Aside from private landing strips, Delaware County was once home to five airports! Nearly everyone here knows of the Muncie Regional Airport (otherwise known as Johnson Field) and many have at least driven past Reese Airport near Prairie Creek Reservoir. Little, if anything, remains of shuttered airparks like Silver Fox, Wall, and Magic City, but the old airport in Selma can still be seen.
Although it seems like a crazy notion today, a regular stream of planes once took off from Selma, a town whose population has toggled between 400 and 1000 people over the past eighty years. Precise dates are hard to come by, but Otto Huffman founded the Selma Airport as the Huffman Airport, in 1939 or 19401, about twenty-six years after he opened Huffman Chevrolet. At first, the airport was little more than a hobby for Otto Huffman, who never advanced beyond a private pilot’s license2. Nevertheless, he designed and built the main hangar himself3.
World War II took its toll on his airfield, but Huffman reopened in 1943 after wartime needs led the larger Muncie Airport to ask private citizens to stop storing their planes there. At the time, Huffman’s airport consisted of a forty-three-acre field, a bluegrass runway, and a hangar that could store eight planes4. By then, Huffman had become second lieutenant flight commander of the Civil Air Patrol, the Air Force auxiliary. In 1944, Squadron 525-1 installed a sixteen-foot-long sign at the airfield identifying its operations office5.
The Huffman Airport closed soon after World War II, and its grounds reverted to farmland. A fence was stretched across its sod runway, and Indiana & Michigan Electrical Company used its hangar as a warehouse! Years later, Joe Carraway and Bob Myers -brothers-in-law who operated a lumber yard nearby- purchased its grounds to repurpose into farmland6. In 1967, they tore the fence down and reopened the airport7.
The revitalized airfield featured a 3,000-foot-long sod runway spanning east-west, though only about 2,200 feet could be used thanks to a pair of power lines. Upon its reopening, the airport accommodated a Cherokee 140 and Cessna 172 Skyhawk Myers and Carraway used for rides, training, rentals, and charter work; other privately-owned planes stationed onsite; and 80 and 100 octane fuel to power them8.
Locals called the place “Selma International” with a knowing wink after it reopened as activity there increased9. In 1969, a new, 36×80 foot open front hangar was built at the airport’s south side with enough room to cover ten additional aircraft10. That year, teenagers were flying solo out of the Selma Airport11, while people like Larry Smoot and Bob Shepherd kept home-built aircraft onsite12.
The FAA licensed home-built planes like Smoot’s and Shepherd’s as experimental aircraft, and the agency approved them as worthy of taking to the skies13. Nevertheless, there was risk involved in piloting them, just like with any other plane: on March 19, 1969, Ted Harvey was killed when he crashed in a field less than a quarter mile from the Selma Airport. Four people witnessed the impact, and they told investigators that the plane had taken off from Reese Airport, flew east over the Selma Airport, made a westward turn, and spun to the ground. Officials believed that the plane stalled as it made the turn, and Harvey was pronounced dead at the scene14. He left behind a wife, two daughters, a son, and myriad other family members like my stepdad, Harvey’s nephew.
Local aviation enthusiasts flew a version of Harvey’s plane before the crash, noting that it wasn’t as forgiving as the Pipers and Cessnas that Selma Airport was home to15. Despite the tragedy nearby, though, the airfield grew to house twelve planes until traffic declined in the 1980s when fuel and insurance costs became difficult for the small enterprise to bear. Myers, the airport’s aviation mechanic, retired in 1988. Three years later, the airport -which consisted of the main building, two hangars, and the grass landing strip- was auctioned off in a sale that included engine parts, tools, and other supplies16. The airport’s plane of influence extended further back than its closure: auctioneer Tom Flesher took flying lessons there in the early 1970s17!
I can’t say that I remember the Selma Airport while it was in operation, but my family drove past when I was a kid. My mom told me some of its stories, and I’ve been fascinated by its history ever since! Although its runway has long since given way to crops again, the arched hangar of the Selma Airport still stands, with a celebratory wind sock, reminding passersby of its former glory as a place where people once took to the skies.
Sources Cited
1 Jamieson, B. (1967, October 1). Old Airfield Is Back in Business. The Muncie Star. p. 27.
2 Otto Huffman, Retired Auto Dealer, Dies (1978, June 7). The Muncie Star. p. 15.
3 (See footnote 1).
4 Reopen Selma Port for Civilian Planes (1943, December 28). The Muncie Star. p. 2.
5 Mull, J. (1944, January 16). Wingovers With the CAP. The Muncie Star. p. 24.
6 Canan, J. (1993, June 19). Big bucks meant new buildings. The Muncie Evening Press. p. 3.
6 Canan, J. (1993, June 19). Big bucks meant new buildings. The Muncie Evening Press. p. 3.
7 (See footnote 1).
8 (See footnote 1).
9 Francisco, B. (1991, August 21). Airport for Sale; Some Experience Necessary. The Muncie Star. p. 1.
10 Jamieson, B. (1968, Octobrt 27). Selma Airport Adds Hangar. The Muncie Star. p. 38.
11 Jamieson, B. (1969, September 21). Tenagers Solo at Airport. The Muncie Star. p. 40.
12 (See footnote 11).
13 Jamieson, B. (1969, March 23). Aviation Affected by Crash. The Muncie Star. p. 8.
14 Kerr, R. (1969, March 20). Small Private Aircraft Apparently Stalls While Turning Near Airport. The Muncie Star. Pp. 1-2.
15 (See footnote 13).
16 Coming Auctions (1991, August 19). The Muncie Star. p. 15.
17 Francisco, B. (1991, August 21). Airport for Sale; Some Experience Necessary. The Muncie Star. p. 1.
I never knew about this place. These small airstrips were once everywhere during the boom years of general aviation. That era peaked in the 50s and 60s with lots of WWII veteran pilots who kept their licenses up.
One was right near my house. It was behind the old Best Lock Co. plant (now Dormakaba at 75th and Binford Blvd). Mr. Best had been a pilot and the strip ran parallel to the former SR 37 between 75th Street and Graham Road. You can still see it from Graham just north of the Kroger store.
I once landed on a grass strip – it was a lot different than the concrete I was used to.
I never knew about that strip either, and have spent many hours aimlessly perusing websites that purport to list them all in Indiana!
We just got back from the property. That Moorestown has a functioning grass-strip airport is still mindblowing to me.