College Park Airport just north of the Nation’s Capitol is the oldest continuously operating airport in the world. Aviation operations began there in 1909 just six years after the Wright Brothers first flight. Wilbur Wright came to College Park Airport in 1909 to train military officers, preparing them to fly the government’s first airplane. After training with Wilbur Wright Lieutenant Frederic Humphrey became the first military pilot to solo in a government airplane.

That was not the only first to take place at College Park Airport. The first Postal Airmail Service originated at College Park with service to Philadelphia and New York. As an airmail station the airport was given the airport identifier of CGS for ColleGe Station referring to the airmail station.

The airport is also home to the College Park Aviation Museum. Be sure to stop in and check it out if you visit College Park Airport.

Sadly, this small airport has seen declining traffic since the 9-11 attacks. It’s proximity to the capitol has added great complexity and red tape to flying in and out of this airport. Roger Wilco Wear dedicates these t-shirts to this great airport.

We offer both a short sleeve t-shirt in olive($27) and a black long sleeve($33). On the back it refers to the airport by the nickname “Cradle of Aviation”.

Last week, we featured the busiest General Aviation Airport in the United States, Van Nuys Airport. This week, we feature the highest airport in North America. Leadville Airport (AKA Lake County Airport) sits at an elevation of 9,927 feet. As pilots know, an airplane’s performance is affected by altitude and deteriorates the higher you go. Leadville is a perfect place for high altitude flight training and for manufacturers to perform high altitude testing. Leadville has been a base for manufacturers and training programs for some time.

Flying in and out of Leadville can be a challenging endeavor even for experienced pilots. It is not just the adverse effects on the airplane’s performance at such high altitudes, but also navigating mountain passes as Leadville has several peaks over 13,000 feet surrounding the airport.

According to Wikipedia, pilots that land at Leadville receive a certificate commemorating their landing at the highest airport in North America.

Roger Wilco Wear offers both a short sleeve and a long sleeve version of our Leadville Airport t-shirt. The design includes the airports designation as the highest in North America. Check it out in our online store today!

Leadville Airport photo by BillVietti (Flickr)

Van Nuys Airport is one of the most famous general aviation airports in the world. Located in Van Nuys, California in the San Fernando valley in Los Angeles this airport has often been the airport of choice for the stars including the early stars of Hollywood like Gene Autry, Cecil B. DeMille and Howard Hughes.

The airport has a rich history. It was opened on the 25th anniversary (December 17, 1928) of the Wright Brother’s first flight. The airport was originally named Metropolitan Airport. According to the Van Nuys Airport website their were several record-breaking flights that were flown from the airport: A men’s solo endurance record of 37 hours, by Herbert Fahy, in 1929; A women’s endurance record of 42 hours, by Elinor Smith and Bobbi Trout, in 1929; A women’s speed record of 196 mph, by Florence “Pancho” Barnes, in 1930.

According to wikipedia Van Nuys Airport is the world’s busiest general aviation airport and 25th busiest airport in the world. The airport was celebrated in the 2005 documentary One Six Right.

Roger Wilco Wear has selected Van Nuys for the T-shirt of the week. We present to you two versions of the shirt a black long sleeve t-shirt ($33) and a slate short sleeve for $30. Both feature front and back designs with white font and a blue airport layout map. Check out the store to see these two new additions.

Lunken Field in Cincinnati has some tremendous aviation history attached to it. In December 1925 T. Higbee Embry and John Paul Riddle founded the Embry-Riddle Company at Lunken Field. In the spring of the following year Embry and Riddle opened a flight school that became the first government approved flight school. Additionally they offered air mail service and airline service out of Lunken before moving the school to Florida where it became Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

In 1940 American Airlines was founded at Lunken and offered service their until 1946 when most airlines transferred service to the new “Greater Cincinnati Airport” across the river in Northern Kentucky. The on airport restaurant Sky Galley, a great $100 hamburger, derives its name from being the kitchen in which American Airlines first on board meals were cooked for flights departing Cincinnati.

Originally the plan was for Lunken to become the city of Cincinnati’s main airport. Though anyone that has flown in or out of Lunken on a regular basis realize its location on a flood plain in a valley between two ridges caused some disadvantages for the airport. Often referrred to by local pilots as “Sunken Lunken” it has a tendency to flood. In 1937 a flood completely submerged the field and almost completely put the control tower under water. Check out this dramatic photograph on Cincinnati-transit.net. Additionally, due to its location the field often has restricted flight activity due to fog. Though Lunken has thrived as a haven for General Aviation pilots and corporate aviation.

