Niles Airport, Niles, Michigan. Destroyed in hangar
fire.
MAIN HANGER
AND 21 PLANES ARE DESTROYED
Niles City
Firemen Struggle In Vain To Check Flames
The main hangar of the Niles airport and 21 airplanes were completely
destroyed last night by a fire estimated to have caused at least
$90,000 worth of damage.
Exact cause of the blaze is not known, but
firemen speculated that it started from a short in the ignition system
of one of the planes and rapidly spread to the other aircraft housed
in the big cement block and wood structure.
The fire was reported at 8:10 p. m. Sunday by
residents living near the airport, which is located on Lake street
northeast of the Niles city .limits. The entire Niles fire department
turned out but was unable lo *tem the flames until they had
'Completely devoured the building and its contents.
***
LELAND
ROSKAY, MANAGER OF THE AIRPORT who lost 11 planes in the fire,
wrenched his back in an effort to enter the building to remove records
from the administration office. Otherwise, no one was injured. The
blaze had run its course by 10 p. m.
Several other privately-owned hangars on the
field escaped damage.
The destroyed hangar was built with WPA funds
in 1941 at a cost of $25,000. It is estimated that it would cost twice
that much or more to replace at the present time.
Airport officials said the loss might have
been greater except for the fact that several owners of heavy planes
recently removed their craft to the South Bend airport because the
run- 4 ways at the Niles airport were " too soggy for them to
make proper take-offs. Yesterday's hangar fire was the second large
conflagration In Niles this month. On March 4 fire starting in the
Kerr hardware store on Main street just off Second street-spread to
two adjacent buildings and caused $235,000 worth of damage before it
was brought under control by three fire departments.
Airport manager Roskay this morning furnished
the following list of planes destroyed by, the hangar fire and their
owners:
Roskay — seven Piper Cub trainers, one
Beechcraft Bonanza, one Piper Cub cruiser, one Stinson cabin plane,
and one BT-19 Army trainer; J. C. Williams — Piper Cub cruiser;
Tyler Fixture Co. — Stinson cabin plane; Earl Laverty — SeaBee
amphibian; Francis Drisree of South Bend — Aeronca: and Dr. Kenneth
L. Gamble of Buchanan — one single-engined plane.
Five or six other planes also were destroyed,
but the airport manager could not identify their make or their owners
this morning.
The hangar building, it is reported, was
covered with just enough insurance to pay for its original cost, $25,000.
The planes were reported covered with S40,000 in insurance, probably at
least $25,000 less than their actual value.
[The News-Palladium; Benton Harbor,
Mich., Monday, March 14, 1948.]
