We are lucky to have a beautiful and historic aircraft, a 1946 Beechcraft G17S, known as the Staggerwing, due to it’s offset upper and lower wings. Our own Gayle Gorman Green graciously let us display it last year and has offered it to us again!
As you can see this is a beautifully restored family heirloom! First flown in 1932, it was used for air transportation and air racing. It has won the the Bendix and Harmon trophies in the 1930s. During WWII, it was used as a bomber by the Spanish Air Force! It was also used as an air ambulance and a liaison aircraft. The final Staggerwing was sold in 1948, with a total of 785 built.
Come see this historic aircraft at Mansfield Airport Day!
Avit Flight Academy, a flight training center, will be at Mansfield Aviation Day, and will be offering 15-minute introductory flight lessons on one of their Cessna 172 general aviation aircraft for $75.
Thinking of learning to fly? Just wondering what it would be like to sit in the pilot’s seat? Let Avit take into the Northern Ohio skies and give you the chance to experience flying a real aircraft. No simulations here, it’s the real thing!
Use the QR code above to schedule your flight at Mansfield Airport Day! Avit will also have a Cessna 172 at our static display, so check that out!
Avit Flight Academy has been training pilots for over 10 years. They are based at the Wadsworth Municipal Airport (3G3), and have additional locations, including one at Mansfield Lahm (MFD).
Avit has been recognized for its high standard of accomplishment in flight training by The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), the world’s largest aviation association. Avit Flight Academy has been awarded a spot on the Flight Training Experience Awards as a Distinguished Flight School, a title given to high scoring flight training providers from the 2025 Flight Training Experience Review.
Registration for Young Eagle flights at Airport Day will be open on July 11 at 9:30 am! Register early as flights fill up quickly. Register Here!
The Young Eagles is a program created by the Experimental Aircraft Association designed to give children between the ages of 8 and 17 a free introductory flight in a general aviation airplane to inspire them in the world of aviation.
Cost: Flights are free of charge, with all costs covered by volunteer pilots and ground crew. Benefits: Participants receive an EAA Student Membership, access to free online flight training courses, and potential scholarships for future flight lessons. Impact: Studies show participants are 5.4 times more likely to become pilots than non-participants. Come to Mansfield Airport Day 2026, August 1st, and fly!
Like spinning blades? Intrepid Helicopter will be bringing one of their state-of-the-art Robinson helicopters to Airport Day!
Intrepid will be offering rides around the Mansfield-Lahm Airport for $50 a seat. It is highly recommended that you book NOW as available flight slots fill up quickly.
Intrepid Helicopters have been in the vertical flight business for over twenty years, and safety is their top priority. Their pilots are trained to the highest standards, and Intrepid maintains their aircraft with rigorous care to ensure every flight is secure, comfortable, and unforgettable.
Ally Gatchall, one of MAC’s scholarship recipients, just graduated from the Air Force Academy in May. She’s leaving for Europe for 60 day leave before reporting to pilot school at Vance AFB in Oklahoma in late July. She’s hoping to fly C-17s. We wish you the best, Ally!
What’s a flying lab? It’s a Beech 18 that served in the Air Force as the C-45. Built in 1952, this C-45H was a valuable tool for Grimes engineers to test and evaluate aircraft exterior lighting systems under various conditions while actually in flight.
Grimes would fly over to Boeing and show them the different combinations of lights available! It currently has over 75 lights on it!!
This incredible aircraft is part of the National Aviation Heritage Area! Come visit the Grimes crew on Airport Day and learn about this Ohio aviation treasure!
We’re just two months from Mansfield Airport Day, so I figured I’d share some of the things we’re working on:
The beautiful “Champaign Gal” B-25J Mitchell is coming! The Champaign Aviation Museum is bringing their B-25J Mitchell bomber to Mansfield Airport Day! This beautifully restored plane is an American twin-engine medium bomber manufactured by North American Aviation. Allied air forces flew it in every theater of World War II, and it was used by many other air forces after the war, seeing service across four decades.
It will be part of our static display area.
Built in 1944, the Champaign Aviation Museum’s B-25J served with the USAAF for 13 years. It was used as a trainer, transport and personnel transport. In 1957 it was transferred to the famous “airplane boneyard” at Davis-Monthan AFB where it was stored until ~1959 when it was bought by a private company and fought fires in Canada and the USA. It continued to be used as an airtanker until the late 1980’s when it was restored to its wartime specifications.
In 2008 the Champaign Aviation Museum acquired the aircraft and has been flying it and meticulously maintaining it ever since.
