FLIGHT OF FANCY

Marker honors memory of Main Line Airport

EAST WHITELAND » On what is now a hub of Chester County business, a crowd of more than 100 people turned out Thursday to remember an important place in Chester County flying history. A historical marker was erected on the grounds of the Ricoh USA offices at Great Valley Corporate Center to remember the Main Line Airport. The plaque reads: “On this site, beginning about 1920, stood one of Pennsylvania’s earliest country airfields. Many hundreds learned to fly here, including NASA astronaut Charles “Pete” Conrad. During World War II a Civil Air Patrol squadron helped Americans battle German submarine attacks along the mid-Atlantic coast. Pioneering rotary-wing development here had a world-wide influence. A disastrous hanger fire in 1977 ended aviation in the Great Valley.”

For Roger Thorne, board chairman of the Tredyffrin Historical Society, it has been a 15-year odyessy uncovering the local history of the airport which to most people was unknown.

“The project was intriguing and the hunt was to become addictive,” Thorne told the audience. “Research led me to surnames like Deviancy, Wilford, Jacob and so many more, individuals joined together by their love of flight.”

Throne’s research showed the airfield began on a dairy farm called Twin Brook when Charles Devaney bought a surplus Army biplane, built it from the box, taught himself to fly and stored it in his father’s barn.

Twin Brook became of Pennsylvania’s earliest country airfields. In 1929 Burke Wilford bought the farm and re-titled it as the Philadelphia Main Line Airport. He began work on building a predecessor to the helicopter called the Gyrocopter there.

Over the years the airport was a flight training center. A Civil Air Patrol squadron was established at the Main Line Airport assisting in the search for German submarines along the mid-Atlantic coast.

“Mankinds most versatile machine, the helicopter, was developed her,” said Robert Berg, co-founder of the American Helicopter Museum in West Chester. “For motor heads like me, this is hallowed ground.”

During the ceremony, Chester County Commissioner Michelle Kichline spoke of the airport’s reputation for barnstorming in the early years.

Randy and Tommy Cockerham, cousins and lifelong East Whiteland residents, remember the airport in the ‘60’s. “It was mostly crop dusting but it was also a big commuter hub for Philly and Allentown,” said Randy. “It was a pretty big deal.”

Following the unveiling, five historic aircraft performed a fly-over of the site, including 1940’s era Piper Cubs, two Cesenas and a reproduction of the Waco trainer biplane that Devaney first flew here.

“Local history matters,” said state Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-19. “So much credit goes to Roger, we thank you.”

PETE BANNAN – DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Anthony Morris and Daniel Kurkjian unveil the new Main Line Airport historical marker in the Great Valley Corporate Center Thursday. The marker honors the important history of the air field.

PETE BANNAN – DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA A 1940s era J3 Piper Cub flies over the new Main Line Airport historical marker in the Great Valley Corporate Center Thursday. The marker honors the important history of the airfield.

SUBMITTED PHOTO The open cockpit gyroplane, called “WRK” by inventor E. Burke Wilford, and built in the barn of the Philadelphia-Main Line Airport, pictured in summer 1931.