald Airport,
along with the cluster of small buildings on the southeast side of the field.
However, there were no planes visible on the field.
Eddie Shields recalled, “My wife & I visited it about 1999 just before they plowed it up & closed it for good.
You had to walk over a swinging bridge to get to it.”
The last aeronautical chart depiction which has been located of McDonald Airport
was on the December 2003 Cincinnati Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
It depicted McDonald as a private field with a 2,700' unpaved runway,
which was noted as being “Hazardous”.
McDonald Airport was evidently closed at some point between 2003-2006,
as it was no longer listed among active airfields in the FAA Airport/Facility Directory data as of January 2006.
A pre-2006 photo looking east at the tiny grass clearing which is McDonald Field (courtesy of Bill Napier).
A pre-2006 photo of a hangar which remains at McDonald Field (courtesy of Bill Napier).
Bill Napier passed along an observation in 2006: “I took another trip to the Taplin Airport one day.
The bridge was closed to traffic, although there is a small pedestrian door.
My brother & I walked out to the middle of the bridge, since I had never crossed a swinging bridge I was kind of hesitant.
The bridge floor is in good condition & the cables holding it look strong, but half way was all I would travel!
Some of the neighbors around the bridge told us, rumor was,
that they were going to tear down the hangars at the field,
so my brother took me down to the Rich Creek bridge & around the mountain to the airfield.
I took several more pictures of the hangars.
I did find where the official name for the airstrip was McDonald Field Airport
and that it was last inspected in 1996.
The sad thing is, what stories such a place could hold,
and as far as I could determine, there are no written record of it.”
The site of McDonald Airport is located at the eastern terminus of Taplin Airport Road,
appropriately enough.
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38.82 North / 81.77 West (West of Roanoke, VA)
Wertz Field, as depicted on the June 1939 Huntington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
in 1929 the City of Charleston purchased property for its original airport in the town of Institute (6 miles west of Charleston),
as described on the present-day Charleston Yeager Airport's web site (courtesy of Bob Merritt).
The new field was to be named Wertz Field.
By 1930 the City of Charles still lacked the funds to develop & operate a new airport,
so it leased the tract to a group of businessmen who formed West Virginia Airways, Inc.,
which eventually was able to provide aviation facilities at the site for the next 12 years.
Wertz Field was dedicated on July 4, 1930.
Later, with help of federal funds, a large administration building was completed.
By 1933 West Virginia was up to that time was one of but two states which did not have air mail services.
In October, American Airlines was awarded an air mail contract route,
and opened passenger service between Washington & Chicago, via Charleston,
serving intermediate cities of Elkins, Huntington, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis.
The earliest directory reference to Wertz Field which has been located
was in The Airport Directory Company's 1933 Airports Directory (according to Chris Kennedy).
It described Wertz Field as a 160-acre rectangular property,
having 2 sod runways - 2,500' east/west & 1,600' north/south.
A hangar was said to have "Charleston" & "Wertz Field" painted on the roof.
Wertz Field was described in the same fashion in the
1934 Department of Commerce Airport Directory (according to Chris Kennedy).
An undated (circa 1930s?) photo of several biplanes at Wertz Field (courtesy of Larry Anderson).
In 1935, Pennsylvania Central Airlines (Capital Airlines)
established a branch route passenger service between Charleston & Pittsburgh.
An undated (circa 1930s?) photo of a barnstorming show at Wertz Field (courtesy of Larry Anderson).
The Airport Directory Company's 1937 Airports Directory (courtesy of Bob Rambo)
described Wertz Field as a municipal airport consisting of a 160-acre rectangular sod field.
It was said to have three runways, with the longest being the 2,900' northeast/southwest runway.
Two of the runways were also said to have a 1,200' paved portion.
A hangar was said to have "Charleston" & "Wertz Field" painted on the roof.
By 1937, with larger passenger planes having been put into service by air carriers,
the short runways & obstructed approaches of Wertz Field began showing the field's inadequacy.
American Airlines notified City of Charleston that it would be forced to discontinue service
because Wertz Field was too limited for landing larger planes.
City's aviation enthusiasts prevailed on American Airlines to continue service, using smaller DC-2 planes.
Leaders in Charleston Chamber of Commerce realized that site for a new airport must be found.
A committee was appointed consisted of D.M. Giltinan, D.N. Mohler, D.C. Kennedy, Charles E. Hodges, Fred Alley, and J.B. Pierce.
This committee was asked to make survey of airport needs & to study all possible airport sites within 25-mile radius.
In 1938, after a year examining on foot, by car and topographical maps every possible site,
committee reported that the valley floor offered no suitable site large enough to meet area's growing needs.
Even Wertz Field did not permit expansion.
The committee decided that "We must build on the hilltops."
An undated (circa late 1930s – early 1940s?) photo of a DC-3 & two Army aircraft at Wertz Field (courtesy of Larry Anderson).
