page_title: Falls Church Airpark
section_title: Significant events
hierarchical_section_title: Falls Church Airpark / Significant events
caption_attribution_description: English: Aerial imagery of Falls Church Airpark.
context_page_description: Falls Church Airpark was an airport located in the Falls Church area of Fairfax County, Virginia from 1945 to 1961. The facility was located on a parcel of land owned by Eakin Properties, a Virginia real estate development firm. The airport was primarily used for general aviation and civil defense purposes until encroaching residential development forced its closure. The area formerly occupied by the airport is now mainly used as a shopping center with the western end of the complex occupied by the Thomas Jefferson branch of the Fairfax County Public Library system. Parts of several apartment complexes are also located on some of the airport's former grounds.
context_section_description: 1947: Two plane crashes in a 24-hour period, one with fatalities. Two people were killed as the result of a mid-air collision between two planes over the airfield. The accident occurred when William Gleason Sauerwein of Falls Church took off from the field in an Aeronca Champion at the same time that F.H. Kirchman, 48, of Vienna, Virginia, was attempting to land while flying a Stinson 105. Both Kirchman and his passenger, Agnes Louise Brady, 47, of Arlington, Virginia, were killed in the accident. Sauerwein was taken to Arlington County hospital with head injuries and a broken leg. Witnesses said that the accident occurred at 7pm when the Stinson cut into the tail of the Aeronca while the planes were approximately 75 feet off the ground. The next day, a second crash occurred when a Funk cabin airplane lost power shortly after takeoff.  The pilot, Margaret Vaughn, of Washington, D.C., suffered severe head and leg injuries when the plane crashed into a wooded area about two miles west of the airport, near Gallows Road in Fairfax County. Vaughn was an experienced pilot and was a Link trainer instructor for the Civil Aeronautics Authority. The next day, the Civil Aeronautics Board announced they were conducting a "full inquiry" into the cause of the two crashes. The investigators were specifically concerned with the quality of the gasoline being dispensed at the airport and took samples from Vaughn's aircraft at the scene of the crash.
  1947:  Plane crash with injury.  Student pilot Howard Hunt Smith, 26, of Herndon, Virginia was injured when his plane stalled at an altitude of approximately 300 feet, east of the airport.  The Aeronca Champion he was flying was destroyed in the crash. Smith suffered lacerations, a broken leg, jaw and arm. He was transported to Arlington Hospital.
  1951:  Model Airplane Meet. The Third Annual Eastern States Model Airplane Meet was held at the facility on August 26, 1951. Several hundred planes took part in the all-day-long event and 50 trophies were awarded for first, second, and third-place finishes in multiple categories. The event was hosted by the Falls Church chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
  1951: Plane crash with injuries. Three people were injured when a Stinson Flying Station Wagon developed engine trouble shortly after takeoff and crashed into the tree line just west of the airfield's runway.  The injured were Ashby Rosson, 39 of Arlington, Virginia; William C. Snyder, 32, of Fairfax, Virginia; and Arville Judy of Oakton, Virginia. A fourth passenger, Pfc Lewis Robey of Herndon, Virginia was uninjured. Despite their injuries, all four men escaped the plane and managed to clear the area before the Stinson caught fire and burned. In a Washington Post article describing the incident, Rosson was identified as the owner of the Falls Church Airpark as well as the owner and pilot of the crashed aircraft.
  1952: Plane crash with injury. A 29-year-old woman from Arlington, Virginia was injured during a ground accident at the airport.  The pilot, Ruby Smith, claimed that she accidentally accelerated the plane while she was taxiing, causing the aircraft to nose over on to the ground.
  1952: Emergency landing of U.S. Air Force plane. A U.S. Air Force C-45 aircraft was forced to land at the airfield after experiencing propeller trouble.  The plane was flown by Brigadier General John B. Ackerman and its flight had originated several miles away at Bolling Air Force Base early in the morning of November 16, 1952. A work crew from Bolling repaired the aircraft and flew it back to the base.
  1952:  Civil Defense Exercise.  The Fairfax County Civil Air Patrol, in coordination with the Red Cross, local fire departments and hospitals, conducted an exercise that featured an atomic bomb explosion in Falls Church. The weapon's impact was simulated by the Army's Chemical Warfare Service. Following the explosion, response teams met at the airport to provide medical assistance to the wounded and conduct radiological site surveys. Planes took off from the airfield carrying simulated patients and returned to 
caption: Falls Church Airpark, circa 1950.  The road at the top of the photo is U.S Route 50 (Arlington Blvd)
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