** Meigs Field (Photo courtesy of Marge Beaver)**
The night between March 30 and 31 marks the 10th anniversary of the bulldozing of Merrill C. Meigs Field Airport near downtown Chicago, ordered by the mayor at that time, Richard M. Daley. To commemorate that sad day in aviation history, Friends of Meigs Field is planning an event on the grounds where the airport was located and in the skies above.
The ground ceremony will begin at 1:40 pm on March 31. It will feature a memorial outside the former terminal, which is now mostly closed to the public, according to Friends of Meigs Field. The Tuskegee Airmen Chicago "DODO" Chapter and the EAA Young Eagles are planning a missing man formation flight over the field at 2 p.m. A reception will follow the ceremony at 3 p.m. at Maggiano's restaurant. View more information about the event here.
Ten years after the destruction of the airport, the Friends of Meigs Field organization claims to have 6,800 members. While the organization still holds hope that the airport will reopen at some point, Friends of Meigs Field president Steven G. Whitney said in a recent post on the group’s website, “news is not good and prospects for a reopening under the current mayor (Rahm Emanuel) are very dim.”
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