Celebrating One Man’s Dream Come True: Chatham Airport Turns 75

CHATHAM – Almost a century ago, local carpenter and chauffeur Wilfred Berube had sky-high dreams. He wanted to become a pilot in the burgeoning field of aviation — and a field was just what he needed. Berube dreamed of building an airport in Chatham, and thanks to his ingenuity and extraordinary gumption, his dream came true.

He called it “Mon Rȇve,” French for “My Dream,” and the airfield grew in popularity, becoming a public airport in 1940. Berube sold the airport to the town of Chatham for $1 in 1949, and Chatham Municipal Airport was formally dedicated two years later.

The history of the airport is chronicled in “Mon Rȇve: The story of Wilfred J. Berube and his Airport at Chatham on Cape Cod,” written in 1992 by Bob Whittier. A native of Quebec, Berube and his family moved to Lawrence, Mass., in 1900 where work was available in the textile mills. He became a carpenter and skilled mechanic, and the owner of one of the big mills had a daughter whose family had a summer home in Chatham. That family, the Shattucks, hired Berube as a chauffeur, and he stayed in their employ for many years. In World War I, Berube joined the Army and trained to become an aviation mechanic, where he likely had his first experience flying.

Earning his student pilot’s license in 1928, Berube became an enthusiastic aviator, flying his two-seat, open cockpit seaplane out of Mill Pond and Oyster Pond, close to the Shattuck houses. He dreamed of having a proper landing strip, though, and — at least according to legend — withdrew all of his money from the bank to buy the 72-acre tract off George Ryder road. He cleared a short landing strip, but eventually built and patented a vehicle that could saw down trees at ground level, allowing him to lengthen the runway over time. (He gave away the firewood he felled to local families.) To flatten the land and plant grass, he procured a 1,000-gallon steel tank, chopped it in thirds and filled it with concrete. Pulled on an axle by a tractor, the roller did a fine job of flattening the runway.

In 1938, the first air mail came to Chatham via Berube’s airstrip. He also began using planes to spot schools of fish offshore, and then shuttled anglers to the beach, landing on the sand. Flying and navigating back then was a “seat-of-your pants” proposition, Chatham Airport Manager Tim Howard said. There were no sophisticated navigational aids, and pilots using the airstrip had to contend with thick fog that could cover the runway in a matter of minutes. “It’s still one of the biggest things we stress” to new pilots, Howard said of the famous Chatham fog.

Berube and his friends built the familiar round-roofed maintenance hangar by hand, bending the roof rafters using steam and glue, “just like boat ribs,” Howard said. The hangar has survived several large hurricanes and countless coastal storms, and remains in use today. Inside, there are some windows that were salvaged from the old Chatham Naval Air Station on Nickerson Neck. Berube operated Chatham Flying Service, providing tours and charter service, and mentored many young pilots.

For a time, Chatham Airport hosted scheduled commercial flights: Nauset Airways flew regular routes to Laguardia and Logan airports. The facility was a popular public airport by the time of Berube’s death in 1966 and grew under the leadership of airport manager Frank Joy of Orleans, a former World War II fighter pilot. One of the flight instructors, Dan Wolf, went on to become airport manager, and met investors in Chatham who helped him to start Cape Air.

“He basically got his idea from what Berube did here and what Frank Joy did here in the ‘80s,” Howard said.

Chatham Municipal Airport remains a unique place, he said. “It’s one of the few airports around where you can get up close and personal with the planes and the pilots,” Howard said. It’s a favorite for young children, and 30 or 40 of them have grown up “and are now airline or military pilots,” he said.

Small community airports around the nation are under siege by neighbors who don’t like the noise or air traffic, and Chatham Airport faces a strong headwind from those who would like the facility to fade away, Howard said. To have a sustainable future, the facility needs to build robust support from users, residents and political leaders, he said. It also needs to become more financially self-sufficient, a goal the airport commission is moving toward. Asked about the future of the Chatham airport, Howard pauses before saying he’s “cautiously optimistic.” If Chatham loses its airport, it will lose something unique, Howard said.

“Nobody’s building new airports, especially ones like this,” he said.

Hanging over the conference table where the airport commission meets, there’s a portrait of Wilfred Berube. “I hope he’s proud of us,” Howard said. Among other things, Chatham Airport is a special place to work. On sunny summer days when people fill the picnic tables next to the tarmac and kids are getting tours of the airplanes, “you can feel the energy of the place,” he said.