Midway Airport: The First Seventy-Five Years |
by Christopher Lynch Lake Claremont Press |
|
Midway Airport: The First Seventy-Five Years |
by Christopher Lynch Lake Claremont Press |
We skirted along the service road as we made the turn around the end of runway 31.
I can remember driving on this service road on one of my many numerous summer jobs out at the airport, when a jet was pulling onto the active runway to prepare for takeoff. There, it would sit motionless, and I would often stop the car and roll down the windows, for I knew what was coming next. Then, the pilot would engage the throttle, and there would be a low rumble that seemed to emanate low down in the earth. It would grow louder, and then the windows in the car began to shake. Even amidst all this chaos of noise and thunder, the plane sat immobile, as billowing clouds of smoke shot from its tail. Within a few seconds, the sleek jet would begin to roll at what seemed like an incredibly slow pace. By this moment, the rumbling felt like it was in your head, and if you had screamed, no one would hear you. In a moment, the winged juggernaut was racing down the runway, and one wondered if there was enough pavement left on this 5000 foot runway to give this screaming object room to lift off. But then, the white top of the jet's nose would always rise amidst the smoke and haze, and lift off, more like a rocket than a plane. I use the rocket analogy on purpose, since such an experience is the closest I ever came to seeing, or feeling, a Saturn V launch, that would rock Cape Canaveral on another flight to the moon. It was always thrilling, no matter how many times you saw one of these gleaming jets take off, and it made you feel alive, and smile in child-like wonder.In front of us, with the faint glow of its internal light, was the Natural Gas Hanger, built by Monarch and maintained by the Natural Gas company. This hanger, winner of a prestigious architectural award, was also designed by Paul Shaver, who had designed Monarch's main hanger. The tell tale signs of Shaver's work were there, with an exposed clerestory, where natural light floods in. But perhaps the most amazing attribute of this hanger is the floor. The floor resembled an ice rink, white and luminous. I was always struck at how white it is, and sparkling clean. If one speck of dirt was on its large area, it would stick out like a black dot on a canvas, the type of painting that one sees in a modern art museum. The mystery of how they keep this floor so clean is unknown to me.
Continue the Tour: Monarch South: A Lively Hangar