Cleveland’s Helicopter Airlines
In 1950, Cleveland was the seventh most populous city in the United States with 914,808 inhabitants. Like most major cities in the United States after WW II, Cleveland also had commercial helicopter services in the 1950s and the early 1970s. Although two companies attempted this service, neither was ultimately successful.
This article will explore this forgotten aspect in the rich aviation history of northeast Ohio. Information on these local helicopter airlines is scarce, limited to a few articles and advertisements in local print media. The author welcomes any additional information about these services that readers might have. If any readers have flown with these two airlines, please share your experiences.
A New Mode of Air Travel
The years after World War II saw an explosive growth of air travel demand along with population growth in newly developed suburbs spread further from the central cities and their large airports. Traffic congestion also grew, and the trip to or from the major airport could take as long as the air journey itself. The costs of connecting these smaller cities to either the larger airports or the city centers via fixed-wing aircraft over short distances were exorbitant.
A potential solution to this challenge seemed to be helicopters, and their use over short distances was pioneered in some of the largest cities in the United States, starting with experimental air mail services in Los Angeles (Los Angeles Airways, starting service October 1, 1947), Chicago (Helicopter Air Services, later known as Chicago Helicopter Airways, August 20, 1949), and New York City (New York Airways, October 15, 1952). New York Airways, the most famous helicopter carrier, began passenger services between that region’s three large airports on July 8, 1953. Later, the fourth large helicopter airline, San Francisco & Oakland Helicopter Airlines, stated service in the Bay Area on June 1, 1961.
These helicopter carriers, a new category of airline company, essentially were feeder services to the larger trunk airlines that also allowed quick transfers to and from major airports to city centers or beyond within a relatively short distance of 50-75 miles.
Cleveland Airways (Cleveland Air Taxi)
Cleveland Airways, Inc. sought authority from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) on July 3, 1954, to establish regular mail, cargo and passenger “heliocopter” service in northern Ohio. Cleveland was to be the hub connecting up to 40 cities within a 75-mile radius of the city.
Officers of the company were Kenyon C. Bolton, president, Lewis C. Williams, vice-president and treasurer, and Alfred M. Rankin, secretary. Bolton was a former career diplomat and former special assistant to the American ambassador in Paris. He later became a notable philanthropist and patron of the Cleveland Playhouse, the Nationalities Services Center, and the Cleveland Council on World Affairs, among others.
A 93-mile shuttle service linking Cleveland Hopkins Airport, Cleveland Lakefront Airport, the city of Akron, and Akron-Canton Airport was in the works. Very ambitious future plans were for mail only service on four routes, with cargo and passenger service to follow ((see map below).
W-Between Cleveland Hopkins and Lorain, Sandusky, Port Clinton, Fremont, Fostoria, Findlay, Tiffin, Norwalk, Elyria and Cleveland Hopkins. Distance 203 miles.
X-Between Akron-Canton Airport (CAK) and Canton, Dover, New Philadelphia, Coshocton, Mount Vernon, Marion, Bucyrus, Galion, Mansfield, Ashland, Wooster, Orrville, and Akron-Canton. Distance 229 miles.
Y-Between Akron-Canton and Massillon, Canton, Alliance, Salem, Youngstown, Hubbard, Niles, Youngstown Airport, Warren, Ravenna, Kent and Akron-Canton. Distance 140 miles.
Z-Between the Lakefront Airport and Euclid, Willoughby, Painesville, Geneva, Ashtabula and Conneaut. Distance 66 miles.
The company eventually changed its name to Cleveland Air Taxi (CAT), Inc. and began a shuttle service between Cleveland’s Lakefront Airport (CEL, now BKL) and Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE) on October 20, 1954. CAT’s two Bell 47G helicopters, seating two passengers and the pilot, had a logo featuring a winking cat and the slogan, “Quick as a Wink.”
A Cleveland Plain Dealer editorial on the day of the inaugural flight was not terribly optimistic about the chances for CAT. It wrote, “Based at Lakefront Airport, it is doubtful how much the public will gain from a regular taxi or auto ride down there and thence by helicopter (in an estimated eight minutes) out to Cleveland Hopkins Airport. What is needed is a central downtown office building roof for operations so that the service will fulfill the public’s vision of convenience.” It concluded on a slightly more positive note, “Such are a few of the disadvantages. But helicopters are safe; they offer a fantastic view; they're convenient. Everyone agrees they will play top roles in our future commerce and defense. We’re glad to have them aboard.”
Fares on the core route between CLE and CEL were $9 (equivalent to about $105 in 2024) plus 10% federal tax. They were lowered to only $6 ($70 today) per trip in January 1955, after experience gained during the first three months of operation showed that flights could be operated more economically, according to Bolton, President of CAT.
