Adm. John Towers made the cover of Time Magazine and was chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics from 1939-1942. But Towers does not get the recognition he deserves, said Rome’s Howard Lowden.
Lowden is working to raise money to construct a plaza honoring Towers at the corner of Broad Street and Sixth Avenue.
Lowden was one of three guest speakers Thursday at an event sponsored by the Rome Area History Museum “celebrating the past, present and future” of Richard B. Russell Regional Airport and Towers Field.
Towers, who was born in Rome in 1885, is known as the father of naval aviation and even created the wings that airmen wear on their uniform, Lowden said.
Towers was also close to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and took him on his first airplane ride in 1913. It was Roosevelt who made Towers chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics in 1939, Lowden said.
Those who attended also heard information about the past and present of the airport, which began as a Navy Auxiliary Base in the 1940s before it was deeded back to the county after the war.
Beginning in the 1950s, Eastern Airlines had one daily flight to Atlanta, but that was suspended in 1971 because the Rome airport could not handle the large new jets, said Leigh Barba, museum executive director.
Airport Manager Mike Mathews said he had been flying out of the airport since 1975, when he was a teen.
He presented pictures of the airport while telling the group that they are always hoping to bring in aviation-related jobs.
Georgia Northwestern Technical College has an avionics classroom at the airport.
“Our mission is to get aviation related businesses here,” Mathews said. “We have a resource for them.”
With 1,200 acres, the Rome airport has the most acres of any airport in North Georgia except Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
“We are slowly trying to build this airport for the future,” Mathews said.
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