Elton Cultice, manager of Grimes Field Municipal Airport in Urbana, stands in front of the airport’s iconic main hangar and the historical marker dedicated to Warren Grimes, Father of Aviation Lighting and founder of Grimes Manufacturing. Grimes gave the airport to the City of Urbana 80 years ago.

To appreciate Grimes Field Municipal Airport in Urbana, Ohio, you don’t have to own a plane. Or know someone who does. Or know how to fly.

Grimes Field offers a lot for all of us. It’s the only airport in Ohio with three museums, says Grimes Field Manager Elton Cultice.

At Mindy’s Airport Café you can enjoy breakfast, lunch or dinner, and watch airplanes land and take off – as I do when I meet up with friends every Saturday for breakfast.

During the year, the airport hosts a variety of events that appeal to a wide audience, like the Fourth of July Rotary chicken barbecue and fireworks. And this Saturday, August 19, Grimes Field will host two public events with free admission:

• A triple-anniversary celebration of Warren G. Grimes, the father of aviation lighting and namesake of Grimes Field: the 80th anniversary of his giving the airport to the City of Urbana, in 1943; the 90th anniversary of his founding one of Urbana’s major employers, Grimes Manufacturing Company, in 1933; and the 125th anniversary of his birth in 1898.
• The 55th annual Mid-Eastern Regional Fly-in, which Cultice says, could attract 100 to 200 experimental aircraft – possibly more. The event will also feature a car show, air race, bounce house and a pancake breakfast.

Scroll down for details about both.

Grimes Field: A Business Community

Warren G. Grimes, Father of Aviation Lighting (Photo provided by the Champaign County Historical Society Museum)

As a bonus to the fun factor (next up is the Balloon Fest, September 8 and 9), Grimes Field pumps money into the local economy, through tourism and business operations.

“Grimes Field is self-sustaining,” Cultice says. Though a city-owned airport, he explains, no tax dollars support its operations.

The airport generates income from fuel sales, hangar rental and aircraft maintenance. Sixty-four aircraft are based at the airport.

Lease income from on-site businesses also supports the airport. As I’ve already mentioned, there’s the Airport Café, which will be open during the events Saturday. Miami Valley Hospital uses the airport as a base for the CareFlight helicopter emergency trauma service. Mad River Air LLC provides flight instruction and charter flights. And W & W Aviation Maintenance services aircraft.

One Airport, Three Museums

Grimes Field, which is part of the National Aviation Heritage Area, is home to three museums, which attract visitors to the community (and will be open to the public during the events on Saturday, August 19):

• The Grimes Flying Lab Museum houses the Grimes Flying Lab (pictured below), a Beech 18 aircraft, one of the planes Warren Grimes and Grimes Manufacturing engineers used to evaluate the company’s exterior aircraft lights in flight. The museum’s Flying Lab is outfitted with more than 75 lights. The Grimes Flying Lab Foundation is dedicated to preserving the Flying Lab and the legacy of Mr. Grimes, who is an enshrinee of the National Aviation Hall of Fame. In 1933, he produced his first airplane lights in a garage in Urbana. And by World War II, Grimes Manufacturing Company was producing lighting for all Allied military aircraft. Today, as Honeywell Aerospace, the company continues to design, develop and manufacture lighting systems for aviation, aerospace and transportation industries.
• The Champaign Aviation Museum is home to eight vintage aircraft, including the B-25 Champaign Gal, which you can often see – and hear – flying over Urbana. You can get up close to these planes and observe volunteers, local and from across the country, restore a B-17 bomber, the Champaign Lady. And you can join the volunteers.
• The Restoration Wing of the Mid America Flight Museum in 2021 won the award for Grand Champion Vintage Aircraft at Oshkosh Airventure for a Travel Air 6000 restored there.

The Grimes Flying Lab showing off some of its more than 75 Grimes lights. 

Grimes Field Helps Lift the Economy

Through all of its services, businesses and museums, Grimes Field makes a significant contribution to the local economy, at a time when many small general aviation airports are struggling.

This T-28, pictured here in about 1960, was used by Grimes Manufactury Company as a flying laboratory for its aircraft lights. From the archives of the Champaign County Historical Society Museum.

Cultice said, “So many airports around the country are shutting down.” Aviation Week reported in June: “The general aviation industry has been under attack. Roughly 100 U.S. airports have closed since 2008.”

This, despite the economic value that small general aviation airports like Grimes Field offer their communities. Aviation Week reported that general aviation supports more than 1.1 million jobs and contributes more than $246 billion to the economy each a year. This is based on an economic impact report by the National Association of State Aviation Officials, the Alliance for Aviation Across America and the American Association of State and Highway Transportation Officials.

Cover from a 1943 Grimes Manufacturing Company catalog features Grimes Field. From the archives of the Champaign County Historical Society Museum.

A similar study, conducted by the Ohio Department of Transportation’s Office of Aviation, found that the economic impact of Grimes Field adds up to a total of 99 jobs, a payroll of $2 million and economic output of $9 million. This is based on a Federal Aviation Administration-approved methodology for analyzing the economic impact of airports.

This calculation factors in the direct impact of the airport’s operations and payroll; the effect of airport visitors and business on community services like hotels, restaurants, retail and construction; and the multiplier effect on suppliers for the airport, local visitor-dependent businesses and construction-dependent businesses.

One of many factors threatening small airports is a shortage of pilots and other aviation-related workers. Cultice says that Grimes Field is doing its part to prepare the next generation for aviation careers. This includes flight instruction provided at the airport, an aviation class offered at the airport by Ohio Hi-Point Career Center and the Young Eagles program of the Experimental Aircraft Association, which offers free introductory flights to youth ages 8 to 17.

Grimes Flying Lab Museum Celebration

Jessica Deere, volunteer coordinator of the Grimes Flying Lab Foundation Museum, invites visitors to see the Grimes Flying Lab and the museum’s displays of the history of Grimes Manufacturing Company.

The museum will be selling commemorative Grimes Anniversary T-shirts, reprints of the 40th Anniversary edition of the Grimes Manufacturing Company newsletter, Grimes Times, and date-stamped envelopes featuring the Grimes Flying Lab. Stock is limited, she adds. You can also buy lunch at the museum.

The Grimes Flying Lab will be flying at about 2 p.m. And the museum has invited owners of Beech 18 and C-45 aircraft to fly in for the celebration. Deere adds that members of the Grimes family will attend the celebration.

Mid-Eastern Regional Fly-in Activities

The MERFI Wings-n-Wheels event will include:

• The EAA Chapter 421 Pancake Breakfast, 8 to 11 a.m.
• Display of experimental aircraft
• A car show, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., including the new Top Gun youth division (entry free for youth)
• The Aeroplane Poker Run, 10 a.m. to noon
• The Sport Air Racing League Air Race, with an 11 a.m. launch. Twenty planes will takes off at 30-second intervals to compete for the fastest time over a 100-mile course.
• A bounce house