A new book by local historian Bernard A. Drew, “Runway 29: A History of Walter J. Koladza Airport in Great Barrington, Massachusetts,” tells the century-long story of the airport on North Egremont Road. Still used for business and recreational purposes, and historically significant for its flight-training programs, Drew calls it a “strong resource” to the town.
At a drive-in/fly-in event at the airport in June, Drew signed many copies of his book to a robust crowd. Though the fly-in fizzled due to foggy weather, Drew shared that “pilots, sons of pilots, granddaughters of pilots, whole generations who had fond connections with the airport came out to chat with each other and get a book.”
“Local histories for me are a way to give readers a sense of place,” said Drew, who has written the “Our Berkshires” column for The Berkshire Eagle since 1996, along with more than 50 books, about half of them local histories, including a history of the town of Great Barrington. In writing this latest book, Drew reached back before the dawn of airplanes, discovering that the Berkshires witnessed balloon flight even before the Civil War.
“Great Barrington, because of mountains and wind conditions, was not an ideal starting spot, but Pittsfield and North Adams were. So balloons would often make their way down from there,” Drew told the Edge. Some local residents owned and flew balloons, and the Housatonic Agricultural Society once brought Madame Carlotta, the accomplished, record-setting balloonist known as “The Lady Aeronaut,” to the fairgrounds for a demonstration. “Not only was that one of the first experience local audiences had of seeing someone go up in a balloon, the pilot was a woman.”
Later, in the era of the Wright brothers, a few early airplanes “made their way to Great Barrington, then WWI intruded,” explained Drew. Many airplanes were manufactured for the American Air Force by Glenn Curtiss in his factory in the Finger Lakes region. After the war, the U.S. military had a surplus, so they sold them, and not only veterans but regular citizens purchased airplanes and learned to fly.
Airplane circuits began to form, with pilots traveling around the region and putting on demonstrations. According to Drew, by the 1920s, they were regularly showing up in Great Barrington, landing and taking off from farm fields. “They were called barnstormers because they would fly low over country barns. They had all sorts of aerial maneuvers they would put on for the public, and they would offer rides.”
In 1920, one of the regular pilots began using an ideally situated onion field on North Egremont Road. With more local people taking up flying as a hobby, the local chamber of commerce “could see future value in having an airport,” said Drew. In 1931, they decided to put up a hangar, which is what defines an airport as such. They eventually paved the grass landing strip, hired a manager, and put up more buildings.
Flying schools at the new airport “turned out to be very valuable as the country entered into WWII—having a stock of young men knowledgeable in flying. The Air Force could teach it, but it took a bit of time,” recounted Drew. “One of the things I was pleased to achieve in this history is showing not only the longtime tie to the community, but the fact it was doing something of regional and even national significance in training new pilots.”
The airports in the region that also have flight schools are “few and far between,” explained Drew, and the Koladza Airport’s legacy in this regard continues to the present day. The school remains one way to get a pilot license without joining the military. A long list of student pilots have gone on to become commercial pilots, including one who became the manager of Bradley Field in Connecticut. Drew met some of them at the book-signing event at the airport.
Since writing the book, he added, it has been gratifying to meet or talk to some of the people he mentioned in his history of the airport. Drew also knew the airport’s namesake and longtime owner Walter Koladza a bit and took a flying lesson from him once. Koladza, a flight instructor and partner from Connecticut, acquired the airport in 1946 and ran it until his death in 2004.
Under the ownership of Walt and his wife Louise Decker, who was also a pilot, the airport gained the nickname of “New England’s Friendliest Airport.” “They had a courtesy car that Walt would provide to send people into town,” said Drew. “They treated people right when they came in.”
Small airports have faced pressures and closed for a variety of reasons throughout the country. The Great Barrington Airport, for instance, sits atop an aquifer and “spent a lot of money putting in new tanks and protective measures so there’s no leakage,” said Drew. The challenges, too, are covered in his book, but mostly, his intent is to explore and celebrate the colorful history of the airport amid the context of our region.
All proceeds from the book—available at the airport, the Great Barrington Historical Society, The Bookloft, Shaker Mill Books, and The Bookstore in Lenox—are going to a scholarship fund for young pilots and the Great Barrington Historical Society.
