The history of Bradford Regional Airport is on display thanks to
a new Web page created by Smethport Area High School senior Reba
Anderson.
The development of the site is part of a Smethport history class
Anderson took at the school, in which students complete projects on
various historical locations across McKean County and beyond. The
site is located at smethporthistory.org.
The site traces the airport’s history in words and pictures from
as far back as the 1940s through the present day and also provides
a link to the airport’s current Web site.
Anderson gave a presentation to the Bradford Regional Airport
Authority on Wednesday.
“Reba did an excellent job on this,” Airport Director Tom
Frungillo said. “It’s just fascinating. This is really a way to
preserve the history of the airport.”
Officials said Anderson was in contact with Alicia Dankesreiter
at the airport and Ray Lewis, who has played a large part in the
history of the airport as a member of McKean Aviation, for the
project. Bradford Landmark Society also assisted Anderson.
When looking at the site, a visitor literally surrounds the
airport and is taken on a virtual tour through the facility’s
development using red arrows as prompts. Clicking on an arrow will
allow the visitor to either enter the airport, view various
locations around its grounds and even watch as aircraft arrive and
depart.
Among the featured locations are the terminal building, hangars
and airport restaurant. There are also 25 historical articles
located on the site. The airport can also been seen from the air
and in a topographical map.
Among the various years Anderson focused on were the 1943
Bradford-McKean Airport, 1967 and the current year.
For her efforts on the project, Anderson said she received an
“A+” in her class.
That’s not all. Airport officials also supplied Anderson with an
airplane ride at the time of her choosing by Lewis, two round trip
tickets to Pittsburgh by current carrier Colgan Air Inc., and a
certificate from the Runway Cafe restaurant at the airport.
