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For five years we fought the good fight, trying to save Iowa City's historic Boeing/United Hangar.  One of just seven original, Boeing-built airmail hangars in the country, many people regarded this landmark hangar as an irreplaceable piece of airline history.

When it was built in 1929, it was revolutionary.  1920s-era aircraft were open-cockpit, and far from comfortable.  Airlines were in their infancy, and aircraft with interior seating were rare.  Despite this, Boeing built the hangar large, with giant sliding doors on BOTH ends of the building so that airliners could pull inside for climate-controlled embarking and debarking for the passengers of the era.

As the years went by airliners out-grew the "indoor hangar" concept, and enclosed jet-ways came into vogue.  But the old hangar soldiered on, bearing silent witness to the Great Depression, World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War-era passengers that boarded airliners bound for...everywhere.  First United, then Ozark, served Iowa City with airline service for over 40 years.

Fast forward 35 years.  The old hangar hasn't received regular maintenance for over a decade -- yet it's still in constant demand to house all manner of aircraft, from biplanes to biz-jets.  It remains the largest hangar on the airport until the late 1990s, and as recently as 2005 housed an active flight school -- but the writing is on the wall.   With the planned Runway 25 extension, the FAA deemed the old hangar to be too close to the new runway for modern safety standards -- it had to go...somewhere.

Enter Friends of Iowa City Airport, a local airport users advocacy group, with ideas to move the hangar on airport property.  Despite obvious demand for the hangar, ample land, and a (relatively) paltry $30K price tag, the Airport Commission showed no interest in moving it.

Enter local developer Al Wells, with a great idea for a new, through-the-fence operation called "Amelia Field".   At his own expense, Mr. Wells offered to move the hangar to the North Commercial Development, save the hangar for future generations, restore it to its former glory, and build two new, desperately needed hangars.   Incredibly, the Airport Commission shot his idea down, claiming that it came "too late in the process" to be considered.

And the hangar came down.

In an amazing turn of events, the Airport Commission, now recognizing the need for a hangar similar in size to the United Hangar, has applied for -- and received -- a grant for construction of a new hangar estimated to cost $750K.  Incredibly, our taxes paid to tear down the historic hangar, and will now fund construction of a NEW hangar -- but the government bureaucrats would not pay to move and restore the old hangar -- which would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars LESS.    It is to weep...

The final vote to deny the construction of Amelia Field, and demolish the United Hangar went as follows:

Greg Farris:  Yes
Randy Hartwig:  Yes
John Staley:   Yes
Howard Horan:   Yes
Janelle Rettig:   No

Here are the pix:
 

8/6/08 Stripping the outer layers...	Peeling it like an onion...	The building was built incredibly strong in 1929, after a previous hangar had blown down in a windstorm
		8/13/08 -- The hangar is down.
Mary with the wreckage
	Removing the steel proved to be incredibly difficult
			9/10/08 Over a month has gone by, and the hangar is still not gone...
	The slowest demolition in history?	What a loss...