The 1940 Elks Flight breakfast fly-in at the Ames Airport (Milford) on East 13th Street, about one mile east of the present-day I-35 Interchange on the north side of the road. Few seem to recall if the road on the right of the picture is Thirteenth Street (220th Street) or 570 Ave. If the camera is looking east, the location could be either in the southeast of Sec 31 or the southwest of Sec 32. and the road is Thirteenth Street. If the camera is looking north, then the road is 570 Ave and the area is in Sec 31. Nothing currently remains of site. (Speculation) The weak shadows on the ground seem to indicate a late morning sun and if that is the case, the camera is looking north. Photo from the Farwell T. Brown Photographic Archive (Ames Public Library). (Later Info) A neighbor in the vicinity reports the facility was in the SE of Sec 31.
Few, except the most enthusiastic aviation fans, recall that Milford Township was, for a few years, the home of the Ames airport. This facility was located along thirteenth street in the south west of Sec 32 or in the southeast of Sec 31, in the late thirties and into the summer of 1943 when it was moved to its present site south of Ames.
In fall 1940, Earl Howard was appointed head of the federal government's Civilian Flight Training Program and held flight training programs here in Milford Twp. This was done until the summer of 1943.
It was reported that Earl Howard was one of the chief pilots of the Air Force's XC-99, the cargo version of the B-36 Bomber.
During the mid-sixties, both of the Hughes brothers, Dale, `55, and Loyd, `56, owned private planes. Loyd lived on the east side of Sec 8 and kept his hangared across the road in Sec 9. Dale kept his at Boone municipal. Loyd owned a Piper Tripacer and Dale a Culver V. Loyd had a thrilling hot air convection experience and soon sold his craft. This very plane was involved a year or so later in a fatal (four killed) plane crash. Dale had a few "hairy" experiences in his craft (a long story for another medium) and after an incident in Alabama, sold his machine when he got it to Florida.