AviationDayton

Services: Fuel, aircraft maintenance, flight training, car rental, aviation supplies

Greene-County-Lewis A. Jackson Airport gives general-aviation pilots access to an area rich in aerospace and defense work.It is located 13 miles southeast of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Lewis A. Jackson was a Tuskegee Airman, educator, and civilian aviation enthusiast. Born in Angola, Indiana, on Dec. 29, 1912, Dr. Jackson had a passion for aviation from childhood. According to a biographical sketch attributed to his widow, Dr. Violet Jackson, he learned to fly in the early 1930s and barnstormed across Indiana and Ohio from 1932 to 1939, earning money for college. He earned a bachelor's degree in education from Indiana Wesleyan University in 1939.

Dr. Jackson taught public school while continuing his aviation activities. He joined Cornelius Coffey in Chicago, where Coffey opened a flying school on Harlem Field, a segregated airport.

He undertook additional training — including aircraft mechanics — at different places around the country before moving to Tuskegee, Alabama, to be director of training at the Army Air Force 66th Flight Training Detachment at Moton Field — the primary flight training site for the famous Tuskegee Airmen.

After World War II, Jackson moved to Ohio, where he worked as a federal flight examiner for 13 years. He earned a master's degree from Miami University in 1948, and a Ph.D. in higher education from the Ohio State University in 1950.

He held many positions at Central State University in Wilberforce, including acting president. In 1974, he fostered the Business Entrepreneur Program at Sinclair Community College.

A lifelong pursuit was designing a "roadable" airplane. Dr. Jackson was a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association in Greene County and a member of the county airport authority.

On Field
EAA Chapter 382

Nearby
RESTAURANTS | HOTELS
Central State University (6.5 mi. E)
Country Club of the North (1.3 mi. W)
Huffman Prairie (13.5 mi. N)
National Afro American Museum (6.5 mi. E)
National Museum of the U.S. Air Force (11.8 mi. NW)
Kil-Kare Speedway (2.5 mi. NE)
Wilberforce University (10.4 mi. E)
Wright State University (12.1 mi. NW)
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (13.3 mi. N)