Dodgeville Municipal Airport

Dodgeville Municipal Airport
IATA: none – ICAO: none – FAA LID: 22WN
Summary
Airport type Municipal airport (original)
Private (current)
Owner/Operator Rule Construction Co.
Opened May 1967 (1967-05) (as the Dodgeville Municipal Airport)
2002 (2002) (as the Southwind Airport)
Closed 1990s (as the Dodgeville Municipal Airport)
Focus city for Dodgeville
Time zone CDS (-5:00)
 • Summer (DST) CST (-6:00)
Elevation AMSL 1,030 ft / 314 m
Coordinates 42°59′43″N 90°08′33.5″W / 42.99528°N 90.142639°W / 42.99528; -90.142639Coordinates: 42°59′43″N 90°08′33.5″W / 42.99528°N 90.142639°W / 42.99528; -90.142639
Map
Dodgeville Municipal Airport
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
11/29 1,800 x 75 549 × 23 Turf

The Dodgeville Municipal Airport was a municipal airfield in Dodgeville. Originally name the Governor Dodge Quinn Airport, it operated from approximately 1967 until sometime in the early 1990s. The property was later bought by a local construction firm and was renamed Southwind Airport for use as a private strip and equipment storage. The only surviving airport in Iowa County is in Mineral Point, Wisconsin.

History

Built at some point between May and December 1967, it operated as a small, unpaved municipal airport called Governor Dodge Quinn Airport. The exact date is unknown as it doesn't appear on the Milwaukee Sectional Chart until December 1967. It was later renamed Dodgeville at some point within the next 3 years according to the May 1970 Milwaukee Sectional Chart.

The Dodgeville Airport closed (for reasons unknown) at some point between 1989-90, as it wasn't depicted on the May 1990 or April 1994 Chicago Sectional Charts. It has been classified as a private airport since the 2002 and renamed the Southwind Airport.[1]

C-97 display

One of the landmarks in the area is currently on display at an inn next to the Dodgeville Municipal Airport. In 1977, the former owners of the Don Q Inn bought an old Boeing C-97G.[1] Its history was connected to two commercials for the Mercury Cougar in 1975 and actress Farah Fawcetts signature is purported to be on fuselage. The plane, whose tail number is N227AR (S/N 52-2764),[2] was built in 1952 and it logged a total of 10,068 hours of flight before being landed at the airport to much publicity on the airports comparatively tiny 2,800' in 1977. As it landed, the main landing gear was a full 3 feet (0.91 m) outside the edge of the runway, creating a cloud of dust as the pilot, Dick Schmidt,[3] threw on the brakes and killed the engines to stop the massive plane.[4]

The original plans called for the plane to be converted into a restaurant outside the Inn, but when it appeared to be improbable, the owner decided to leave it intact and to stand as a museum of sorts.[5] For a while the plane was being used for storage but has since been cleaned up.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Paul Freeman. "Dodgeville Municipal Airport (55C), Dodgeville, WI". Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  2. ↑ "Aircraft N227AR Data". Airport-Data.com. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  3. ↑ Barnes, Kayla (11 December 2014). "Thomas talks about Boeing C-97G landing at Don Q Inn". The Dodgeville Chronicles. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  4. ↑ Thom Pharmakis (24 September 2004). "A man... A plan... A airplane.". thompharmakis.com. Land's End Newsletters. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  5. ↑ "C-97G in Dodgeville, WI". War Memorials of Wisconsin. 2009. Archived from the original on 23 October 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
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