Perspective: Celebrating the 'new' airport in 1967

“The difficult we do immediately — the impossible takes a little longer.”

Although this is not the adopted motto, it certainly reflects the spirit of a certain handful of community minded citizens that banded together under the name of the Kalispell Airport Association in March of 1966 and elected a board of directors. Dr. Herman Ross was elected charter president. Purpose: to build and maintain a convenient airport on the existing City Airport property south of Kalispell. Source of revenue: ?

First project was to realign and lengthen the existing runway.

Acquisition of additional property was the first problem. Negotiations for a land trade with Mr. James Edmiston were completed. Thanks to Mr. Edmiston this was accomplished with minimum effort.

A lease agreement with the City of Kalispell was completed. It was made clear at the time that the development of the airport was to be done without burden on the taxpayers.

It was then determined that our source of revenue would come from:

1. 2 cents per gallon on aviation gas sold at the field.

2. Rent from operators.

3. Memberships in the association.

4. Drive to raise necessary funds for initial construction costs.

The major factor was the fund drive. This was a big job and its success depended on by whom and how it was handled. When there’s a community betterment project to be done and done well it’s spelled JAYCEES. The certainly lived up to their reputation — conducting a successful solicitation of funds from the merchants.

Doug Bishop, surveyor, was responsible for the survey and the engineering of the project.

Our prayer for equipment was answered by Holly Larson and Wally Foster in the form of dozers, earth movers, graders and dump trucks owned by Royal Logging of Columbia Falls on a labor plus fuel basis.

Many yards of fill were needed and our plea for this was answered by Doug Wise who owned a gravel pit just south of the airport and donated the entire amount needed.

LaVonne Gilbertson of Union Oil Company donated a tanker of oil, Dell McManus donated the hauling and it was spread by Flathead County.

It is generally felt that this entire undertaking would not have been possible without, particularly, the Jaycees, Royal Logging and Doug Wise.

The addition of a rotating beacon, installed by Montana Aeronautics, the realigning, lengthening and dust coating of the runway was all accomplished in 1966.

In the fall of 1966 we started planning for the surface of the runway and as a result we called for bids on crushed gravel. Hall Sand and Gravel was the successful bidder.

The spring of 1967 saw the undertaking of placing an asphalt mat on the runway. This was an expensive project and Royal Logging again came to the rescue, furnishing graders and supervision by Wally Foster. Other equipment was furnished by Stedje Bros., Engebretson Gravel, Landry Oil Co., and the city of Kalispell.

The funds this time came in the form of a note from the Conrad National Bank. Each director of the Airport Assn. signed this note and was personally responsible for a pro-rata share.

The Montana Aeronautics Commission has surveyed the runway and the taxi ways for lighting, however the board has decided this may have to wait until next year.

The most recent improvements were painting and numbering the runway and acquiring a Unicom System located at Strand Aviation. A Unicom enables a pilot to communicate with the field for advisories.

I feel Kalispell Is extremely fortunate having this facility. We are one of very few towns that have an adequate airport within walking distance from the city center.

The acceptance of this project has been tremendous. I have mentioned a few of the firms and people that were in the limelight, however there are many more that had part in the effort.

I personally am proud to be a part of this organization and extremely proud to be a part of our “Do It Yourself” community.

In 1967, Jay Kilpatrick, a local insurance broker, was president of the Kalispell City Airport Association.