Schaumburg Regional Airport

A 1945 navy map of Glenview Naval Air Station and its 15 satellite airfields depicts an “L” shaped landing field in Schaumburg with a designation of “SC”. In 1946, there were numerous Navy landing fields but Schaumburg was described as being located at the South East corner of Schaumburg Road and Barrington Roads.

Roselle Airfield

According to a news article, purchase of land for Roselle Field was started in 1959 and the property resides in an unincorporated area of Cook and DuPage counties.[2] An article dated February 25, 1960 in the Roselle Register mentions that Leonard Boeske will start building the airport by March 25, 1960. April 13, 1961 Roselle Register article "work on the airport is 80 percent complete..." "Landscaping and sodding will be finished by June 1, said Boeske". May 25, 1961 Dan Smith Illinois Safety inspector landed at Roselle Field and certified the showpiece airfield safe for operation. The official opening was delayed until about mid-July. Between June 26, 1961 and May 27, 1963 there were at least five meetings to get Roselle Field annexed into the Village of Roselle. In 1963, there were 2 FBO’s at Roselle Airfield, Ace Aviation in the old flight office and B&M aircraft/Roselle Beechcraft in the big hangar. Ace Aviation was owned by Wilbur (Pip) Snyder who owned Ace Hardware in Roselle Illinois and was a Piper dealer. Internal to Ace Aviation was Cliff Hutton who was the airport manager. Roselle Beechcraft was owned by Harold (Hal) MaGee (The “M” in B&M and the “B” was Brunke who had died and Richard (Dick) C. Leach. The restaurant on top was owned by a postman named Chris Heidt.

Schaumburg Airport

In December 1963, the Village of Schaumburg Annexed the Roselle Airport. 1964-1965 the combined flight schools had 5 Piper Colts, 2 Cherokees, 3 Skyhawks, 1 twin Comanche, 1 Comanche 400, 3 Comanche 250s, 2 Debonairs, 1 F model Bonanza, 1 P model Bonanza, 1 S model Bonanza, 4 or 5 Beech Muskateers, 1 Cessna 310, 1 Beech Travelair and 1 235 Apache. A Chicago sectional chart dated December 10, 1964 depicts Roselle Airfield West of O’Hare and Northwest of Mitchell Airport. In 1965, the terminal building on the north side of the apron was built. It was made of brick exterior bearing walls with metal framing in the roof and has a concrete floor. Heat was generated from hot water tubing encased in the concrete floor.

In 1965 or 1966, there was an attempt to get private financing to resurface the runway. At the time, the paved runway (10/28) was 2600' by 46', there was a N/E-S/W turf runway on the west side which started at old Irving Park road and ended before the C&NW Railroad tracks aligned with the taxiway that crossed the runway which formed the last 200 feet of the runway. It was 1200' or 1400' long.

Taken from Richard Lessow. In 1965 or 1966, the airport was hit by two tornados. There was a massive loss of aircraft. The first one occurred at dusk and I was there. We all took shelter in the old flight office. I remember looking at the anemometer pegged at 110 MPH then the sensor blew off the building. After the cell had passed I looked out of the flight office window to see a Piper Colt with its spinner touching the glass, sitting on its landing gear without any wings. A lot of the aircraft fuselages were torn loose leaving their wings still tied to the tie downs. The second one occurred later in the season, late Saturday evening or early Sunday morning. I always opened the airport up on Sunday mornings and was the first one there. As I stopped at Roselle Rd. and Rt. 19, I notice an engine and wing section from a twin Comanche in the trees across from the old Roselle Ford car lot. I thought someone had crashed. When I got to the airport the damage was even more devastating than the first. Wreckage was scattered for miles to the south and east. Additionally, there was extensive building and vehicle damage. Some owners lost two aircraft in one summer.

A concrete pad was built by the fuel pumps to hold the lighted Aero Shell sign. It had to be to Shell specs and was by hand 4'x4'x5'. Doug Stenoin (spelling?) who along with Jon Mosby had a 182 in one of the T hangers, was a local drywall supplier and brought out a cherry picker and lifted, installed, and wired the sign.

In 1970, the property was placed in a trust with the First National Bank of Chicago.

On Friday, February 6, 1970 8:00 a.m. President Richard Nixon and Mrs. Nixon were scheduled to land at Schaumburg Airport. After arriving in a large Blue Marine 1 helicopter, he obtained a ride in a limousine to the water treatment plant. According to news articles, President Nixon went to the water treatment plant in Hanover Park and was offered a drink of treated water that was turned down by the President.

Schaumburg Airport Feasibility Study of 1974 (Roselle History museum) Schaumburg Airport Feasibility Study of 1974 (Roselle History museum) According to the study, there are 26 general aviation airport facilities in the Chicago Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA). Schaumburg Airport (SA) is approximately 10 miles from O’Hare.

Access Schaumburg Airport is on Illinois Route 19, approximately 0.5 miles east of the intersection of Irving Park Road and Rodenburg Road.

Geographical description at the time was:

Latitude 41 degrees 59 minutes 04 seconds North Longitude 88 degrees 05 minutes 53 seconds West, estimate Elevation 795 feet msl 1972 magnetic variation – 01 degree 49 minutes East Runway consists of a single paved northwest-southwest runway, Runway 10/28.

123 aircraft were based at Schaumburg Airport as of September 1, 1974. Of the 123 planes, 100 were owned by individuals that leased tiedown or hangar space from Schaumburg Airport, Inc. Schaumburg Airport, Inc owns 10. Lloyd’s Flying owned 13 aircraft for the flight school and these aircraft were used primarily for instruction. All of the planes weighed under 8,000 pounds.

Number of takeoffs and landings (estimated for 1974) were 64,934.

The earliest map depicting Roselle Field was the December 10, 1964 Chicago Sectional Chart. According to the Illinois Airport Directory, the manager was Richard Leach, and there was Beechcraft sales/service on the field. Roselle Field was annexed into the Village of Schaumburg. The runway was 2,500 feet (760 m) long and 50 feet (15 m) wide at the time. In 1965, the runway was extended to 3,100 feet (940 m). On February 6, 1970, President Richard M. Nixon flew to Roselle Field to dedicate a water treatment plant at the corner of Barrington and Irving Park Road in neighboring Hanover Park. In the early 1970s, the name was changed to Schaumburg Airpark. The Fixed-Base Operator (FBO) changed to Northwest Flyers in 1985, who continues to operate as the FBO today.

The Village of Schaumburg purchased the airport in 1994 to prevent it from being sold to developers. In 1995, the village replaced the 3,000×40-foot asphalt runway with a 3,800×100-foot concrete runway with a parallel taxiway, and concrete tie-down areas for parking.

In 1998, construction of the 26,000 square foot terminal building was completed, including space for a quality restaurant, public meeting rooms, and space for businesses to operate in a facility that is both functional and architecturally impressive. 1999 saw the arrival of a new fuel farm for jet fuel (Jet-A) and aviation gasoline (100LL Avgas). A self-service station was installed for the 100LL.

New hangars, consisting of 33 units were completed between 2000 and 2001, as well as the installation of the PAPI. PAPI (Precision Approach Path Indicator) is a system of lights that provide pilots vertical guidance to the runway. This assists the pilot in determining whether they are too high, too low, or right on the glide path.