This series of topics will be about little known but cool airports. They may be cool because:
- They have a short runway
- A emergency happened at them
- Other
Today I will talk about Naper Aero Club. Why is it cool? As well as it being a airport, it is also a suburb! each house in this medium sized neighbourhood has two driveways (most of them have two driveways, but some dont) one for their cars, and the other for their planes! Out the back of the houses there is a taxiway that links up to each home so the home owners can taxi the long way to the on and only 2000ft Ashphalt runway (36/18) and takeoff. The ones who dont have a driveway that connects their houses to the taxiway just parks their house in their normal suburban backyards!
Now time for a history lesson. Credits: http://www.naperaero.com/id32.html
“In 1953, the Naper Aero Club was organized by a small group of pilots who first leased land on the Fender Farm on South Washington Street. In 1957 the current location at Route 59 and 83rd Street was officially opened for use by half a dozen planes. In 1982, some of the founding members sold shares to the Macom Corporation which agreed to develop land east of the north-south runway for pilots and other aviation-oriented people. Most homes in our community were built after 1987.”
Here is a gallery of their history:
^1966^
^1971^
^1987^
^2002^
^2016^
Here is a quick video on the airport from Naperville News
You can fly at Naper Aero in Infinite Flight Chicago region, just scroll down below the controlled airfields. Take off from 18 or 36 as the other smaller runway does not exist.
I hope you enjoyed this article and feel free to request an airport I should do in the next topic.
Thank You
Cockatoo