CITY OF CAPE GIRARDEAU BOUGHT FORMER HARRIS FIELD IN 1947; ARMY PURCHASED 53 ACRES OF FARMLAND TO SET UP PILOT TRAINING

FLYING AT HARRIS FIELD: Harris Field operated from Dec. 31, 1941 to March 16, 1944. It trained 2,500 pilots for World War II. Two of the four hangars burned, and two were razed. This photo was taken during 1944. Harris Field later became the site of the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport. Little evidence remains of the training facility, which once included 40 buildings. (JUDITH ANN CROW COLLECTION)

CELEBRATING AVIATION: Rush H. Limbaugh Jr., Cape Girardeau aviation enthusiast, smiles as he reads a newspaper account of voter approval of airport bonds and city extension on April 21, 1947. It marked the birth of the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport. (JUDITH ANN CROW COLLECTION)

The history of aviation in Cape Girardeau likely had its genesis in the late 1930s at the foot of Broadway Street ... actually just east of the foot of Broadway.

"When I was in school in the fall of 1939, there was a man flying off the river at the foot of Broadway with a Piper Cub with floats," recalled John "J.T." Seesing, a man who was instrumental in ushering in the transition from the crude introduction of aviation here to the modern facilities now at the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport.

Seesing said aviation didn't remain at the foot of Broadway for long. But that start did lead to the incorporation of the Consolidated School of Aviation, situated where Potashnick Construction Co. now is on Highway 74.

Consolidated Aviation was a private, commercial airport complete with three runways. The company was able to train reservists through the Civil Pilot Training program and the U.S. Navy Reserve "Flying Indians" training program.

The military reservists attended school at what is now Southeast Missouri State University and trained at the Consolidated Aviation field.

Seesing had plans to be a pilot and was preparing to leave for his own military training in 1942, when the Army bought 53 acres of farmland where the city's Municipal Airport is now.

The site was to be an Army flying school, used to train civilian cadets for the Army Air Corps. Oliver Parks was granted the primary flying school contract with the Army to train the cadets, Seesing said.

He opened the Cape School of Aeronautics at Harris Field, the present site of the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport.

"There were eight barracks, a headquarters building, a mess hall and PX and the infirmary," he said. "And there was one little runway that they only used when the ground was too wet or muddy to use."

The base was used for primary training, and cadets went elsewhere for their basic and advance training prior to getting their wings.

At the Cape Girardeau facility, they trained on PT-19s and PT-23s, an open-cockpit, low-wing airplane, Seesing said.

Seesing guessed the training base closed some time in 1944. Little evidence remains at the airport of the once-sprawling training facility that included 40 buildings.

"Right now there's only one building left from the Army flying school, and that's the old infirmary," he said.

In 1944 the civilian flight training program was canceled, and Harris Field ceased operations. Following the closure, the Cape Girardeau airport was used to store surplus aircraft.

"For a while the airport was still under the control of the war assets administration," Seesing said. "They brought in surplus airplanes that they would auction off to local buyers.

"At that time everybody was getting out of the Air Corps, and everybody thought they had to have an airplane."

Seesing said the G.I. Bill enabled veterans to receive flight instruction free, and many took advantage of the offer.

In 1947 the city bought the airport and, through the issuance of $115,000 in bonds, made several improvements. Thus the birth of the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport occurred.

At the same time, Seesing was getting out of the Air Corps and returned to Cape Girardeau, obtained his instructor's license and began training student pilots.

Consolidated Aviation had moved to the new airport, and the company was busy training many students who were taking advantage of the G.I. Bill.

"The college leased the barracks out there and made them into apartments where they housed veteran students," Seesing recalled.

By 1950, Seesing learned that the owners of Consolidated Aviation were considering selling the business. He and the late John Godwin, who also was an instructor, were interested.

"We were always talking about doing things in aviation, and we worked out a deal to buy Consolidated's assets," Seesing said.

Thus Seesing, Godwin and James Schumacher started Cape Central Airways.

Ozark Airlines had begun flying DC-3 passenger planes in and out of the airport, and boardings were increasing each year.

Seesing said aviation enjoyed a popularity during the '50s that has been unmatched since. As more and more veterans learned to fly and began purchasing their own aircraft, the Municipal Airport continued to grow.

Cape Central expanded its operations and offered freight transportation service and began to sell used airplanes.

"We dealt used airplanes for quite a bit, and then we became Cessna dealers," Seesing said. "Most of the people training were buying aircraft.

"We kept generating more business each year because better airplanes were being made, and people were getting in a position where they wanted an airplane."

But Seesing said one reason aviation blossomed in Cape Girardeau was because Godwin and he constantly promoted the idea.

Despite setbacks the airport terminal building, which housed Ozark Airlines offices, Cape Central and a restaurant, burned in 1956 the airport continued to grow.

Subsequent bond issues enabled the city to rebuild the north end of the original airport in addition to taxiways and a new terminal building.

In the 1960, the Federal Aviation Administration added a flight service station. Another bond issue in 1968 led to the construction of the large, 6,500-foot runway at the airport, installation of high-density lights for the "instrument-marked" runway, construction of the control tower, and installation of an instrument landing system, Seesing said.

In 1975, Seesing sold Cape Central Airways to David Little.

"I was there 25 years," he said. "During that time I think the emphasis we had was to get people interested in flying. It was really important to keep the airport before the people."

Seesing mentioned one man who helped that cause: Garland D. Fronabarger, a reporter and photographer from 1927-1986 at the Southeast Missourian newspaper.

He died last November.

"Frohny took great interest in the airport and gave it lots of publicity," said Seesing.

Over the years, though, general aviation has declined not just in Cape Girardeau but across the country. Fewer people are learning to fly, and with added regulation has come more expensive airplanes and fewer people able to afford them.

As sales of new planes have dropped, the manufacturers have cut back on production.

But Seesing still believes greater efforts to market aviation to the general public can reverse the trend. He has high praise for the facilities in Cape Girardeau, an airport that's poised for increased aviation activity.

"We've got the best-equipped airport around," he said. "With the new terminal, and our long runway, we've got everything here.

"The role of the airport, and what the city's doing, is providing the best airport around here for people that want to do business here.

"People need to realize its importance. The airport is the front door to the city when people arrive by air."