The Cumberland Times-News reported in late 1929 that the growing interest in aviation produced twenty aviators in Cumberland and attracted attention to the activities of the local airport at Mexico Farms. The article stated:
Pilots of the Army Air Service who visited here last week expressed their surprise and appreciation and advised of the interest here. Women have not been backward about taking up aviation locally. Miss Myrtle Webster is an advanced student and Miss Minnie L. Johnson is a licensed pilot, having soloed on February 12, 1931 in an OX-5 powered Fairchild KR31 Challenger open cockpit biplane. Women passengers are numerous at the local airport and they seem to get a greater thrill out of aviation than most men. Other than the Misses Johnson and Webster, local fliers are; A. Hammond Amick, Walter H. Coughenour, Ronald B. Landis, Horace Thom, Woodrow Rayburn, Harry W. Flook, George W. Danforth, John A. Abbott, Virgil A. Parker, Wilbur R. Gaither, Chester Everline, John Warnick, Eldred Wentling, F.C. Dodge, William Whitehead, and A.W. Kight. There are six other locally owned planes. Mrs. Johnson has a Fairchild KR-31 Challenger, Mr. Amick a Driggs Skylark, Mr. Coughenour a Hisso powered Waco, Mr. Landis an OX-5 powered Pitcairn, Mr. Thom a Curtis Jenny, and Mr. Rayburn an OX-5 Berliner. These six ships and several from out of town will participate in an air show to be staged over the Johnson airport early this summer. Requests for passenger flights and the increased attendance at the Johnson airport, that is an 88 acre farm which adjoins the Mexico Farms Government Field, indicated the growing interest in aviation here. It is ideal for four-way takeoff and it is used daily by local and visiting fliers. Already there are two hangers on site, with two more being erected. The aviators are now busy in an effort to have the dirt road leading to the field put into good condition. This road which runs to the Mexico Farms government field from the Old Town Road is a two mile strip and its improvement would be a boon to the aviators and to the many people who visit the airport. It was estimated that about 5,000 cars loaded with interested spectators traveled the road while the Army planes were at the airport here last week.
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Wings Over Cumberland 