Beacon Field Airport®

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Elevation 249 feet, Fairfax County, Virginia       GPS 38º46'20.40"N :  77º4'54.07"W
Copyright 2010 Friends of Beacon Field Airport at City View and beaconfieldairport.com, no part of this website including sound or text content may be copied, reproduced or used for any other purpose without express written permission of the beaconfieldairport.com website owner.   Beacon Field Airport® is a registered trademark of the website owner.


Beacon Field Scrapbook
People (Slide Show) • Airport Facilities • Airplanes •  Media Coverage



People
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Airport Facilities
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View of BEACON FIELD office and hangar taken from the TOP of the BEACON TOWER -- 1938
(Photo Courtesy Ms. Carolyn Kohn from the Faith Family Collection)

Courtesy Marshall Family



Photo at Left taken in May 1958  in front of the Beacon Field hangar leased by Mr. Paul Zimmer where the unique bird Burnelli parked as it was too big for the hangar...

"We had a lot of fun there - fish fries, plane rides, and seeing neat airplanes and, if we were lucky, one of Dad's friends would take us for a ride."   ---  Bonnie Messick,  daughter of Marion C. "Junie" Marshall, Jr.

Mr. Joseph Emrico at Beacon Field
Post WWII Boom At Beacon: Mr. Joseph Emrico with pal Ike in front of Beacon hangar under construction with 1941 Lincoln Zephyr-- Courtesy Emrico family
BT-13, Beacon Office, Beacon, Hangars, CAA Building
Beacon Field Airport Office
Beacon Field Airport Gas Pit -- Post WWII
 
Beacon Field Airport Concessions
Base of Beacon Tower, Van Dusen Aircraft supply store
Beacon Field Airport Office -- Post WWII
 
Courtesy Charles B. Duggar -- circa 1939
Photo Above circa 1939:  Beacon Field Airport on a hot summer day.   Windows fully extended in the upstairs airport office in the building on the left,  1938 Aeronca (NC27783) Model K (2 cylinder) chocked and running,  Mr. Charles Woodrow Duggar (hand on wing) readies for flight.   
Route 1 in the back, houses have been replaced by modern day Walgreens and Bray&Scarf
The Ashburns placed this Taylorcraft E-2 on its nose along US Route 1 as an attention getter roadside advertisement for the airport.

Penn-Daw Fire Department  No. 11 Fairfax County on Duty at the Airshow
Penn-Daw Fire Department No. 11 Fairfax County on Duty at the Airshow
Photo Above   No. 11 Penn-Daw Fire Station Equipment:  Engine 11-2 (1953 Oren ) could pump 750 gpm and carried 500 gallons, 1953 Cadillac Ambulance built by Superior of Lima, Ohio, and a 1954 Oren with Portopower hydraulic jack, Milwaukee Sawzll, SuperVac Smoke ejectors. (Source Data:   A Pictorial History of the Penn-Daw Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue Squad, Inc., Company 11, courtesy Leonard Jackson).

Stinson crashed into upstairs bathroom of masonry house on Oak (Memorial) Street, the Groveton woman was in the bathtub at the time and survived unscathed. Penn Daw FD on the scene. Circa 1948 -- Photo courtesy Mr. Dick Dodson


Photo at left taken by Beacon Field customer in spring 1937. 

The great dane is Garbo and the baby is the Ashburn's daughter Jane told in her own words:

 " I was toddling very wobbly at that time.  I would fall over, Garbo would pick me up by the back of my neck clothing and get me going again.   After several times of this, the man {Beacon customer} grabbed his camera and very patiently waited a long time to get the cute scene.  The baby was very uncooperative and wanted to play with pebbles, so he gave up and took a picture anyway...."


