Cash-strapped due to unbudgeted expenses for the work to clean up contamination in private wells, airport officials are seeking a loan from the county.
Closing of the naval air field on the Great Plain will be effected as soon as possible, and some of the buildings, together with the runways, will be diverted to the use of civilian aircraft. This is the announcement arising out of a conference on Monday at the N.A.A.S., attended by various naval officers, headed by Commodore Zeitz, and the county commissioners.
Announcement has been made of the acquisition of 683 acres of land on the state reservation near West Tisbury by the federal government for an air field. The transfer has been made from the state to the federal government for one dollar.
Some of the mainland reports have referred to the site as a naval field, but it is believed here that it may be the emergency field surveyed by the army last summer. No one on the Island could supply definite information yesterday.
The county commissioners have signed a twenty-year lease for the operation of the Martha’s Vineyard Airport. The decision to do so was announced by S. C. Luce Jr., chairman of the county commissioners, at the close of a public hearing in Edgartown Monday afternoon when the overwhelming sentiment of the participants was that the long term lease be signed.
The Martha’s Vineyard Airport became the property of the county yesterday afternoon with the passing of the papers at the courthouse. Until now the title has remained in the federal government where it was vested at the time of World War II when the field was constricted as a naval air facility.
The county will assume control of the airport at the former Martha’s Vineyard N.A.A.S. tomorrow, Saturday, June 29, and the field will hereafter serve air lines, private and charter planes, and instructors, under rules and regulations to be prescribed by the county.
