Halley Field

A small, short-lived airport that vanished into Meadowthorpe — and still matters because the place never really stopped being what it was.

Black-and-white photograph of a biplane parked on a grassy field at Halley Field, with three men standing beside the aircraft.
Air Climbers of America at Halley Field, 1930. Source: University of Kentucky · Lafayette Studios collection, UK Archives, 96PA101
Black-and-white photograph of the Meadowthorpe farm property, showing the main house, outbuildings, trees, and open ground later used for Halley Field.
Meadowthorpe Farm in 1908. Source: University of Kentucky
Historic aeronautical map of central Kentucky showing Lexington and the location of an airport west of the city.
March 1933 Cincinnati Sectional Chart. Source: Paul Freeman, airfields-freeman.com
Black-and-white portrait photograph of Charles Lindbergh surrounded by a crowd in March 1928.
Charles Lindbergh, March 1928. Source: attribution pending
Aerial photograph of the Meadowthorpe neighborhood, showing the residential area that now occupies the former Halley Field site.
Aerial view of the former Halley Field site today. Source: attribution pending
Kentucky historical marker for Lexington's first airport, describing Halley Field and the Meadowthorpe property.
Lexington's First Airport Marker (reverse). Source: Mark Hilton, Montgomery, Alabama
SOURCES & NOTES
  1. Lexington History Museum, The Bluegrass Historian, Spring 2024.
  2. Becky Riddle, “Lexington's First Airport,” ExploreKYHistory.
  3. Kentucky Historical Marker No. 2440, “Lexington's First Airport.”
  4. Josh James, “Remembering Lexington's First Airport,” WUKY/WMKY, November 24, 2014.
  5. Paul Freeman, Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields, March 1933 Cincinnati Sectional Chart.

Credits, Corrections and removal