EAA Chapter 445 - Mar 2003

“We love to fly and it shows” – that line from the old Delta ads kept running thru my head as we drove around Leeward Air Ranch a couple of weeks ago.  And if you love to fly, this has got to be the closest thing to a pilot’s paradise as I’ve ever seen.  John Sivyer and I dropped in at Leeward to visit Angela Green, the former icon of the Big Bend Flying Club who has recently moved here.  And although our tour was rather quick, what we saw would be enough to make the aviation equivalent of Robin Leach bring in his film crew (if there were such a person).

Leeward is a private residential airpark about 6 miles southeast of Ocala.   Founded by Jimmy Leeward, the well known racing pilot, Leeward has what Mac McClellan of Flying magazine called “the most perfectly constructed and maintained sod runway

I have ever landed on.”  At 6500’ in length, it can handle just about anything.  There is an FAA charted aerobatic box on one side of the strip and about 130 homes on the other side, with enough lots to handle about 70 more.  If you want to buy here, you need to have a current medical, a pilot’s license and an airplane (or a part of one).  And you need to build both a home and a hangar (unfortunately, you can’t live in the hangar).  

The runway is great, the homes are beautiful, but the real standout at Leeward are the airplanes.  There are well over one hundred airworthy planes here with many more in various stages of construction or restoral.  RVs are popular, as are warbirds, with eight T-6’s based here.  Most of the hangars we saw were home to multiple aircraft.  “We’re the poor ones here”, quipped Angela, “we only have one airplane.”  One couple has his and hers planes – his is a Stearman and hers is a beautifully restored, polished aluminum Cessna 140.   Angela’s next door neighbor has a twin Comanche, a T-6 and three hot air balloons.  Another neighbor has a T-6, the third he has restored, and is restoring a PT-19 as his current project.  One hangar we visited was home to a twin Comanche, two gliders, and a Pawnee (to tow the gliders).  They had just sold their T-6, but were hoping to replace it with some sort of plane on floats.   Another poor fellow must have had a full hangar, he had to park one of his planes out in his driveway.

Leeward has also been home to some notable names in the aviation community (including Angela, of course).  Jimmy Leeward, who currently races his P-51Cloud Dancer  and has a hangar here, hosts a gathering of Sun ‘n Fun bound warbirds here every year.  More information on Jimmy Leeward and his airplanes can be found at  http://www.aafo.com/gallery/history/leeward/ .   Famed air racer Steve Wittman had Leeward as his winter home until his death in 1995.  If you’re not sure who Steve Wittman was, there is a little airport in Oshkosh that bears his name. You can read a brief biography of Steve at www.totalracing.com/wittman/wittbio. 

“The only problem with living here is trying to get any work done”, Angela said.  There are frequent comings and goings to observe from a home on the air ranch.   Leaving your hangar door open is an open invitation for your neighbors to gather and talk airplanes.  Then there are the airshows, which Angela promised occur “every day around 4 pm.”  As we were completing our tour, right on queue, around 3:45, we heard her scanner squawk “the aerobatic box is hot” and we looked up to see a Citabria preparing for a loop.  Shortly thereafter, as we taxied out for departure, two warbirds were right behind us, getting ready to add to the entertainment.  

Ah, Angela, we know it’s tough, but we’re glad you’re there keeping an eye on all of it for us.

Ed Copes is an Instrument Rated Private Pilot ,network software engineer and BBF feature writer.