Sunday at Creve Coeur Airport: Antiques, Warbirds, Homebuilts and Everything in Between

By Carmelo Turdo

Creve Coeur Airport in St. Louis County is one of the crown jewels of Midwest Aviation, attracting a wide variety of aircraft owners and enthusiasts from throughout the region.  The Aero Experience visited the airport last Sunday (we know that a home-cooked lunch is served on Sundays) to visit with the friendly people and photograph the wide variety of aircraft we expected to see on such a perfect day for flying.  The airport, in operation since 1959, got a new lease on life in 1984 when Al Stix, John Mullen and John Cournoyer saved the airport from becoming a golf course and thus provided a new home for aircraft moving out of nearby Arrowhead Airport after it closed.  Since then, Creve Coeur Airport has also become known for its world-class antique aircraft, many of which are located at the Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum.  Along with the antique aircraft, a range of aircraft call the airport home, including over 300 general aviation aircraft, homebuilts and warbirds of all types.  More important than the great aircraft, there are the people who fly and maintain them.  On this and other visits, we received greetings and invitations to come into open hangars as we walked the ramp.  We'll be back soon, and we encourage everyone else to join us as well.

Last Sunday, volunteers from the Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum were rearranging some aircraft in Hangar #1.  John Cournoyer was on hand to supervise the exercise, and he visited with The Aero Experience after the aircraft were redistributed to his liking.  "We are making the museum more user-friendly with a new arrangement that gives more room to walk among the aircraft.  More signage around the aircraft will make it easier for visitors to understand more about each one," he said.  Here are some views of these beautiful aircraft being placed in their current positions in Hangar #1:

    









       

     


Two special aircraft were seen during our visit:


Aeronca L-16A  - EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2013 Preservation

Winner



 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Reno Racer  - John Lohmar's SNJ-5 (T-6 Class)
 

A wide variety of aircraft flew all day: