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9781531655723

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Title: Man writes book about Q-C airport's history Author: Robin Paulsen Publisher: Quad-City Times Date: 6/24/2011 Airfare prices and airport security measures keep the aviation industry in the spotlight, but Quad-City area author David T. Coopman hopes to generate interest in a different aspect: its history. Quad-City International Airport, a book written by Coopman and issued last month by Arcadia Publishing, tells the history of the Moline airport through black-and-white photographs that date to when it was nothing more than 30 acres of cow pasture used as a landing field. As a kid, I loved going to the airport to watch all the activity of planes arriving and departing. I knew that the airport had a rather interesting history as to its beginning, some of the people involved and in the bistate argument over which community would have the large air carrier airport, he said. The airport, used by early barnstormers and aviation enthusiasts, originally was known as Franing Field before the name of Moline Airport was adopted. There was much debate over whether that facility or the airport in neighboring Davenport would become the area's commercial air transportation center. The word international was added because of the presence of the U.S. Customs Port of Entry at the airport. It took Coopman nearly a year to gather all the photographs and history dating to 1922, and he said the response to the book has been positive, especially among people who remember the old days of the airport. He credited the families of former test pilots, aviators, the family of an airport commissioner and gaining access to the airport's archives for helping him come up with the multitude of photographs that fill the book. When I would mention to others that I was working on a history of the airport, I found that many of them had also enjoyed visiting the airport to watch the planes, he said. I also discovered, from the comments of others, how iconic the old terminal was with its huge, two-story observation area. Among the book's highlights are photos of such famous aviators as Charles Lindbergh, who visited Franing Field three months after his famous 1927 trans-Atlantic Ocean solo flight in the Spirit of St. Louis, and Amelia Earhart, who visited in October 1936, less than a year before she vanished in an attempt to fly around the world. Coopman previously authored self-published books on the history of former Quad-City radio stations KSTT and WQUA as well as two other book printed by Arcadia Publishing titled Rock Island County and Davenport's WOC AM-FM-TV. His inspiration for such projects comes from his appreciation of area history. I think the Quad-Cities has a rich history of people, places and businesses large and small that shouldn't be ignored or forgotten, he said. In addition to being a published author, Coopman has worked in broadcasting, was a high school English teacher and works part-time in industrial sales.

Title: Man writes book about Q-C airport's history Author: Robin Paulsen Publisher: Quad-City Times Date: 6/24/2011 Airfare prices and airport security measures keep the aviation industry in the spotlight, but Quad-City area author David T. Coopman hopes to generate interest in a different aspect: its history. Quad-City International Airport, a book written by Coopman and issued last month by Arcadia Publishing, tells the history of the Moline airport through black-and-white photographs that date to when it was nothing more than 30 acres of cow pasture used as a landing field. As a kid, I loved going to the airport to watch all the activity of planes arriving and departing. I knew that the airport had a rather interesting history as to its beginning, some of the people involved and in the bistate argument over which community would have the large air carrier airport, he said. The airport, used by early barnstormers and aviation enthusiasts, originally was known as Franing Field before the name of Moline Airport was adopted. There was much debate over whether that facility or the airport in neighboring Davenport would become the area's commercial air transportation center. The word international was added because of the presence of the U.S. Customs Port of Entry at the airport. It took Coopman nearly a year to gather all the photographs and history dating to 1922, and he said the response to the book has been positive, especially among people who remember the old days of the airport. He credited the families of former test pilots, aviators, the family of an airport commissioner and gaining access to the airport's archives for helping him come up with the multitude of photographs that fill the book. When I would mention to others that I was working on a history of the airport, I found that many of them had also enjoyed visiting the airport to watch the planes, he said. I also discovered, from the comments of others, how iconic the old terminal was with its huge, two-story observation area. Among the book's highlights are photos of such famous aviators as Charles Lindbergh, who visited Franing Field three months after his famous 1927 trans-Atlantic Ocean solo flight in the Spirit of St. Louis, and Amelia Earhart, who visited in October 1936, less than a year before she vanished in an attempt to fly around the world. Coopman previously authored self-published books on the history of former Quad-City radio stations KSTT and WQUA as well as two other book printed by Arcadia Publishing titled Rock Island County and Davenport's WOC AM-FM-TV. His inspiration for such projects comes from his appreciation of area history. I think the Quad-Cities has a rich history of people, places and businesses large and small that shouldn't be ignored or forgotten, he said. In addition to being a published author, Coopman has worked in broadcasting, was a high school English teacher and works part-time in industrial sales.

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