Visitors to the airport should be sure to walk into the historic terminal building, which is designed in a beautiful Art Deco format.

Roger Wilco Wear has created a special design for Lunken. This is our first multi-color design utilizing both white and blue on a black long sleeve t-shirt. The long sleeve shirt sells for $33.00. We received our sample version of this shirt just yesterday and it has become our new favorite Roger Wilco Wear design. We hope you will enjoy.

This week the Aviation T-Shirt of the Week is dedicated to the Door County Cherryland Airport (KSUE). The airport is the largest airport on the Door County Peninsula with two paved runways and a functioning fixed based operator that service both general aviation pilots and corporate jets.

For non-pilots Orion Flight Service offers Wings Over Door County scenic air tours. As a pilot, some of my most enjoyable flights have been over the Door Peninsula. Beautiful views of Lake Michigan, Green Bay along with some hidden gems like lighthouses, sunken ships and corn mazes makes this a great airport to fly out of.

Roger Wilco Wear offers a black long sleeve ($30) and an olive and a slate colored short sleeve ($27) t-shirt design for this airport. The front of the shirt features a silhouette of the Door County Peninsula while the back of the t-shirt has the airport diagram.

Roger Wilco Wear does its flying out of Chicago Executive Airport (KPWK), formerly known as Palwaukee Municipal Airport. We felt it was the fitting selection for our first featured airport for the Roger Wilco Wear Aviation T-Shirt of the Week.

We did some research and found out how little we knew about our home airport. The airport was originally founded in 1925 with the name of Gauthier’s Flying Field. It was renamed Pal-Waukee in 1928 due to the airport’s location near the intersection of Palatine Road and Milwaukee Avenue. The airport was privately owned up until 1986 when it was sold by the Priester family to the cities of Wheeling and Prospect Heights, at which point the name was slightly modified again to Palwaukee Municipal Airport, which is the version of the name we have selected for our t-shirt. In August of 2006 the airport when through its most recent identity change, selecting the name Chicago Executive Airport.

The airport caters heavily to general aviation and corporate traffic and is the fourth busiest airport in Illinois. Over 90% of the traffic is general aviation based which makes us happy.

The most interesting tidbit we learned about Palwaukee is its tie to the 10 litu’ banknote of Lithuania. The currency, which is one of Lithuania’s most widely circulated, features two Lithuanian pilots, Steponas Darius and Stasys Girenas. The two pilots, who had ties to Chicago and then-named Pal-Waukee airport, attempted to break Lindberg’s non-stop distance record across the Atlantic with a flight from New York City to Kaunus, Lithuania. Unfortunately, the pilots did not succeed and were lost in a crash at Soldin, Germany. The pilots are honored on the 10 Litu Banknote. The image depicts Darius wearing a hat he was known to wear often that included a Pal-Waukee Airport Patch. You learn something new every day.

We currently offer two Palwaukee t-shirts; a short sleeve t-shirt for $27 and a long sleeve t-shirt for $30. We hope you will enjoy our Palwaukee Municipal Airport T-shirts that can be found in the online store.

As a private pilot, I was disappointed by the lack of quality aviation apparel available through catalogs, websites or at airshows. I decided to do something about it and create a line of t-shirts inspired by aviation.

Roger Wilco Wear was developed with the pilot in mind; our line of t-shirts utilize elements familiar to pilots. After spending hours looking at sectionals I realized that images from the sectional chart would make for great t-shirts and many of our offerings feature those images.

Today we open our site with just a few shirts. And each week we intend to share with you a t-shirt of the week featuring a new airport. With the release of each airport-specific t-shirt we will give you some background on the airport and why we selected it. We hope you will add our RSS feed to your reader of choice and follow along as we explore a general aviation airport each week.

One last note. Our t-shirts are being sold through Spreadshirt.com. They will handle fulfillment of your order and unfortunately, I will not know specifically who has bought a t-shirt. So please drop me a line if you buy one! Also please drop me a line if there is an airport you would like to see featured.

Thanks for visiting RogerWilcoWear.com and our online store.