Business View Magazine | May 2019

116 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE MAY 2019 Allen County Airport A d i amond i n t he rough The Allen County Airport is a public use airport located five miles southeast of the central business district of Lima, Ohio, an area rich in aviation history. “The first flight of an airplane in the Lima area occurred on Friday, July 28, 1911, at the old Allen County Fairgrounds, which is now the site of Lima Memorial Hospital and surrounding homes,” recounts Airport Manager, Josh Tattrie. “The pilot was Calbraith Perry Rodgers, a pupil of Orville Wright, in a Model-B Wright Biplane with a 35 horsepower engine. Fifty cents admission was charged. Rodgers made three flights that day. He stayed low so that persons outside the grounds could not get a good look at the event without paying an admission.” “In the mid-1920s, the best known local aviator was “Rollie” Thompson, who flew his biplane in the Lima and Indian Lake areas,” Tattrie continues. “There were The AT A GLANCE THE ALLEN COUNTY AIRPORT WHAT: A public use airport WHERE: Lima, Ohio WEBSITE: www.llencountyairport.com