Laconia Airport Remembered

by Phil Rowe
As a lad during WWII I was greatly impressed by the major upgrade project at the Laconia Airport, the one across from Lily Pond. The earlier one was north of Lake Opeechee back in the late 1930's. The new one next to Lily Pond became the primary one during those war years.

One of the first indications we had that something big was about to happen at the airport was closure of the dirt road that ran down the hill past Bill Vose's Kings Grant Inn. We were accustomed to taking our trash down that road to a dump and from time to time continued along that road toward Lily Pond. But one day there was a barricade across that road, denying us passage much beyond the dump.

Then they started building a new road, one cut through the woods, down the big hill and on the other side of the Kings Grant Inn. Something big was in the wind. That demanded that this curious lad ride his bicycle down to check things out.

Sure enough a construction crew cutting down trees and heavy equipment began moving dirt about to prepare for new runways. That was big doings and demanded my regular inspections.

In short order the runway surfaces took shape and were soon paved too. Boy was that a neat place to ride my bike, for country dirt roads were the norm.

Before the airport was officially opened for business a number of kids from the area discovered that grand expanse of smooth macadam. We began to think that someone had created that wonderful place just for us. Then one day a fellow in a car chased us away, admonishing us that soon airplanes would be landing and taking off. It was no longer available for bike riding.

The big day came and there was a grand ceremony to dedicate the spiffy new airport. Local politicians made speeches (don't they always?) and some impressive warplanes came in for a show. It was an exciting day.

It was also exciting for one of the pilots participating in the big affair. It was an F4U, one of those gull-winged Corsairs, as I recall, that experienced a problem on takeoff. The pilot must have pushed the stick too far forward as he continued his takeoff roll, for the propeller gouged the macadam surface and the plane barely missed careening off the runway before it came to a stop. That must have been embarrassing for both the pilot and the officials who organized the grand opening ceremonies.

I remember the excitement of that mishap, and being amongst the crowd that rushed down the runway to see what the problem was. There were several deep gouges in the new runway surface and the Navy fighter plane sat forelornly off to the side of the runway with its propellor badly bent. In was an inauspicious opening for that super new airport.