An undated photograph of an early airplane at Kerstetter Air Field, Dayton, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.
The following memories of this field were published in the Williamstown Sesquicentennial Book, 1976:
The first airplane landed on the high side of old Route 209, below Kramer’s where the new homes are now [1976] located. A club of eight men was formed and a hanger was built on the lower side of the road. Russ Hunter was the pilot. Every Sunday, if the weather was nice, aerial circuses were put on. They would drop a goose with a parachute attached to get wind direction, then all types of stunts were performed. Tom Dunn would make parachute jumps, and the planes did all kinds of aerial acts, flying upside down at low altitudes, with a man hanging from the wing; they would loop the loop and do all sort of dangerous stunts.
Auto gyros were the forerunner of the helicopter and were used here. They had a large rotar [sic] located on top like a helicopter. They had short stubby wings, and a propeller like a plane. The rotar [sic] on top was powered by wind from the propeller, Anyone could go for a ride if they had a dollar. The Sister Ship to the “Spirit of St. Louis” was brought here for a time and would take people up for a dollar a ride.
Mrs. Grace [Kerstetter] Kramer remembers the first plane to come to the field was an open cockpit type plane, and in which she was given a ride.
If a better copy of this photograph is available it can be posted here.
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Photo from the Sesquicentennial History of Williamstown and Williams Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, published in 1976. For availability of copies of this book, contact the Williamstown and Williams Township Historical Society, 115 W. Market Street, Williamstown, Pennsylvania 17098.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.