Wyoming Valley Airport: Aircraft displaced as a result of floods

WYOMING – Instead of taking to the air, eight planes from the Wyoming Valley Airport hit the highway Thursday in search of higher ground and protection from the rising waters of the Susquehanna River.

The airport, located directly behind the levee system holding back the river, was closed and most of its aircraft relocated.

The planes traveled less than a mile to the Wyoming Monument from the airport. Most of of them were pulled by vehicles and a few motored up Wyoming Avenue under their own power.

The planes had been moved during other flooding threats, said Joe Lukesh, who lives near the monument. He said he thought a similar move was made during Hurricane Eloise in 1975.

The collection of aircraft on the grass of the monument attracted onlookers who took pictures, including pilot Bill Starr.

Starr came to see if his plane was among them.

“These are some of the ones that are down on the lower end,” said Starr.

The monument grounds and the surrounding neighborhoods did not flood during Tropical Storm Agnes in June 1972, said Starr who lives nearby on Butler Street.

He said he suspected his plane was in a hangar at the airport.

“In ’72 that hangar flooded,” he said. “But the hangar won’t flood as long as the dike holds.”

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