Harold Hamp, 80, of Elwell stands next to a plane his mechanic son, Mike, is working on in a hangar in Harold's backyard on Friday, Sept. 12, 2014.
ERIC STAFFORD -- THE MORNING SUN
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Down a dirt road three miles west of Elwell, Mich. sits a strip of grass lined with yellow cones that outline Harold Hamp’s FAA recognized airport. ~
Harold, who just turned 80, was recently honored by the FAA with the prestigious Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award and an award for ‘Fifty Years of Dedicated Service in Aviation Safety’ on Aug. 23, 2014.
The Charles Taylor award “is named in honor of Mr. Charles Taylor, the first aviation mechanic in powered flight. The Charles Taylor “Master Mechanic” Award recognizes the lifetime accomplishments of senior mechanics,” according to the Federal Aviation Administration website.
To be eligible for the award an individual must have worked 50 years in an aviation maintenance career as well as be nominated and then verified by three other mechanics.
Harold was nominated by his college roommate, friend and FAA employee Gary Kneggs.
About five years ago, Harold decided to invent a starter for planes that needed to be started by hand after almost dying during the procedure.
On that day about five years ago, he had headed out to his backyard airstrip to go for a flight.
“I propped the airplane and everything looked good, so I started getting into the plane and bumped the throttle, which went to wide open, as I’m hanging halfway out of it. Luckily, I was able to reach over and turn the switch off before crashing into my house. That’s when I decided that was enough of hand propping and decided to invent a starter,” he said.
In April 2009, EAA Sport Aviation magazine did a feature on Harold’s starter stating that it was the biggest safety innovation in 50 years.
Harold’s youngest daughter, Brenda Hamp, spoke about her father’s award and her experiences with him.
“I’m so proud of my dad. He’s always told me if you can’t buy it, build it. I’m proud of his accomplishment and the lives he’s saved,” she said.
Harold got his start as an airplane mechanic when he joined the Air Force in 1952. He was given the opportunity to chose between being a pilot or a mechanic. After giving it some thought, he decided not to be a pilot because he didn’t want to kill anyone and knew after he was discharged his skill set as a mechanic would be more valuable.
He was stationed at Kinross and in Alaska during his stint in the Air Force as an instrument specialist whose job it was to handle maintenance on jet plane gauges.
He met his wife Carol while in the service at a dairy bar in St. Ignace, Mich. while “looking for girls” as she put it.
She was freshly 17 and he was 18 with a motorcycle that she wanted a ride on. That ride led to marriage, three daughters, two sons, 14 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren.
In 1968, Harold and Carol built their house on the very same road he grew up on. The property on which the Hamp family and their airport is located is just down the road from his childhood home.
The original airstrip took shape with a horse drawn grater and six bags of quack seed before the first hangar was built in 1981. Through the years additional hangars have sprang up storing everything from Harold’s own plane (a 1940 Taylor Craft), to neighbor’s aircraft to planes his mechanic son, Mike, restores and works on.
The idea for his backyard airport arose after the employer of his old job as an airplane mechanic in Mt. Pleasant was forced to close up shop.
At the time he had been flying his personal plane back and forth from Elwell to Mt. Pleasant, but when he was out of a job and limited by back problems he decided to open his own airplane repair shop at his home.
“Anybody can build an airstrip for their own use,” he said.
However, for the purpose of his repair shop Harold wanted to get his personal airstrip approved for public use by the FAA.
Once that process was completed everything from sky divers, small single engine planes, hot air balloons, a massive military helicopter, and even a twin engine Beach 18 (the largest aircraft to use the airstrip) have landed at Hamp Skyport.
Although Harold has not flown in over a year due to congestive heart failure he hopes to one day return to the skies and reclaim the feeling of ultimate control.
“It’s a feeling of peace; sitting in the airplane and being in control of everything,” he said.
“A lot of guys go to the bar and get drunk. I just go for a flight and get the same feeling.”
As for the airport, he hopes it will be his legacy even after he’s gone.
After all the main purpose of Harold Hamp’s airport is, as the motto on the weather worn sign out front proudly states, to “Keep the Sunday Pilot Flying.”
Story and Photos: http://www.themorningsun.com
A sign for Hamp Aircraft Service proclaims "Keep the Sunday Pilot Flying" near Harold Hamp's airstrip in Elwell, Mich. on Friday, Sept. 12, 2014.
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