Bolingbrook's Clow International Airport

Bolingbrook's Clow International Airport (FAA LID: 1C5) is a public airport in Bolingbrook, a village in Will County, Illinois, United States.[1] Located 29 miles (46 km) southwest of the Chicago Loop, it is a small general aviation facility catering to private pilots, students, and commuter aircraft.

Bolingbrook's
Clow International Airport
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerVillage of Bolingbrook
ServesBolingbrook, Illinois
Elevation AMSL670 ft / 204 m
Coordinates41°41′46″N 088°07′45″W
Websitewww.bbclowairport.com
Map
1C5
Location of airport in Illinois
1C5
1C5 (the United States)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
18/36 3,360 1,024 Asphalt
Statistics (2005)
Aircraft operations50,000
Based aircraft145
Source: FAA[1] and airport web site[2]
Airport diagram

Clow features a $100 hamburger diner, Charlie's Restaurant, which serves breakfast and lunch.

History

The airport was originally a grass airstrip built by Oliver Boyd Clow in the 1950s. By 1989 it was named the best privately owned, public-use airport in Illinois.[3] The airport was acquired by the Village of Bolingbrook in 2004. The village has expanded the airport, which include a widened runway, added taxiways, and landing glidepath lighting.[4]

The airport was used as a location for the 1992 film Folks! with Tom Selleck and Don Ameche, which also had a cameo by O. Boyd Clow, the founder of the airport.

Oliver Boyd Clow called the airport Clow International on the spur of the moment when filing a flight plan[5]. Boyd created the name, choosing the word international to reflect Chicago's mixed ethnicity, rather than the airport's size: Boyd's many friends and fellow pilots were of German, Polish, and other ethnic backgrounds now making their homes in Chicago. "It was named on a lark and borders on the ridiculous, but people remember it. Sometimes the absurd is easier to remember," says Boyd.[6]

Facilities and aircraft

Bolingbrook's Clow International Airport covers an area of 205 acres (83 ha) and contains one runway designated 18/36 with a 3,360 x 75 ft (1,024 x 23 m) asphalt pavement.[1]

For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2005, the airport had 50,000 aircraft operations, an average of 136 per day: 96% general aviation and 4% air taxi. There are 145 aircraft based at this airport: 83% single-engine, 10% ultralight, 3% multi-engine and 3% helicopter.[1] The Fixed-Based Operator (FBO) at Clow is JW Aviation.[7]

Illinois Aviation Museum

The airport is also the location of the Illinois Aviation Museum at Bolingbrook that includes a collection of restored and replica aircraft.[8]

References
  1. FAA Airport Master Record for 1C5 (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2007-12-20
  2. Bolingbrook's Clow International Airport, official site
  3. Illinois Aviation Museum at Bolingbrook
  4. Chicago Tribune July 8, 2015 article: Bolingbrook paying $706,715 of $6.9 million Clow Airport upgrade
  5. Chicago Tribune July 17, 1991 article: Clow's airport may be closing, but appearances are deceiving
  6. AOPA March 5, 2003 article: Pilots - Oliver Boyd Clow
  7. JW Aviation
  8. "About". Illinois Aviation Museum. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
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