The construction of the new airport planned for Cumberland was underway in 1941. Ironically, the site chosen was in West Virginia, located on the hillside just east of the small town of Wiley Ford, which on a direct line is but one mile from the town center of Cumberland. After acquiring the real estate through several complex land purchases, it was necessary to shave off hilltops and move a lot of dirt in order to level the plateau for the placement of the runways. The actual groundbreaking ceremony occurred in the late summer of 1941 and at the time Torque Landis highlighted the affair with an aerial demonstration with the borrowed Pitcairn Fleetwing, then owned by Tom Barton.
An aerial view of the Cumberland Airport under construction, this view is looking south down RW 01/19.
As the first runway began to take shape (RW 1-19) and construction progressed, the finished part of the runway was tempting to a few Mexico Farms pilots. There seemed to be a quite race to see who would be the first to touch down on terra firma at this new airfield, among these a young Bob Poling. The anxious aviators had to violate the war-time flight clearances and also had to dodge barriers and construction equipment in order to touch down on this new enticing runway. Although several of the local pilots did make this landing, it is debatable which aviator could lay claim to being the first at the new Cumberland Municipal Airport. It is known with certainty that the first large airplane to use the partially completed new airport was a B-25, landing on the north-south runway on October 24, 1942.
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Wings Over Cumberland 