BUCYRUS – Plans have “taken off” for the city’s next Bicentennial event – a fly-in and pancake breakfast Saturday, Oct. 16, at the Port Bucyrus-Crawford County Airport.
The celebratory event, which runs from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., will not only focus on aviation but also pay tribute to the airport’s first manager, Lauretta Schimmoler, an aviation pioneer who was also the first woman in the country to manage an airport.
“The whole idea is to obviously honor Lauretta and her accomplishments and the significance of the airport,” said Fred Fischer, the Bicentennial Commission member organizing the fly-in, “and hopefully, we can make this an annual event.”
The day will kick off with a pancake breakfast from 8:00 a.m. to noon in the Hord Family Farms Hangar and continue with helicopter rides, drones, crop dusters, paragliders, pontoon planes, and one of the highlights – a B-25 based in Urbana, Ohio.
Fischer said the “Champaign Gal” from the Champaign Aviation Museum is scheduled to land at 9:00 a.m. and be on hand for tours until 2:30 p.m. before taking off at 3:00. For $5, visitors can even check out the cockpit of the twin-engine World War II bomber.
Another WWII aircraft – an AT-6 from Middletown, Ohio – will also be available for rides. A 15-minute flight will cost $250, while a half-hour ride for $580 will give visitors the thrill of taking over the controls of the legendary trainer, Fischer said.
“This is a fly-in versus an airshow,” said Fischer, himself a longtime pilot. “If you haven’t been around aviation, you have to come out.
It’s sure to be a good time for the family, a fun day to have some activities and certainly do some fun things.”
Peg Ballou of Ballou Skies Aviation will give a basic med presentation on the FAA Safety Team (FAAST) at 10:00 a.m. in the company’s T-hangar on the south side of the airport.
At 1:00 p.m., a drone presentation is scheduled in the same location.
As part of the tribute to Schimmoler, who is buried in Holy Trinity Cemetery, the 1942 film “Parachute Nurse” will be shown at noon and 3:00. Her story and her place in history will also be shared twice that day by a historical reenactor, Fischer said.
The Bucyrus Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs are putting on the pancake breakfast for $5 a meal. The Sons of the American Legion Post 181 is in charge of other food, including bratwurst, hotdogs, kettle corn, and beverages, from 11:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
For those flying in, shuttle bus tours will be offered from the airport to Bucyrus Copper Kettle Works Ltd., Cooper’s Market, The Pickwick Place, and Crossroads Candles Factory Store in town. The bus tours at $5 a person run from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
One of the goals of the fly-in is to raise enough money to buy a memorial for the airport in honor of Schimmoler, Fischer said. “Hopefully, we can do this every year in the fall, but for this year, it’s part of the Bicentennial celebration and our heritage.”
“Going forward in the future, we hope to do some promotion of our airport,” he said. “We have 32 planes on the field. It’s a great, small airport. We want to keep the visibility up.”
The fly-in will be held rain or shine. The airport is located south of town on Isaac Beal Road. Parking is $5, with additional information on the Commission’s website: bucyrus2021.com.
