Clark Airport, Hanover Massachusetts 1928- 1958

W. Melvin Clark, born in 1902, the son of George J. J. Clark, founder and owner of National Fireworks Company, had an early interest in flying which led to his taking flying instruction at Dennison Airport in the Squantum section of Quincy starting in 1926.

In 1928, a back yard runway began to take shape off of Winter Street, comprising the Clark back yard, field, and adjacent property of the Greens, Robinsons, and Holbrooks.

In 1929, Melvin bought a Kitty Hawk which had been crashed in Maine by Leon Tanguay and brought it home to Winter Street. In a 1977 interview with Barbara Barker-Kemp, Clark explained that the fuselage of this craft was covered with fabric painted with ten to twelve coats of aircraft dope, a lacquer which stiffened the fabric over the airframe (Barker-Kemp, 1997). Clark worked with a mechanic from the Kitty Hawk factory to rebuild the fuselage, and the motor was overhauled at the factory. The plane was ready to fly in early September, 1930, and Clark told Barker-Kemp that one day he was running the plane back and forth on the field behind his house when it "kind of took off", but he was not a licensed pilot. In November, 1930, Ensign Joshua Crane "checked him out" at Dennison, and he received pilots license #17,540 shortly thereafter. He had clocked 50 hours in the air at that time.

The early airport consisted of one small hangar housing the Kitty Hawk and three or four gliders, occupying 35 acres of land. Much of the surrounding land was a band of low hills suitable for glider flying, popular with aviators at the time. But as more aircraft began to use the field, it became necessary to improve and expand the landing field, and the hills had to go. The area was glacial outwash plain, meaning that the ice that covered Hanover 10,000 years ago left an assortment of sand, gravel, rocks and boulders, with a generous supply of the boulders. Even with the use of heavy equipment, it was a slow process. High tension power lines had to be moved, a number of elm trees on Winter Street were cut down, as well as an apple orchard, all to make room for low flying planes on new runways. By December, 1930, a north south runway was 1550 feet long, and a 650 foot east west runway was being extended to 1200 feet by Spring, 1931. The field had natural drainage, and a 30 ton steam roller was used to keep the area compressed. Clark said in a 1930 Sunday Advertiser interview "The result is a hard foundation on which there is no danger of breaking through. Having the runways seeded practically eliminated the dust nuisance."

By the Fall of 1937, three large hangars able to contain 16 planes had been constructed. Eight planes called Clark Airport home, two of them being ten passenger Ford Tri-Motor Clipper planes of Mayflower Air Lines Inc.. Mayflower used the field as one of its bases, as it maintained service to Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. This regional airline also used East Boston Airport (now Logan Airport) and New Bedford Airport. The Company was taken over by Northeast Airlines in 1945. While Mayflower based aircraft at Clark Airport, there is no evidence that it flew passengers out of Clark Airport.

In a 1937 article entitled "The Mad Typographer Goes In For Flying", a writer notes that a flying school is operated here by East Coast Airways "equipped to give the best instruction in the mechanics of airplane engines and actual flying by expert instructors, as well as the use of radio in aviation, Clark Field being Station WAQX with transmitting and receiving facilities." He reported that the airport was bustling with activity, and hundreds of people came weekly to watch or participate in flying. He also noted that two men from the airport had recently taken excellent aerial pictures of the Hanover environs which had "caused considerable comment." The author mentioned that Melvin, in July, had flown 11,000 miles to the West Coast and back in 18 days.

With the onset of World War II, National Fireworks Inc. became a major manufacturer of munitions for the war effort, and the Clark Airport property was needed for storage of magnesium which was ground and made into flares and incendiary bombs in the factory across Winter Street. The airport property was sold to Melvin's father, George J. J. Clark, owner of National Fireworks, and the airport was closed for the duration of the war. After the war, Melvin repurchased the Airport, and it operated for another decade, but eventually larger planes, and the proximity to South Weymouth Naval Air Station made it difficult to continue.

The land was sold to Indian Head Land Trust in1958, and Melvin moved the large hangar and his plane to Plymouth airport, where the hangar remains. The smaller hangar was moved to Cranland Airport in Hanson, where it remains today.

This area, now known as Indian Head Village, is comprised of the streets known as Tecumseh Drive, King Phillip Lane, Massasoit Lane, Pocohontas Lane, Sequoya Lane, and Samoset Lane. The trees now grow tall, and the well kept homes and quiet streets show no signs of the bustling airport of long ago.

Sources:

Barbara Barker (Kemp), March 1997, Focus On History, Hanover Mariner
Boston Sunday Advertiser, Dec. 7, 1930, page M-5
Sanderson Brothers Printers, North Abington MA, S-O-S Newsletter, Vol. III, No. 3 (October, 1937), p. 1
W. Melvin Clark Collection, Hanover Historical Society