Waynesville had an Airport?
- Jax Welborn
- Jan 18
- 7 min read
Updated: Jan 18
You Don't Know Waynesville:
The Forgotten Airport on Route 66
By Jax Welborn | JaxOnRoute66.com
Drive east on Historic Route 66 toward Waynesville's city limits at Highway F, and you'll pass soccer fields, baseball diamonds, and East Elementary School. Nothing about the landscape suggests that this quiet plateau once hosted one of the most ambitious civic projects in Pulaski County history—or that thousands of people once gathered here to witness B-29 Superfortress bombers roar overhead.
Welcome to the story of the Waynesville Memorial Airport, a Route 66-era aviation dream that soared briefly before vanishing into the Ozark hills.
A Community Takes Flight
On May 27, 1947, Waynesville's citizens went to the polls for a decision that would shape their town's future. By a vote of 285 to 123, they approved $25,000 in bonds toward construction of a municipal airport. The total estimated cost was $69,000—a staggering sum for a town of roughly 1,500 residents—with $10,000 coming from state funds and $35,000 from federal agencies.
This wasn't just any airport project. Waynesville Memorial Airport would become the first facility in Missouri built under the state's new Aviation Section funding program—a pioneering partnership between federal, state, and local governments that would serve as a model for municipal aviation development across the state for decades to come.
The land came through an act of civic generosity. Dru Pippin and Roy Wilson had purchased over 130 acres straddling Route 66 from an investment company at the end of World War II for less than two thousand dollars. They deeded the small portion on the north side to the city at no cost—it would become a city cemetery. The remaining acreage on the south side they sold to the city for five thousand dollars to build the airport.
Who Was Dru Pippin?
Dru L. Pippin (1899-1981) was exactly the kind of civic-minded leader who would champion such a project. Born in Pulaski County to Bland Nixon Pippin, a professor of dentistry at Washington University in St. Louis, Dru grew up largely in St. Louis before returning to Waynesville after contracting Spanish Flu. He attended the University of Missouri at Columbia, where he married Eva Luther.
Back in Pulaski County, Pippin inherited and operated Pippin Place, described in historical accounts as "a rather swank resort, in the old Victorian style" near Bartlett Spring, famous for its cuisine. He ran the resort with his wife until it closed in the late 1960s while simultaneously operating an insurance agency in Waynesville.
But it was his political connections that made things happen. In 1947—the same year as the airport bond vote—Governor Phil Donnelly appointed Pippin to the Missouri Conservation Commission, where he served until 1959 and again from 1961-1964. During World War II, he chaired Pulaski County's War Loan Drive, raising $341,787 to fund a P-51 Mustang named "The Spirit of Pulaski County." His advocacy helped make Fort Leonard Wood a permanent installation.
Today, the Dru Pippin Youth Center at Fort Leonard Wood bears his name. His son Dan captained the 1952 U.S. Olympic Basketball team to a gold medal.
"Flyers From All Over the State"
The two-day dedication ceremony on October 2-3, 1948, was unlike anything Waynesville had ever seen. The Moberly Monitor-Index reported that "flyers from all over the state" descended on the town, with 150 visiting planes crowding the new 2,700-foot runway by noon on Sunday. The small town arranged sleeping accommodations and ground transportation for the visiting aviators, who arrived from as far as Moberly and Macon.
Private aircraft documented at the event included Cessna 170s, Cessna 140s, Cessna 120s, Twin Cessnas, Monocoupes, Taylorcrafts, and Ercoupes. State Air Patrol demonstration planes joined the lineup. But the real crowd-pleasers came courtesy of the military: three B-29 Superfortress bombers—the same type of aircraft that had ended World War II just three years earlier—along with eight low-flying National Guard P-51 Mustangs and a score of Marine Corps planes.
