Blue Grass Airport: An American Aviation Story,
Lexington, KY - The first copies of a 240-page historical account of aviation in central Kentucky, titled will hit bookstores and gift shops in Lexington on April 15.
Created by Blue Grass Airport and author/publisher Fran Taylor in collaboration with a host of area writers, the book is the culmination of extensive research on the airport’s rich and largely undocumented history. The airport, along with its predecessors Halley Field and Cool Meadow Airport, has welcomed aviation icons dating back to Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart, along with an extensive array of visiting political leaders, celebrities and foreign dignitaries over the past century. The steady growth of the airport has helped to shape the economic development of the region. In more recent years, Blue Grass Airport also has borne the heavy toll of one of the community’s most painful tragedies – the crash of Delta Comair Flight 5191.
All of these historical aspects are chronicled in the chapters of the book, which also offer details on Lexington’s involvement in one of the most notorious hijackings of all time and an explanation of how the airport has addressed its day-to-day challenges, including the complexities of equine air transportation. In telling the airport’s story, the work features more than 400 photographs, many of which have never before been published.
The April 15 release will be marked with a book signing at Joseph-Beth Booksellers (from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.) and Morris Book Shop (from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.) by retired astronaut and former Lexington resident Story Musgrave, who penned the book’s introduction. Musgrave obtained his pilot’s license at Blue Grass Field in the 1960s while studying at the University of Kentucky.