Published: November 10, 2008 11:04 pm      

NEWFANE: Old Palmer airfield up for auction

NEWFANE — Palmer Field, also known as the Olcott-Newfane Airport, is up for auction at 3 p.m. on Wednesday.

The 55-acre property at 1800 West Creek Road was in service from 1945, when fly boys came home from World War II, to 1997. Now, there is old barn and an old hangar that are in bad shape. The land is flat, but the runway is a bit grown over.

Chris Koch, 54, of Buffalo would like to buy it and has ideas to make it viable. His dream is have hanger homes and a museum. However, that’s a long way away.

The property, which is owned Ed Anderson of Grand Island, is assessed for $88,100. Koch hoped to have 25 shareholders kick in $5,000 each. He only got eight to commit and needed a minimum of 12.

“There was interest, but everyone is nervous and keeping money close to hand,” he said Monday. Koch is still putting out feelers and can be contacted at cpkoch@earthlink.net

The auctioneer is Faerys Auction and the Realtor is MJ Peterson Real Estate. The minimum is $60,000, plus a $6,000 premium and the buyer must have fees in hand.

There was a flying boom after World War II. Young men came home, worked hard and were successful. Airports were built.

The Palmer Family built the airport, which lies between West Creek Road and Hopkins Creek. They operated it until the 1990s and sold it to Hal Hawley, a mechanic who went bankrupt.

In the early days, airports were primitive and there were community hangars to service several plane owners. According to Koch, Anderson bought the airport with the idea of hangar homes.

Pilots can have a place for their planes and a place to live in hangar homes. The Clarence Aerodrome on Transit has 25 property owners with the right to build their own hangars. According to Koch, there are 25 owners and 24 hangars.

The problem is, the number of pilots is decreasing, and many are aging. At 54, Koch is called “The Kid.”

The prices of planes and fuel have gone up, as have the costs revolving around regulations.

There are a half-dozen airports in the area, including the Buffalo-Niagara International Airport. There are airports in Royalton, North Buffalo Suburban, Akron and Lancaster. Wilson’s airport on Beebe Road is used by the Frontier Skydivers.

Koch, who owns Central Park Computing Systems, flies a 1962 Piper Cherokee for recreation. There are almost 500 privately owned planes in the region.

The public can attend the auction.

Contact reporter Bill Wolcott at 439-9222, ext. 6246.