Lobb Field

Lobb Field is a former airport and military airfield located within the city of Rochester, Minnesota.

Lobb Field
Summary
LocationRochester, Minnesota
Opened1929
Closed1961
Coordinates43°59′51″N 92°27′04″W

History

Lobb Field, the original airport for Rochester, was established in 1928 by the Mayo Foundation as a way to get patients to the Mayo Clinic. It originally was located in what is now South-East Rochester and occupied 285 acres (115 ha).

Plans for the airport were announced on 13 July 1928 on the day that scheduled air service to Rochester began. Starting on that date, Jefferson Airways operated two Ford Tri-motor flights per day between Rochester and St. Paul using the fair grounds to land until the airport was able to open.[1]

The following year the airport was officially dedicated, and the Rochester Airport Company was founded as a subsidiary of the Mayo Foundation. Northwest Airways, a predecessor to Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines, began running Ford Trimotors to Rochester from its hub in St. Paul. Rochester was one of the first destinations from the Twin Cities in Northwest's history, behind Chicago, Winnipeg, Green Bay, and Fargo.

In 1940, the runways were paved and additional land was acquired, bringing the airport's total area to 370 acres (1.5 km²). During World War II, the Army Air Corps conducted training operations from the airport. The Fontana School of Aeronautics provided contract glider training to the United States Army Air Forces between 1942–1944, using primarily Douglas C-47 Skytrains and Waco CG-4 gliders. There may have been two auxiliary landing fields in this service. The mission of the school was to train glider pilot students in proficiency in operation of gliders in various types of towed and soaring flight, both day and night, and in servicing of gliders in the field.

Returned to civil use in 1945, the Mayo Foundation gave the airport to the city of Rochester, but the Rochester Airport Company continued to operate the field under an agreement with the city. The airport was renamed Lobb Field in 1952. In the 1940s through the 1960s, the airport was served by Braniff Airways, North Central Airlines, Ozark Airlines, and other small air carriers, in addition to Northwest.

In 1960 it was decided to replace Lobb Field with a new airport southwest of the town because it could not be expanded to accommodate the larger airliners and was too close to the urban area of Rochester. The original Rochester Airport was closed in 1961.

Today, the former airport has been redeveloped as part of the Rochester urban area called Meadow Park, including Ben Franklin Elementary School. Little or no evidence of the airport's existence remains today.

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See also

References
  1. Rochester Post Bulletin, July 23, 1928

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

  • Shaw, Frederick J. (2004), Locating Air Force Base Sites History’s Legacy, Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, Washington DC, 2004.
  • Manning, Thomas A. (2005), History of Air Education and Training Command, 1942–2002. Office of History and Research, Headquarters, AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas ASIN: B000NYX3PC
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