Pike County Airport Was 40 years old Monday 19 October 2009.

Pike County Airport First Day Cover Notice the 4 July 1835 date. This is the date  for letters carried by aeronaut Richard Clayton aboard the balloon Star of the West from Cincinnati to Waverly, Ohio, on July 4, 1835. Tom D. Crouch, author of The Eagle Aloft - Two Centuries of the Balloon in America, called this mail "the first ever carried aboard an American balloon." In fact, Professor Wise himself had carried letters on two flights prior to the Jupiter launch. If any of those covers still exist, they would be wonderful to collect. For more information on early airmail go to: http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:5qPnb_jWN3QJ:www.virtualstampclub.com/jupiter_balloon.html+First+Airmail+service+in+US+July+4,+1835&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

August 19, 2006

    On Friday, October 19, 1969 Ohio Governor James Rhodes flew in  aboard a DC-3 to the newly paved Pike County airport to dedicate the new facility.  The governor was a big advocate that of each of the Ohio counties have an airport and to that end many counties did get there own airport. A constitutional amendment approved by the voters in November 1968 provided for the issuance of $779,000,000 worth of bonds including  $19,000,000 for air ports and state buildings.

    Pike County citizen Gerald Morkassel did a sky diving exhibition for the dedication.  He had learned to fly and to parachute during his days in the military. Gregg Boyer, then a 6 year old boy and now a pilot himself, had just helped Morkassel gather up his streamers and ended up to be in position to be the first one to greet the governor.

What was the date that the Graf Zeppelin, Germany's majestic air ship, passed over Waverly and Pike Co.?

I lost tract of the date but it may have been  while Graf Zeppelin was flying from Miami, Florida to Akron, Ohio on October 24-25, 1933. Is there any one still living that seen it fly over Pike Co.?

The  LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin, most successful zeppelin ever built,  flew more than a million miles on 590 flights, carrying over 34,000 passengers without a single injury.

Follow this link for more information: http://www.airships.net/lz127-graf-zeppelin/history