Cool! Thanks.
Do you remember the old Sportsman's Air Park on Day/California road west of Elkhart? They sold amphibious planes there in the 60s. Lake Buccaneer, as I recall. My dad worked on California Rd for a small architectural firm where the career center is now.
Yes, I do. In fact, Dad flew us in there a couple of times when he had his C172. I think one of his friends had a Cub based there. Was a cool place with all the old tail draggers and fabric covered planes.
I think there was also a private strip just west of County Line Road/Ash Road, on the north side of CR6/Cleveland Road, where an A&P did repairs and inspections.
There was also a private strip north of me, at the intersection of US20 and CR23. Was a NW/SE runway, ~1000 feet long, downhill to the SE. The guy that lived there actually flew a C172 into and out of it. I flew into it a couple of times in my Flightstar ultralight. Can't remember his name (it was Milt Hatfield), but I think he built the pancake plane that hung in the SB airport terminal building. May still be there, I haven't been in that part of the terminal for a few years.
On SR15 south of Jefferson School, Kropf Manufacturing had a landing strip that I helped build back in the early 70s. Bob Kropf, the owner, flew a Piper Apache and then later a Piper Aztec out of that strip until shortly before he passed in the early 2000s. I could often hear that Aztec's big 540 Lycomings sing when he took off, as it's only about a mile from my house, and when the wind was out of the east, his downwind leg went over me.
Lots more stories of all the little strips I've been into around this area over the years, unfortunately many no longer exist or are in use.
