Encyclopedia Dubuque
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
DUBUQUE AIRWAYS INC.
DUBUQUE AIRWAYS INC. Organized by Edward B. TEGELER and eleven other Dubuque residents in 1930, Dubuque Airways operated the airfield at NUTWOOD PARK from 1930 until 1934.
Articles of incorporation were filed on June 11, 1930. Tegeler was president of the organization; Joseph ZEHENTNER, vice-president; and Don Meissner, secretary and treasurer. Needing an aircraft, Tegeler and eleven other charter members each contributed $250 towards the purchase of a Stinson Junior which the members shared for their lessons and flights. DeWitt Collins, an experienced pilot from Winthrop, became the group's instructor and also supplied a plane. He also intended to start a glider club. (1)
In 1930 Dubuque Airways purchased a Stinson-Detroiter, Jr., "Miss Dubuque," which had a cabin carrying a pilot and four passengers. Painted orange and black, the plane had a 120 horsepower motor capable of a cruising speed of 100 miles per hour and a maximum traveling speed of 120 miles per hour.
Collins also taught others to fly. By 1931, seven licensed pilots had been trained at the airfield. Tests included a written examination on information including air traffic rules and plane mechanisms. Following several hours of solo flying, pilots had to pass an actual flight test with a government inspector. The entire process could be achieved in four months. (2) Each member of the club, upon making his first solo flight, entertained the other members at a party. (3) The twenty-second student to solo was allowed to try after five hours and fifty-five minutes of instruction. The record in 1931 was five hours. (4)
Dubuque Airways was not the first to operate the Dubuque Air field. The city of Dubuque constructed the airport on Sageville Road (U.S. 52) north of Dubuque where NUTWOOD PARK was once located and later Wickes Lumber Company. The city sublet the airport in April 1928 to W.W. McBoyle who also operated the Galena, Illinois airport. McBoyle promised to operate four planes from the Dubuque field, but ceased operations after a year and a half. (5) Dubuque Airways operation of the field resulted in 23 visiting planes, 2,333 sightseeing passengers, 65 cross country passengers and 17 students during their first year in business. (6)
After Tegeler had four hours of flying time, the group purchased Collin's Great Lakes 2T-1A, a better training plane, and later an OX-5 Waco 90. Of the original stockholders, half soloed but only Louis Boxleiter continued in aviation as a career.
In July 1931 Dubuque Airways sponsored a traveling air circus that drew large crowds including famed aviator, Charles Lindberg. (7)
Conditions at the airport were rough. The airfield had one hangar and a short runway about 1,385 feet long. (8) The location of the airport between bluffs on the east and west sides of the 1,320-foot sod landing strip was never popular. By July 1931 Dubuque Airways began pushing for relocating the airstrip to Hamm's Island, later called CITY ISLAND. In February 1934, a new airport was opened after the city purchased the island for $10,000.
Dubuque Airways operated this field until 1938 when the field was sold to Hal Halverson and Ralph McCaffrey. (9) Dubuque Airways maintained a lease on the airport after this date. Among other sources of business, the company ferried airplanes. In 1938 the plane owned by the Telegraph-Herald was flown to Waterloo to be re-licensed, an annual process, and then flown to Galena where it was stored for emergency use. (10)
At the beginning of WORLD WAR II, the company signed a contract for the flight training of Navy Air Cadets from the training school at LORAS COLLEGE. By February, 1942 there were twenty-one airplanes based in Dubuque. Some had been moved here when their home airports failed to qualify as a designated field under the new rulings of the Civil Aeronautics Administration. (11)
In July, 1943 Dubuque Airways terminated the corporation's lease on the HAM'S ISLAND airport. The termination of the contract was not expected to endanger the $600,000 grant for a new airport in Table Mound Township or the Navy Officer Candidate School opened at the UNIVERSITY OF DUBUQUE. (12)
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Source:
1. "Dubuque Airways is Incorporated," Telegraph-Herald, June 11, 1930, p. 5
2. "Two Dubuque Boys Pass Test, Obtain Aviators' Licenses," Telegraph-Herald, November 4, 1931, p. 4
3. "Dubuque Airways..."
4. "Al Wright Makes First Solo Flight," Telegraph-Herald, December 3, 1931, p. 8
5. Kirchen, Rich, "Town's Early Flyers," Telegraph Herald, February 24, 1987, p. 24
6. Ibid.
7. Guilfoyle, Laura, "Barnstorming Days Remembered," Telegraph Herald, May 20, 1975, p. 31
8. Ibid.
9. Kirchen
10. "Now in Galena," Telegraph-Herald, September 22, 1938, p. 30
11. "21 Planes Now Based in Dubuque," Telegraph-Herald, February 26, 1942, p. 15
12. "Navy Halts Training of Fliers Here," Telegraph-Herald, July 6, 1943, p.1