The earliest dated depiction of Wertz Field which has been located
was on the 1939 Huntington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
In 1940 a site for a replacement airport was suggested along a series of hills not far from Charleston's city limits.
However, work on the replacement airport was put on the 'back burner' by projects which were certified as essential to national defense.
An undated topo map depicting Wertz Field, from a 1941 Civil Aeronautics Board accident report (courtesy of Bob Merritt).
In April 16, 1941, a Boeing 247D of Pennsylvania Central Airlines crashed immediately after departure from Wertz Field.
The crash was described in a September 1941 Civil Aeronautics Board report (courtesy of Bob Merritt).
One engine had lost power, and the captain's attempt to continue the climb
was complicated by the hills & powerlines which surrounded Wertz Field.
The crash destroyed the aircraft & injured some of the crew & passengers.
The report included an undated topo map which depicted the airport.
It depicted the field as having three runways, with the longest being a 2,900' northeast/southwest strip.
An administration building was depicted as being located at the northeast corner of the field,
immediately off the end of one of the runways.
Bob Merritt observed, "The amazing thing is that the airlines were able to operate from this little airport with 2,500' runways,
down in the river bottom with surrounding hills & powerlines for 12 years with apparently no fatalities."
The last depiction of Wertz Field as an active airfield which has been located
was on a 1941 Regional Aeronautical Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
The last directory reference to Wertz Field as an active airfield which has been located
was in The Airport Directory Company's 1941 Airports Directory (according to Chris Kennedy).
Charleston lost its original airport without gaining a replacement on May 12, 1942,
when Wertz Field was closed after 12 years of operation,
as the field's property became the site of a large synthetic rubber plant for the war effort.
It took just 10 months for the employees of Ford, Bacon and Davis to build the massive plant.
Carbide & Carbon Chemicals Corporation along with U.S. Rubber undertook the project.
A July 1943 photo of an Air Corps C-47 which evidently crash landed at the former Wertz Field,
with the plant which replaced the airfield visible in the background (courtesy of Larry Anderson).
Charleston's Kanawha Airport was finally opened just north of the city in 1947,
after the City of Charleston had been without an airport for 5 years.
The 1976 USGS topo map showed that the site of Wertz Field was covered by industrial facilities,
and no trace of the former airport appeared to remain.
In the 1990 USGS aerial photo, industrial facilities covered the site of former Wertz Field,
and no trace of the former airport appeared to remain.
As of 2004, the site of Wertz Field is still occupied by the Bayer CropScience Institute Site,
an agricultural chemical facility which is the descendant of the rubber plant built over the former airport site.
Thanks to Bob Merritt for pointing out this airfield.
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Swope Farm (WV11), Fan Rock, WV
37.57 North / 81.62 West (West of Roanoke, VA)
The Swope Farm Airfield, as depicted on the 1996 USGS aerial photo.
This private airfield is remarkable for a short runway which is both sharply curved, and steeply sloped.
Its sole Runway 7/25 is extremely short (only 1,250'),
but also slopes sharply downhill: dropping from 1,800' elevation to 1,665' - a grade of 11%!
The airfield was built & operated by W.O. Swope, an avid flyer since 1947.
He purchased the land for the airfield in 1963,
and immediately began planning & construction for an extremely unusual runway,
given the very unaccommodating topography.
The hangar was originally located at the bottom of the runway.
However, it was moved to the top of the runway after an unfortunate incident
in which Swope's brakes overheated going downhill,
and he had to dump the plane in the brush to avoid hitting the hangar.
No airfield at this location was depicted on the 1966 or 1976 USGS topo maps.
Swope reportedly based & flew a twin-engine Beechcraft Baron (!) and a helicopter from the airfield.
He logged a total of 3,000 takeoffs & landings into the Swope Farm airfield.
Swope only had one eye.
Takeoffs were made downhill, and landings were made uphill.
The helicopter could only be landed at the very top of the runway,
as the lower portion of the runway was too steep.
According to nearby resident Mark Hrutkay, “Mr. Swope was the Mayor of Welch WV for many years
and had an early (underpowered) Bell JetRanger.
He had a landing pad on top of his building and flew it off of there.
They used to throw some really wild fly-in parties at the airport
and it would look like an aircraft carrier with all the planes crammed onto the field
(there isn't much field that isn't runway).
Mr. Swope made his last flight in & out of there 2 days before he died at age 86 [in 2001].
He was the type of pilot they don't have many of anymore.”
Swope's son reportedly planned to keep the airfield in operation.
According to Mark Hrutkay, “His son still has the Jet Ranger.”
On recent aeronautical charts, the airfield was labeled "Swope (Hazardous)".
A pre-2005 aerial view looking east (and uphill!) at the Swope Farm Airfield.
Mark Hrutkay reported in 2006, “I love flying down the runway in my helicopters -
its a precision thing to do & its downhill.
Since Mr. Swope has died, trees have about closed in to where it is too narrow to operate from.”
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