In late winter winds of fascinating, selective and devastating force have had an impact on both of Cumberland’s airfields. The Greater Cumberland Regional Airport, located on a plateau and at the end of the Knobley Mountain Range, is susceptible to the strong west winds that commonly prevail over our area after a cold front passage. Mexico Farms Airport is better protected from these strong currents since it is situated less than 200 feet lower than its sister air field and is better hidden behind the Knobley Mountains. However, Mexico Farms has not been immune from wind damage. During the construction of the EAA Chapter 426 hangar the roof of the building was lifted from the structure and deposited thirty yards away. On another occasion the large concrete block hangar near the original windsock was destroyed when a strong blast lifted the roof and destroyed the walls. The recent destructive tornado in the Frostburg area traveled in a straight line southeast direction and had it continued on its path it would have passed directly over the Cumberland Fairgrounds and through the notch in the Knobley Mountains, with Mexico Farms directly in line. In the 1980’s a tornado like wind came through this notch and a fifty yard wide destructive swath occurred through the Dolly Farm.
Bill Holbrook, writing in his ‘Flying Times’ articles in the Cumberland Times-News described the wind destruction of the Kelly-Springfield hangar on the Cumberland Airport. Extremely strong winds lifted the large roof up, and then it crashed down with a great force dislodging the concrete block walls of the building. The light weight doors of the hangar were carried east across the airport, finally settling on the Kline Farm over a mile away.
On another occasion at the Cumberland Airport a Piper Cub, parked in the present fuel truck garage area, was destroyed even though the tie down ropes securing the aircraft did not break. Tom Geary’s Cessna 195 was whipped upside down when the tie down chains broke free in an area near the Cumberland Soaring Group’s Quonset hangar. Nicholson Air Service occupied the second terminal building at the time and had placed an anemometer on the roof of the building. The anemometer, which registers wind speed and direction, displayed a reading of 90 mph before it was blown away. In the spring of 2000 the large doors on hangar 37, which faces northwest, were blown off track even though the steel security retaining pins remained in place. Frequently the roof covering over the fifteen unit old T-hangar row, even though tightly tucked adjacent to the west hillside, encounters wind damage in the winter and early spring.
One of the most fascinating destructive winds occurred when a row of Piper Cherokees, operated by Nicholson Air Service, were parked and secured in the location of the present transient tie down area. All of the Cherokees were secured by tie down ropes except for one that for an unexplained reason was not secured. Strong gusty winds broke the tie down ropes on one of the secured aircraft and forced it over on its back. However, the adjacent unsecured Cherokee remained in place, totally undamaged by the forces of nature’s quirky winds!
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Wings Over Cumberland 