Mansfield- On Thursday, December 5, more than 50 Mansfield Aviation Club members and their guests gathered at the Ontario Event Center for the club’s annual Christmas dinner. Following dinner, the club held a brief organizational meeting during which officers were elected.
President-Kylie Gottman
Vice President-Chris Johnson
Treasurer-Kim Stover
Secretary-Randy Broderick
MAC President, Kylie Gottman
Gottman is a 2022 Lexington grad. She is currently a senior at Liberty University, where she will earn her BS in Aviation. Gottman obtained her Private Pilot Certificate at Avit Flight Academy before attending ATP Flight School in Austin, Texas. While in Austin, she earned her instrument rating and commercial pilot certificate. She then transferred to ATP in Dallas, where she got her Certificated Flight Instructor (CFI), Commercial Multi-Engine certification, and Certificated Flight Instructor Instrument (CFII), as well as Multi-engine Instructor (MEI).
Gottman is very excited to get started in her new role at Mansfield Aviation Club.
Ryan Craft
Following the organizational meeting, guest speaker Ryan Craft entertained the crowd with a 45-minute presentation on his aviation Career. In a slideshow packed with videos and photos taken over his 20-year career as a Navy Pilot.
Craft, a 1999 Shelby grad, graduated from the US Naval Academy in 2004 with a BS in Aerospace Engineering. His first assignment was at the Air Force Institute of Technology in Dayton, graduating with a Master’s Degree in Aeronautical Engineering.
After five years of engineering classes, Ryan was excited to finally begin his naval aviation career in the summer of 2005. After two years of flight schools in Pensacola, FL, Corpus Christi, and Kingsville, TX, Ryan earned his coveted Wings of Gold in June 2007. After winging, Ryan was assigned to fly the E-2C Hawkeye with the VAW-121 Bluetails in Norfolk, VA, where he deployed twice and flew 114 combat operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. In 2011, Ryan was assigned as a flight school instructor with the VT-10 Wildcats flying the T-6A Texan II at NAS Pensacola, FL, where he flew until 2016 and was honorably discharged from active duty, and started flying with Southwest Airlines. The Navy quickly reactivated him for two more flight instructor tours at NAS Meridian, MS, flying the T-45C Goshawk with Training Air Wing One, where he retired from active duty in 2024. Ryan returned to flying with Southwest Airlines and resides in Nashville, TN, with his wife and two children.
Mansfield Aviation Club was founded on June 16, 1949. Mansfield Aviation Club’s mission is to share its passion for aviation among its members and to further their knowledge, skill, and the joy of flying to all who are interested in aviation. Our membership consists of aviation enthusiasts of all ages and experience, pilots and non-pilots, sharing their knowledge and friendship.
Helping to ensure a bright future for our airport is a primary focus of the Aviation Club, and providing scholarships with the help of tax-deductible donations that enable future pilots to obtain training supports that goal. As the cost of flying has become more expensive, many who had the dream to become a pilot may have found it beyond their financial means. We hope that our scholarships will enable some of those individuals in the Richland area the opportunity to fulfill their dream and keep general aviation in our community vibrant into the future.
The Mansfield Aviation Club is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation to our cause, you can do so by mailing a check to
Mansfield Aviation Club P. O. Box 1471 Mansfield OH 44901
The Mansfield Lahm Airport has served our community well by being one of the finest general aviation airports in our state. However, in recent years, as the cost of flying has risen, many who had the dream of becoming a pilot may have found it beyond their financial means. We hope that the funds raised for these scholarships will enable some of those individuals in the Richland area the opportunity to fulfill their dream and keep general aviation in our community vibrant into the future.
It is difficult to raise money for an aviation scholarship. Many people don’t donate because they think pilots are rich, and they don’t need money. The truth is, education is expensive. Flight training is expensive. Many of our scholarship recipients go on to further training either at a flight school or a college that offers degrees in aviation.
Aviation is an industry. Every day, the FAA handles more than 44,000 flights for 3 million airline passengers. Airline pilots fly those passengers safely to their next destination. Carriers hire new pilots every day. Those new pilots have to be trained to fly those passengers. It is incredibly expensive to obtain the required flight hours, education, and experience to fly an aircraft safely. The credentials pilots earn during their education give them what they need to obtain a lifelong career as a pilot.
Whenever you fly somewhere, for work, vacation, or to visit friends and family, know that the people on the other side of that flight deck door dedicated years of their lives to have the privilege to take you wherever you want to go.
Mansfield Aviation Club 