Easter Sunday this year also marks the tenth anniversary of the overnight destruction of Chicago's Merrill C. Meigs Airport (Meigs Field). Following orders by then-mayor Richard M. Daley, city crews bulldozed six large, X-shaped trenches in the single runway. Sixteen stranded aircraft were subsequently allowed to departed from the airport's 3,000-foot taxiway.
After nearly 3.5 years and $550,000 in legal costs the city withdrew its appeals and agreed to pay a $33,000 FAA fine for closing the airport without the required 30-day notice in violation of FAR Part 157 §157.5, and to repay approximately $1 million illegaly diverted from FAA Airport Improvement Program funding for O'Hare and Midway airports to pay for the destruction.
The airport had opened on 10 December 1948 after many years of waiting. One of the more memorable events at the airport occurred on 15 October 1992 when a Boeing 727 landed at Megis. The aircraft was donated by United Airlines to the Museum of Science and Industry where it is now on display in the museum's Transportation Gallery.
Today's Featured Map shows the location of Meigs Field relative to Chicago's O'Hare and Midway airports, plus Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport in Springfield and Southern Illinois Airport in Carbondale, both of which received commuter airline service from Meigs.
References and additional information:
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Karl L. Swartz.
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