From Hook-Em-Cow to Sky King; a nostalgic look at Fleming Field

November 12, 12:03 PMSouth St. Paul ExaminerRob Shirk

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   Hook-Em-Cow B-24 Liberator in WW2

Fleming Field, the South St. Paul Municipal Airport, started out as a landing strip for the Hook-Em-Cow Flying Club located in the village of Inver Grove Hts. The sod runway lay on rented farmland and a garage was built to accommodate their one and only plane, a Piper Cub. The year was 1939.

The field was dedicated in 1940 with a speech by Mayor Al Elder as well as council members. It was a pretty big deal, why, the first twenty to land at the Hook-Em-Cow Club runway were given 5 gallons of gas. For free! WW2 bought expansion as the U.S.Navy invested more than one million dollars and the field became an actual airport including eight hangers, a control tower,boiler room, power house, apron, and a paved runway. Two large barracks, one of which housed WAVES, were also built. A B-24 Liberator was named after the club in South St. Paul. The plane crashed upon take-off on April 14, 1945 in England killing the entire crew, two weeks before the end of the war. The field is named in honor of Capt. Richard E. Fleming, an area Marine whose heroics in the Pacific theater at The Battle of Midway earned for him the Congressional Member of Honor.

The airfield was turned over by the Navy to South St. Paul in December of 1950. One dollar was paid for a 99 year deed and after that time expires the land would be free and clear to South St. Paul.

There have been some hair-raisers over the years. in 1949 three National Guardsmen lost power of their plane after taking off from Wold-Chamberlain Airport in Minneapolis, spotting Fleming Field in time to make a successful emergency landing. On an icy and dark December night, 1952, two 16 year old boys stole a plane and narrowly missed a hitting a locomotive in the Inver Grove Railroad Yards before landing the Beechcraft about two hundred yards south of the runway. They walked away with neither boy sustaining any injuries. William Wehle lost his life in 1962 as a mid-air collision sent his aircraft plummeting to the ground. His passenger, Eric Broderson, who was taking flight instruction, survived the catastrophe.

One of the highlights of Fleming Field occurred when the celebrated TV stars "Sky King" and his niece "Penny" stopped for gas on their way to the Rice County Fair. I realize that it is not Charles Lindbergh, another local boy I might add, landing in Paris, but it's all about scale, and it was a pretty big deal at the time. If you look at this landing, from our D.C. Dogs Examiner Michelle Critchell, you might get an idea how cool that was.

There is a park right next to the airport with playing fields and swing sets and nobody has to worry about getting the kids blown over from the jet blast. Fleming Field is user friendly all around. It is not so frantic that you can't have a picnic and I don't know of any kid around that doen't like to see an airplane up close. It's one of the best parts of the outing.

During the summer, as we spend our time outdoors, it is not unusual to hear the whine of the planes as they approach or take off from the airport. There are not so many so that even if you pay scant attention you can recognize the planes by their individual sound. It's like having our own fighter wing: The South St. Paul Air Force.

Anna-Marie Bistodeau provided most of the research material through her "History of Fleming Field" for the Dakota County Historical Society.