The celebration extended beyond the airfield. Parachute jumping and aerial acrobatics filled the sky. Local and military dignitaries delivered speeches. Down at Roubidoux Creek, a trout fishing derby drew anglers to the famous spring-fed waters that flow through downtown Waynesville—notably, the only trout stream that flows under Route 66.
Cars lined Route 66 running east to the horizon. Thousands attended—a remarkable turnout for a county seat that wouldn't break 2,000 residents until the 1960 census.
The operation and maintenance of the airport were leased to Campbell Flying Service of St. Louis, a typical arrangement for municipal airports of the era.
Turbulence Ahead
The optimism of dedication day wouldn't last. By June 1950, the airport's future was already in doubt. Management changed hands, and business rebounded over the next three years. But activity dwindled again, and the Waynesville Memorial Airport closed before the decade was over.
What went wrong? The historical record is frustratingly silent on specifics. Perhaps the same factors that doomed hundreds of similar post-war municipal airports applied here: the economics of small-town aviation simply didn't pencil out. Fort Leonard Wood's Forney Army Airfield, operating continuously since 1941, likely served most regional aviation needs. The dream of every small town having its own airport—so vivid in the immediate post-war years—proved harder to sustain than anyone imagined.
From Runway to Recess
In 1965, the Federal Aviation Agency released the 160-acre airport tract for development. By August of that year, plans were underway to build an elementary school on 26 acres of the former airfield. A $348,000 bond issue passed in October, and East Elementary School received its first students in 1967.
Today, the school sits at 1501 State Road F, Waynesville—the same plateau where 150 aircraft once lined a 2,700-foot runway, where B-29s thundered overhead, and where thousands gathered to celebrate a small town's big aviation dreams.
The only physical evidence of the airport's existence lies in geographic databases. The U.S. Board on Geographic Names still recognizes "Waynesville Memorial Airfield" as a historical cultural feature at coordinates 37.8264294, -92.1851666. Stamp collectors preserve "First Day Flight" commemorative covers from October 2-3, 1948—philatelic evidence of a celebration that most local histories have forgotten.
The Route 66 Connection
The Waynesville Memorial Airport represents something larger than local history. It embodies the optimism of post-war America along Route 66—a belief that small towns could embrace modernity while preserving their character. The same year Waynesville voted to build an airport, communities up and down the Mother Road were making similar investments in the future.
The dedication photos, courtesy of the Missouri State Archives MoDOT Collection, show cars lining Route 66 as far as the camera can see. The highway and the airfield existed in symbiosis—travelers on the ground watching pilots arrive from the sky, all converging on a small Ozark town with outsized ambitions.
That the airport failed within a decade doesn't diminish the story. If anything, it makes it more human. Not every dream takes flight permanently. But for two days in October 1948, Waynesville reached for the sky—and for a brief, shining moment, touched it.
Do you have memories or photos of the Waynesville Memorial Airport? Family stories about the 1948 dedication? Information about Campbell Flying Service or what happened in those troubled years around 1950?
The Waynesville Action Group is compiling local history decade by decade for the Route 66 Centennial in 2026. Reach out—your story matters.
Tags: Waynesville Missouri, Route 66 History, Pulaski County, Waynesville Memorial Airport, Dru Pippin, Route 66 Centennial 2026, You Don't Know Waynesville, Missouri Aviation History, Fort Leonard Wood, Ozarks History
For more information check out my references below.