From the Ashburn Family Collection
Photo above circa 1935:     Airplane seen tilted on its nose in later photograph is in foreground left,  City View mansion well pump house seen in background left over biplane,  2nd story office for Ashburn FBO.  
BEACON FIELD painted on hangar roof, second hangar fully constructed, Circa 1937
Mowing Operations Early 1920's. Photo Courtesy C. Stuntz
 
Airplanes
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Gull Wing Stinson in foreground -- Photo Courtesy Mr. Dick Dodson
Aeronca Champ in front of main Beacon Field Hangar post WWII -- Photo Courtesy Mr. Dick Dodson
Aeronca Champ in front of main Beacon Field Hangar post WWII -- Photo Courtesy Mr. Dick Dodson
Bamboo Bomber T-50 at Beacon Field
Bamboo Bomber T-50 at Beacon Field Tiedown -- Photo Courtesy Mr. Dick Dodson
NC65749 Decommissioned Privately Owned BT-13 -- Photo Courtesy Mr. Dick Dodson
 
orth American AT-6 (Texan)
North American AT-6 (Texan) -- Photo Courtesy Mr. Dick Dodson
Guppy Aeronca with 4 cylinder engine !
 
CBY-3 BURNELLI Loadmaster

 photos courtesy of the Marion C. "Junie" Marshall, Jr. Family

CBY-3 Burnelli Loadmaster at Beacon Field
Rear View--- Click to enlarge
Under repair -- click to enlarge
COCKPIT View -- click to enlarge
Wings in the Shop --- click to enlarge
Mr. "Junie" Marshall working on the Burnelli wings
 
CESSNA T-50 Bamboo Bomber
BT-13
Cessna N4310V Tie Down
Aeronca Champion
 
American Eagle at Beacon Field Airport
American Eagle at Beacon Field Airport
T-50 Bamboo Bomber on Final
Fairchild PT-26, Staggerwing Beech, AT-6 et al Beacon Field Airport
US MAIL -- Curtiss Biplane
Piper Cub : Beacon Aerial Photos
Copyright 2008 Friends of Beacon Field Airport at City View and beaconfieldairport.com, no part of this website including sound or text content may be copied, reproduced or used for any other purpose without express written permission of the beaconfieldairport.com website owner.
 
   
Media Coverage
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21 year old  Winton "Chappie" Cole died in a plane crash in 1934.6    Chappie was a local Groveton resident who grew up near the field.   

His brother, Parker Cole, later became a CAA Flight Instructor and Examiner at Beacon Field.   Parker was employed at Beacon for many years and  later became a senior Captain with Eastern Airlines based in Miami.    

Winton "Chappie" Cole : Courtesy Alexandria Gazette
 
Wreckage of plane in which William H. Gamble, Arlington, Va., was seriously hurt yesterday when the ship went into a tailspin as Gamble attempted to land at the Beacon Airport, about 2 miles south of Alexandria. Hacksaws were required to cut the flier from the wrecked cockit. -- Post Staff Photo
'CHUTE GUIDED BY GIRL IN DROP

   "Floating through the air with the greatest of ease, a daring young girl, no, not on a trapeze, but equipped with a parachute, thrilled several hundred persons at Beacon Field, on the Richmond highway below Alexandria, yesterday.
    She is Pearl White, the flying stenographer of.....   "


Source: The Alexandria Gazette, November 28, 1959.
GHOST PLANES IN THE SKY-- Beacon Field area residents should not be alarmed this week if they see several planes take off from the abandoned airfield. Several planes hangared there now, including this multi-engine "Flying Dance Hall" will fly off to make way
for a proposed shopping center in the Groveton-Penn Daw area. The field was officially closed to private aircraft on Oct. 1. The buildings, including the beacon tower (see shadow) must be cleared from the site by Dec. 15 . (Photo by Eddie Allen)
 
Copyright 2010 Friends of Beacon Field Airport at City View and beaconfieldairport.com, no part of this website including sound or text content may be copied, reproduced or used for any other purpose without express written permission of the beaconfieldairport.com website owner.   Beacon Field Airport® is a registered trademark of the website owner.

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