The land that eventually became Wax Park was once a dirt airfield. It was called Neff Airport or Neff Field and existed from 1947 to 1963. An 1800-foot grass runway ran north and south and was located where the Payne Recreation Center is today. Planes taking off to the north had to cross above the railroad tracks and gain altitude or steer east or west quickly to avoid the Pinnacles cliffs.
The 30-acre field in Miami Shores was owned, operated, and maintained by one man, Berlin Neff. Neff bought the land in 1944. The field had been used as an airfield before Neff acquired it but badly needed improvements. Neff cleared 200 to 300 trees from the landing field and its approaches so that he could qualify the airport for the GI Flight Training Program. In June 1947, Neff had 15 students in the program.
Berlin Neff, a former Delco Products worker, learned to fly in 1939 and was a former Army pilot from 1941 to 1943. He had enlisted in the glider program which folded when he was part way through the training and continued in service as an instructor in light planes.
With lumber sawed from the felled trees, Neff built five home-made hangers, added corrugated metal to the sides, and poured concrete floors to house airplanes. For the airport administration building, Neff moved a small one-story frame building to the field. It was elevated due to the problem of flooding in the area. Neff developed a recreation area for pilots and friends consisting of a small pond stocked with fish, stone fireplace, and badminton court.
A Montgomery County Engineer website 1949 photo shows (that is circled) the runway and the large circle which was a skydiving landing circle. The old Dayton Sport Parachute Club would jump there.
The Journal Herald Newspaper had an article on September 26, 1951, reporting where the pilot of a Stinson sports plane failed to gain sufficient altitude on take-off to clear the trees near the airport and the plane’s tail struck the trees. The plane crashed upside down in an adjacent corn field. An adult and his four-year-old daughter received minor injuries as well as the pilot, who lived nearby on Willowview Drive in Miami Shores (Photo#4).
A Vultee BT13B #33 WW trainer plane flown from Neff Airport is now in the loft at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton. It is blue and yellow, previously owned by Ray Brandly of WC, former President of the National WACO Club. That was a nostalgic look back at Neff Airport.
Hi: My name is Ralph Neff and I am the son of Berlin Neff. My first few years were in the ‘one story frame building’ – our house. I have an aerial photo of the airport, and remember flying into it for one of my cross country solo trips when I took flying lessons in Cincinnati. Thank you VERY much for researching and writing this article. If I may ask, where did you find most of the information about the airport?
Thanks,
Ralph
Hi Mr. Neff. Thank you for your comments. I researched the old Dayton Daily News archives (which also contain some Journal Herald and Dayton Herald newspaper archives). They had a good number of articles on Neff Airpark. If you want printouts of some of those articles that I found, I can try to obtain them for you.
Hi:
Please send me your email address (to rneff_yh@yahoo.com) so we can send outside of this public area. Thanks, Ralph
Just saw this by accident.. I was the 4 year old girl that crashed in the Stinson Sport plane with Cecil Blackwood (pilot) and my dad, LeRoy Towson, who was planning to purchase that plane… The Stinson did not clear some trees and flipped over. I will never forget that little trip and heading to hospital for minor injuries. My Dad was hospitalized at Good Samaritan. This happened on September 26, 1951. I have the newspaper article and picture… My mother saw the plane crash and left my 3 mo. old sister on a park bench to run to the wreck…. some nice people there watched her…
Thank you, Linda, for commenting. I am sure thankful that you and your father were not seriously injured in the plane crash. I worked at Moraine Parks & Recreation Department for almost 40 years, much of the time at Wax Park, so I really enjoyed researching what was located at the park prior to it becoming a park. The history of Neff Airport is fascinating.
I always wondered who the young boy was at the crash…..
So funny what things you remember at a young age but that incident is clear as yesterday… I was hanging upside down in plane and my dad, LeRoy (Jud) Towson was trying hard to unharness me. It was hard since he had a head severe scalp wound and blood made it hard to see what he was doing. He was afraid the plane would catch on fire with me tied in the back. Thank the Good Lord he got me unhooked and we got out of there. I am old now and think that for some reason we were spared. I now have a 16 year old granddaughter named Willa that is flying… Her great grandpa would be proud!! Oh, and I am heading over to that old Neff Airport (Wax Park) today… first trip back since the crash….
God blessed you and kept you alive (and your father) for a reason and you have probably done so much good and kind acts since then. Let me know after your trip to Wax Park if you thought of anything else from back then.