REFERENCES: “You Don’t Know Waynesville: The Forgotten Airport on Route 66”
JaxOnRoute66.com Blog Post
PRIMARY SOURCES
NEWSPAPER ACCOUNTS:
1. Moberly Monitor-Index
“Fly to Airport” (dedication coverage)
October 4, 1948, Page 5
Moberly, Missouri
Available via: Newspapers.com
[Reports 150 visiting planes, lists aircraft types, names attendees from
Moberly and Macon, confirms town population of 1,500, identifies airport
as first in Missouri built under Aviation Section funding program]
GEOGRAPHIC/GOVERNMENT DATABASES:
1. U.S. Board on Geographic Names / Geographic Names Information System (GNIS)
Feature Name: Waynesville Memorial Airfield (historical)
Feature ID: 753362
Feature Class: Locale (Cultural)
County: Pulaski, Missouri
Coordinates: Latitude 37.8264294, Longitude -92.1851666
ARCHIVAL PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS:
1. Missouri State Archives, MoDOT Collection
Record Group 107 - State Highway Department Photographs
Primary collection: 1929-1975 (over 25,000 negatives)
Aerial photograph collection: 1955-2004 (over 200,000 photos)
Location: Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City, Missouri
Contact: 573-751-3280 or archives@sos.mo.gov
[Dedication images credited in source PDF]
BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES - DRU PIPPIN
1. Old Settlers Gazette, Issue 12 (2009)
“Dru Pippin: A Profile” by William Eckert
Published by: Old Stagecoach Stop Foundation, Waynesville, Missouri
Pages 54-57
[Primary biographical source: birth/death dates, Pippin Place resort,
Conservation Commission appointments, family details including son Dan’s
Olympic basketball captaincy]
1. OzarksWatch Magazine
“The Conservation Commission” (oral history/memoir)
The Library Center, Springfield-Greene County Library
[Describes Pippin as “a man who knew land well,” his resort as “rather
swank…in the old Victorian style,” Commission meetings held at Pippin Place]
1. Dru Pippin Youth Center
Fort Leonard Wood Army MWR
[Confirms facility named in his honor]
1. Missouri Department of Conservation
“The Rivers of Missouri” by Dru Pippin (quoted)
[Pippin’s published writing on Ozark rivers]
SECONDARY SOURCES
1. “Route 66 in Pulaski County” (Book)
Pages 146-147: Waynesville chapter on Memorial Airport
[Source PDF provided by researcher - contains dedication narrative,
bond vote details, land transaction information, Campbell Flying Service
reference, closure timeline, East Elementary School conversion]
1. Wikipedia
“Waynesville-St. Robert Regional Airport”
[Confirms Forney Army Airfield (separate facility) operated since WWII]
INSTITUTIONAL RESOURCES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
1. Pulaski County Museum & Historical Society
Location: 301 Historic 66 East (1903 Courthouse), Waynesville, Missouri
Contact: 573-855-3644
Email: pulaskicomo@hotmail.com
[Recommended for bond election records, local newspaper clippings,
institutional knowledge about airport-to-school conversion]
1. State Historical Society of Missouri
Photograph Collection (100,000+ items)
Agriculture Stabilization and Conservation Service Aerial Photographs, 1938-1979
Pulaski County newspapers on microfilm
[May contain additional aerial photos of airport site]
1. Old Stagecoach Stop Foundation
Website: https://www.oldstagecoachstop.org
All issues of Old Settlers Gazette available online
Dru Pippin oral history audio recordings (1975-1976) available as podcasts
Mailing: P.O. Box 585, Waynesville, MO 65583
NOTES ON UNVERIFIED CLAIMS
The following details from the source PDF could not be independently verified
through online research and should be treated as local historical accounts
pending archival confirmation:
- May 27, 1947 bond vote (285-123) for $25,000
- Total construction cost of $69,000 ($10,000 state / $35,000 federal)
- Dru Pippin and Roy Wilson land purchase (<$2,000) and sale ($5,000)
- Roy Wilson’s identity and role (no biographical information found)
- Campbell Flying Service of St. Louis as initial operator
- June 1950 as start of airport’s troubles
- Specific closure date (before end of 1950s)
- 1965 FAA release of 160-acre tract
- October bond issue for $348,000 for East Elementary School
- 1967 opening of East Elementary School
Compiled for: Jax Welborn
Route 66 Centennial 2026 Project
Date: January 2026
*Dedication images courtesy of Missouri State Archives, MoDOT Collection.
Comments