On May 8, more than 50 people gathered at the Clinton Regional Airport to celebrate the official opening of the facilities’ new terminal. Among them was Bob Stayton, who remembers when the airport property was just a farmer’s field.
Stayton, who is 97, also remembers when he and a handful of pilots used to land their planes on a grass runway alongside Highway 52.
“Sometimes they landed ON the highway,” said Patty Stayton Coonrod, Bob’s daughter.
Patty and her father came from the Kansas City area for last Thursday’s ceremony, which drew Clinton city officials, MODOT officials from Jefferson City, pilots who use the airport and representatives of Westport Construction of Clinton, who built the structure. Federal funding covered 93 percent of the total cost— $2 million, 50 thousand, with the city of Clinton paying 7 percent.
The economic impact of the airport to the city is $2 million annually, said Gregg Smith, an MDOT commissioner for 12 years.
The morning before last week’s ceremony, which started at 11 a.m., “Chillicothe Chuck” Wilson flew Brian Boehmer from Jefferson City to conduct an inspection of the airport. Boehmer checked the condition of the pavement, lighting, markings on the runways and taxi-ways, and fuel systems. Clinton Regional Airport has two runways, a 5,000-foot long, 100 foot-wide north/south runway that can facilitate corporate jets, and a crosswind runway.
“It passed with flying colors,” Wilson said of the inspection.
MODOT (Missouri Depar-tment of Transportation), is in charge of the state’s ports, rails and airports as well as the highways, Gregg Smith said. MODOT makes sure the project is funded, Brian said, and operates as an arm of the FAA, making sure that the project meets all the regulations. Providing access for business aircraft to Clinton is the facility’s primary purpose, but having an airport is also crucial in emergency situations, military drills, search and rescue operations and for agricultural businesses.
Bob Stayton remembers when there were only four planes that used the grass runway, which had three lights on each side of its length. To land there, you looked for Hwy. 52, he said, and then flew towards Calhoun as far as the power plant, turned around and came back to land. At night, you looked for the lights of Clinton. He also remembers when a group of pilots got together and applied for federal funding to buy land from a local farmer for the Clinton airport. A Clinton optician named Herb Gwynne, who had flown during WWII, instructed Bob and others how to fly. Bob, who owned a Chevrolet dealership in town, obtained his instructor’s license and in turn, taught other pilots to fly.
One person Bob helped with flight instruction was Wallace White, who spoke at the ceremony. White, a long-time member of the Clinton Airport Association and former airport manager, said that he had his first airplane ride at the Clinton Airport. Both Bob Stayton and Wallace White were at the dedication of the airport property back in 1967, along with Dr. Bradshaw, a former mayor of Clinton. Building a terminal six decades later took vision, patience and perseverance on behalf of the city, White said, and he thanked all the subsequent mayors and airport managers who helped keep the plans going forward.
The current manager, Joel Long, was singled out for recognition for exceptional effort and dedication to his job. Gregg Smith presented Joel with a plaque, and related a story of how last winter, when the area was blanketed by snowstorms, the airport was closed for days. Joel worked tirelessly for three days to get the snow removed from the runways and get the airport back open, Gregg said.. Thom Knott of Clinton helped with snow removal, Smith said.
Joel, who was hired in June of 2023, doesn’t like to be in the spotlight, but for two years, ran the airport single-handedly, and was on call 24-7. A pilot himself, he represents Clinton as the friendly face who greets the company pilots and their passengers, the military crews refueling in Clinton and the crop dusters who use the airport. Joel also has to keep the grass around the runways mowed — an endless chore in summer — the runways clean, the lights working, the air-space and sight-lines clear of obstacles and the fuel tanks operating.
Now he has help in the form of Nathan Young, who is finishing up his bachelor’s degree in aviation management at UCM. Before the new terminal was built, a small building doubled as both the manager’s office and pilot lounge.
The city of Clinton owns the airport property, the runways and the navigational aids, including the AWOS, Automatic Weather Observing System, which provides real-time information to pilots landing at the Clinton Airport in lieu of a control tower.
Besides Long’s new office, the terminal has a central area with sofas, floor-to-ceiling windows looking out on the runway, plus a passenger waiting room, a kitchen area, a pilot’s flight planning room and a quiet room where charter pilots can relax. There are also two large restrooms.
“We would have loved landing at a facility like this,” said Patty Stayton Coonrod, recalling the family trips she made with her father, mother and three sisters to Texas, Washington, D.C. and Florida. Bob recalled flying to Canada and to Fairbanks, Alaska. The Staytons moved to Colorado in 1994.
Patty also remembers her father taking her flying, and doing loop de loops and stalls.
“He liked to scare us,” she said.
She recalled one trip when they returned home in a thunderstorm, and there was very little gas left in the plane. Even her mother, who had been a stewardess with Braniff, was nervous.
“The engine kind of sputtered when we landed,” Patty said.
Bob owned an old Aeronka, then a Cessna 150, a Beechcraft and other twin-engine planes, including a Comanche. Bob is still flying. Last November, for Bob’s 97th birthday, Wallace White invited Bob to Clinton and took him up on a flight.
Bill Schwagerman came to the opening ceremony from his home in Kingsville, Mo. Bill keeps his Piper Colt in a hangar at the Clinton airport, which is close to his home, so it’s convenient.
“The people who run this airport are fabulous,” Bill said.
Mayor Carla Moberly stressed how proud everyone is of the new terminal, and that there is nothing like it in the area.
The public is often dismissive of airports as used only for recreational flying, Smith said, but recreational use is actually the last use on a long list. Number one is economic development. Having an airport is crucial, and the condition of the airport is one of two major factors in a business’ decision to locate to Clinton, the other being how close the interstate is. Long had the main runway surface smoothed and the joints resealed last year, with work paid for primarily by federal grants. The grants are funded by a small tax on airplane tickets, providing funding to maintain a network of small airports around the country, which, like the laws of aerodynamics, that you might not appreciate until you need them.
Clinton Regional Airport is located three miles east of the Clinton city limits, just off Highway 7 south.
