Did anyone know this about ThornHill???

[MADMOD]

Alittle History Lesson for some of you guys. I thought it was pretty interesting:

According to drag racing historian Bret Kepner, this former airfield had a colorful history.

Through information from locals and the track's employees during a visit around 1985,

he learned that "the airfield was built by alcohol bootleggers during Prohibition.

The airstrip was created deep in the woods where it was virtually undetectable from the ground.

The moonshine, brewed in the nearby Kentucky hills,

was smuggled on night flights to nearby Cincinnati, OH.

Near the end of Prohibition, the operations at the Kenton airstrip were sacked by Treasury agents,

resulting in a large number of arrests.

The Feds eventually bequeathed the seized land to the town of Kenton,

whose mayor apparently assisted in the bust.



The airstrip sat, unused, until the hot rodding craze of the 1950's

resulted in the local arrest of a young street racer...the mayor's son!

The mayor agreed to allow the kid to turn the abandoned airfield into a drag strip

if it would keep his son's racing activities off the street.

Thus was born Thorn Hill Drag Strip!"





No airfield was depicted at the location on the 1969 USGS topo map.





It was not listed among active civil airfields in either the 1962 or 1982 AOPA Airport Directories.





The 1983 USGS topo map depicted the single former runway but did not label it at all.

The former runway was labeled "drag strip" on the 1984 USGS topo map



Heres the link: http://members.tripod.com/airfields_freeman/KY/Airfields_KY_E.html

[mustangjon]

cool info man, im a history buff so any shit like this i dig :coo1::bigthumb

[Waffles]

Hmmm, that is an interesting story, but it's not true. I'm not sure exactly when Uncle Ralph bought the farm, but it was before the 1950s. My father can remember when Uncle Ralph first conceived the airport in the late 40's, built the damn that created the now fishing lakes in 1949 or 1950, and started the dragstrip in 1953. I don't believe there was ever a mayor of Kenton, and Uncle Ralph certainly was not the mayor's son if there was one.

Now, during prohibition, Uncle Ralph was a moonshiner. He lived in Dayton, KY in a house that was used for hiding slaves in the Underground Railroad. There was a detached garage, with a hidden basement. The tunnel went from the basement of the main house, to the garage. That was where he kept his still. His partner died in the hidden room from asphyxiation and Uncle Ralph removed and hid the body in order to not get caught for having the still. He was caught and did go to prison for a short time.

He also owned the now Meyer farm, which some may remember the "Meyer's Store" on the corner of Moffett and Decoursey. That was my Aunt Edith and Uncle Erwin. Ralph sold them that farm originally to start a retreat for orphans.

Anyway, it was a nice story, just not true.