To say Ed and Norine Jones remember renowned test pilot Scott Crossfield quite well from their high school days in Boistfort is, well, a bit of an understatement.
“Scott was kinda a hellion, always flying his remote-controlled planes everywhere,” Ed Jones reminisced. “He was always acting up in there, trying to find some way to skip school to go fly.”
More than 60 years later, the octogenarians still live in Curtis near Crossfield’s old farm, so it was only appropriate they were in attendance for Monday evening’s dedication of the Chehalis-Centralia Airport terminal in their friend’s name.
The pair joined more than 50 community leaders and members in renaming the terminal Scott Crossfield Terminal, and officially opening an interpretive park detailing the airport’s early history as Donahoe Field.
“We have such a great history of aviation in Lewis County,” said attorney and airport board member Robert Schroeter during the ceremony. “Not only was Scott Crossfield raised here, but this was the very first place he learned how to fly.”
The rest, as they say, is history: after a stint working at the University of Washington wind tunnels in the 1940s, Crossfield became a test pilot in the Navy and would successfully become the first person to fly at Mach 2, taking a Douglas D-558-II Skyrocket to twice the speed of sound.
Crossfield had reached 1,291 miles per hour, a figure unheard of 1953 when it happened.
“Everyone heard the ‘boom’ when he hit the sound barrier, I’m sure,” Norine Jones said. “Knowing Scott, it wasn’t surprising at all that he was the first man to fly so fast so quickly.”
As another tribute to Crossfield, Oakville pilot Mike Kimbrel flew his very own Douglas DC-3A onto the field at Chehalis-Centralia Airport.
The aircraft, which retains the logo and tail number for Western Air Lines — the first commercial service into Chehalis — was built in 1941 and was in service for Western until 1958, according to Kimbrel.
“I really don’t get to take it out all too often, but today was the perfect occasion,” said Kimbrel, a commercial pilot who retired after 37 years. “We’re celebrating local aviation history so I wanted to bring my own piece of history here to honor Scott Crossfield.”
Before the ribbon cutting, Schroeter made a humorous reference to last week’s infamous sonic boom incident, saying he had personally called up the Oregon Air National Guard to provide the Twin Cities with two loud booms as a tribute to Crossfield.
“I figured he flew at twice the speed of sound, so that’s why you heard two booms last week,” Schroeter said, to laughter from the crowd.
While Crossfield will be remembered as a world-renowned test pilot who tested the limits of speed and safety in experimental aircraft, he’s still known by his childhood friends in Boistfort as one who told them he’d risk it all to hold the speed record.
“I remember talking to him once about flying those machines and he said ‘It’s not an adventure, it’s a calculated risk,’” Norine Jones said. “It’s still amazing to think our classmate was the one to hold such a special place in history.”
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Christopher Brewer: (360) 807-8235
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If You Go ...
The new interpretive park at Chehalis-Centralia Airport offers the public a place to watch planes take off and land, and also displays the history of the airport as Donahoe Field from its beginning in 1927.
The airport’s history is detailed from the glorious to the quirky moments, including the field being a stop on the first airmail route in 1930, and also being the starting point for Kenneth Arnold’s 1947 flight in which he claimed he saw nine flying discs between Mount Rainier and Mount Adams.
The public is invited to the interpretive park, which is located at 900 Northwest Airport Road in Chehalis. For those coming from Louisiana Avenue, the park is roughly a quarter-mile before the entrance of the terminal.
