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Show Airport En EJeed Of Hew Lease On Life After Four Years Of Service After more than four years of fairly successful operation, the, Roosevelt municipal airport Monday was ordered closed by ' the city council and locked against possible destruction by vandals. The airport's failure, according accord-ing to Bennie Schmiett, chairman chair-man of the city's airport committee, com-mittee, is due principally to lack of public support and the clamping down of restrictions on G. I. flight training. A definite def-inite decline in profitable operation op-eration has been noticeable for the past year, he said. The discontinuance of activity, activ-ity, it is hoped, will be of short duration. Mr. Schmiett says he hopes that a qualified instructor man soon be obtained to take over the airport. During its heyday as many as nine planes have operated at the airpoit simultaneously, (there were six Monday), and over 45 students have received their private pilot's licenses there. In the fall of 1945 the Secretary Secre-tary of State gave local flying enthusiasts permission to tear down the C. C. camp building at Sheep Creek in Manila and to use the materials for the construction con-struction of a hangar. With the help of four trucks, 13 men tore down the camp in two days and hauled the materials back to Roosevelt. Future trips were made for odds and ends. Bert Burgess was chosen to construct the hangar in the winter win-ter of 1945-46. Construction was completed in the spring of 1946. Some of the. necessary labor was paid for, but most was contributed. con-tributed. The expense of construction con-struction was borne mainly by Roosevelt City, Duchesne and Uintah counties, the State Aeronautics Aero-nautics commission, and the Roosevelt Jr. Culture club, Jay-cees, Jay-cees, Commercial club, the B. P.W., the Lions club, and other organizations. The airport is still receiving small sums through county channels to offset the expenses involved in the federal airport project. The high point of public interest in-terest in the young airport came in the fall of 1946,-when a big air show was staged, with planes fom all over the state, the Civil Air Patrol, and National Na-tional Guard fighters taking part. In the beginning Jack Turner, Turn-er, of the Basin Flying Service, Vernal, came in one day each week to give flying instructions. But the local flying enthusiasts, figuring one day a week wasn't enough to satisfy the demand for flying, incorporated the Roosevelt Flying Service in March, 1946, and placed Joe Mower, now in California, in charge of the airport's destinies. destin-ies. After the airport was well underway, Reed McClellan, now in the Army, started helping out with operations. After the departure de-parture of Mower and McClellan, McClel-lan, Hal Crumbo, now in Eureka, Eu-reka, Ut., and Robert Holmes, now in Arizona, took over. They were followed by Howard Dennis, Den-nis, of Myton, killed in a local air crash in May, 1949, and George Hunt. The last Flying Service lease holders were Mr. Hunt and Marley Hamblin, who undertook direction of the airport air-port in August, 1949, and held the lease until it was canceled last Monday. |