Sisters began its love affair with flying in the late ‘20s when a plane landed in the fairgrounds behind the school. Many of the children had not seen a plane before so the teachers took them for a look. When the barnstormer took off for a scenic flight with two local citizens the children were in for another first. The plane failed to get enough altitude and crashed in the trees at the end of the field. Luckily no one was hurt but the seed was planted.

In ’33 Ted Barber, a veteran of WWI, took passengers on $1.00 10 minute rides from the fairgrounds. In 1935, George Wakefield purchased the land just North of the fairgrounds and built a narrow runway with the help of Forest Service employees who were interested in flying. Then the men joined the Bend Flying Club in 1939 and learned to fly the club’s two aircraft, a 50 horsepower Piper Cub aircraft and a 75-horsepower Piper Cruiser. World War II brought a halt to civilian flying. In the Early 40s Maurice Hitchcock bought the ranch across the road from the airfield and he also bought the airfield and built a larger runway. In ’46 the first aircraft to be based out of Sisters arrived in the form of Harold Barclay and George Wakefield’s Fairfield. In a twist to the story that is all too familiar to private plane owners, Harold sold his interest in the plane to plane to George early the next year. In ’51, Barclay bought the ranch and the airport from Hitchcock and then donated it to the State of Oregon in ’67 who used it to support the firefighting flights of old Navy dive bombers.

In 2011, Benny and Julie Benson purchased the airport as a home for their growing engineering firm Energyneering Solutions, Inc. The airport is now home to several businesses with some 50+ employees. Following in overwhelming majority vote by the citizens of Sisters in support of the city annexing the airport property, the development began. After a nearly 3 year process of annexation, work began in earnest in 2014 to start restoring the airport to what it is today. The annexation and re-zoning produced a master plan and zoning approvals that, overtime, will grow the airport to a transportation and business center including; up to 50 hangars, and office/manufacturing complex with room for over 100 employees, and residential pilot accommodations. It is the intention of the owners to complete the master plan as quickly as resources will allow. Aviation is a principal mode of transportation that significantly supports economic development and life safety, especially in rural environment and the airport will continue to try to be a good neighbor to the City of Sisters.