Waterbury-Oxford Airport – Part II

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Waterbury-Oxford Airport runways are shown c. 1970 (left) and in the mid-1970s (right). The cross-wind runway seen above has since been removed. (Photos courtesy Airport Manager Matthew Kelly).

By DR. ROBERT L. RAFFORD

The road to building an airport in Oxford was not a smooth one. Before Oxford residents voted in May 1963 to build an airport in their town, a colossal struggle was waged over a regional airport site in the area, a David and Goliath ruction that would ensue for years.

In 1954, Richard P. Crane, one of those ultimately responsible for Oxford Airport, began serving as chair of the Airport Committee of the Greater Waterbury Chamber of Commerce. In the summer of 1956, Crane announced a continuing effort to establish an airport in western Connecticut, a joint effort among Waterbury, Bristol and Torrington. His personal interest far preceded 1956.

In 1960, state and federal officials began a study of Terryville, a section of the Town of Plymouth, concentrating on the Mt. Tobe and Town Hill areas. The Mt. Tobe Airport, a small, limited airfield then 31 years old today is called Waterbury Airport and still is in operation. It was dedicated in October 1929, and began providing air service between Plymouth and Albany, New York, that summer.

The Regional Airport Planning Association for Western Connecticut, formed in 1960, sought to muster support for an area airport at a meeting sponsored by the Waterbury Chamber of Commerce and the Torrington Chamber of Commerce Transportation Committee. They were looking at various sites, and, in fact, it was reported that the Federal Aviation Administration had already accepted a site in Bethlehem and Morris. However, voters in Bethlehem got out ahead of the discussion by voting at a town meeting against construction of an airfield in their town.

At the end of the year, Rex Brown, executive director of the Greater Waterbury Chamber of Commerce announced a bill requesting $1.5 million (half of the estimated amount to build an airport), would be submitted to the General Assembly. The chamber had settled on a site in the Town Hill section of Terryville about two miles from the Mt. Tobe airfield. The new airport would have two 5,000-foot runways, and Brown was certain the FAA would approve this site.

Beginning in 1961, much discussion ensued in Plymouth over building an airfield there. Richard P. Crane, also vice-president of Lea Manufacturing Company and chair of Waterbury’s city planning commission, took the lead in extolling the benefits of a regional airfield, with the Waterbury with Torrington Chambers of Commerce joining forces. Right away, the Waterbury Chamber of Commerce endorsed Terryville as the ideal location for an airport to serve Waterbury, Bristol and Torrington, to be constructed on the site of the Terryville Fairgrounds. Throughout January and beyond, Richard P. Crane and members of the Torrington and Waterbury Chambers of Commerce toured Plymouth and Thomaston, trying to convince local residents and organizations to back the Terryville airport idea.

However, on January 31, 1961, Plymouth residents pushed back. Meeting at the Plymouth Grange Hall, they cited safety concerns, noise, nearness to schools and churches and interruption to business areas. They were not happy with the thought of a regional airport in their town.

In April, the Federal Aviation Administration, in a report to Congress, called for an ambitious five-year improvement plan for about 2,834 existing airports and construction of 465 new airports at an estimated cost of $1.1 billion. New Connecticut airports were recommended at Danielson, Goshen, Middletown, Norwich, Simsbury, Stamford, Waterbury and Westbrook, and new heliports at Bridgeport, Danbury, Fairfield, Greenwich, New Haven, Stamford and South Norwalk. The experts knew aviation was the road to enhanced industry.

In May, the Transportation Committee of the State Legislature held hearings on a bill to have an airfield in Northwestern Connecticut and reported it favorably, despite vigorous opposition from Plymouth and Terryville residents, including Gertrude Brown, Plymouth’s state representative. Then, in August, the FAA granted approval for the Terryville airport, saying it is “acceptable from an air space clearance standpoint,” and “provided the costs are reasonable and that roads in the area present no ‘serious obstacles to acquisition or development of an airport.’” The airport would not accommodate jets, but would be a local airport connecting to larger airports.

In September, opponents of a Plymouth airport formed the Plymouth Anti-Airport Committee. They immediately sponsored a petition to the Board of Selectmen to hold a town meeting and to form a committee at that meeting to notify state and federal officials of the decision of the meeting. David was coming out swinging, and the fight was far from over.

You are urged to join the Middlebury Historical Society by going online at MiddleburyHistoricalSociety.org or visiting them on Facebook. Questions about membership can be sent to Bob at robraff@comcast.net.