In a bid to show the feasibility of expanding service from a ring of twelve “helistops” around Cleveland to the region’s three main airports, CLE, CEL, and CAK, Cleveland Air Taxi offered a series of demonstration flights throughout northeast Ohio. The first of these were flights from Lakefront Airport to the city of Shaker Heights on January 8, 1955. Local politicians and dignitaries flew the eight-minute flights to and from a field on Warrensville Center Road about 850 feet south of the terminus of the of the Van Aken section of the Shaker Rapid Transit (today’s RTA Blue Line) to the delight of a crowd of 300 spectators. Flights to Hopkins would take about 13 minutes.
Shaker Heights officials were pleased with the results of the demonstration and issued a temporary two-year renewable permit to CAT to construct the “helistop” in the suburb. However, residents were concerned that the helicopter service would cause their property values to depreciate and would create a nuisance due to the noise of the aircraft. A common pleas judge agreed to ban construction on April 14, 1955, due to a procedural problem with the zoning of the proposed field, not because it would cause a nuisance. Service was never started on this route.
Another demonstration flight was made on June 4, 1955, to Eastgate Shopping Center in Mayfield Heights. A few days later, the city’s planning commission recommended granting CAT a two-year permit to operate a helistop at the shopping center. A demonstration flight also was offered to a field in Warrensville Township. It is unclear whether any of these plans actually came to fruition, but there is no evidence that regular service beyond the route between Cleveland’s two airports ever operated. But on-demand air taxi service apparently did operate to about 45 “helistops” in the area.
Cleveland Air Taxi provided quick, convenient, and generally safe services. However, one of the newer helicopters in their fleet, a Bell 47H-1, a three-seat model with an enclosed cabin and fuselage, had to make an emergency landing on June 13, 1956. The helicopter was flying from Cleveland Hopkins Airport to Lakefront Airport with two passengers and the pilot when it experienced a mechanical issue with the stabilizer. It landed in a field on the city's west side, specifically in the 4300 block of W. 162 St., around 6:15 p.m., approximately 300 feet from a row of houses. Fortunately, nobody was injured, and the helicopter sustained no damage. The passengers then continued their journey using a CAT station wagon.
The economic reality of operating such small aircraft on short routes caused CAT to announce the end to regular passenger service effective February 1, 1957. Mr. Bolton estimated CAT had carried 18,000 passengers since it began operations two-and-half years earlier. The company, Bolton pointed out, achieved its goal of gaining experience for a Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) certificate to carry passengers, mail and cargo over other fixed routes.
In charter and contract work the company would serve industry and others on a flat-fee arrangement. Two of the five CAT helicopters were assigned to oil rig projects in Louisiana at that time. Bolton said he would work with the city and state to help develop plans for heliports and helistops that would be necessary in perhaps five years.
Cleveland Air Taxi was never able to gain its CAB certificate. CAT closed on March 24, 1957, when it merged on a stock exchange basis with Petroleum Helicopters, Inc., of New Orleans, owner of the largest helicopter fleet in the country at that time servicing oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. The merger sent the entire five-craft fleet south.
In 1959-60, the aviation committee of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce made an attempt at restoring helicopter (or small fixed wing) air taxi service between CLE and BKL, due to the perceived need for a faster link between the city’s two main airports. However, nothing came of these efforts.
Air Central: Second Attempt at Helicopter Service
About a decade later, a second attempt at helicopter commuter service was attempted. Air Central was formed when James V. Stouffer, a son and business partner of Vernon Stouffer of restaurant, hotel and frozen food fame, bought Cleveland Air Service, a helicopter charter subsidiary, since 1965, of trucking company Cleveland Freight Lines. The company was based at 17877 St Clair Ave. and operated two $120,000 ($931K today) Bell 206 Jet Ranger, turbine-powered helicopters on air taxi services. Each helicopter could carry four passengers and a pilot. In early 1968, the company also considered implementing a helicopter shuttle service between Euclid, CLE, and BKL.
Stouffer said he planned to “take this fine organization and tie it directly to the tremendous growth potential of Cleveland. The commercial applications for the helicopter are limitless, and we plan to offer an entire range of services both to passengers and industry.”
The fledgling helicopter carrier struggled to really take off. It took a while to get acquainted with passenger demands and procedures. And lack of marketing did not help either. Its customers were primarily middle and upper management of local companies, professional people, and those who wanted to save time (and had the money to do so). With Air Central, any point in Cuyahoga County was under 15-minutes flying time from Hopkins Airport using a ‘copter. However, many residents were not happy to have loud and potentially dangerous aircraft flying close to their homes.
It is unclear to the author whether Air Central ever operated regularly scheduled shuttle routes, originally planned to begin in spring 1970, but it did operate on-call services from Cleveland Hopkins to Aurora, Euclid, Lakewood, Maple Heights, Solon, and the Cuyahoga County Airport (CGF) in Richmond Heights.
In January 1970, the Beachwood City Council seriously considered an offer by Air Central to begin 13-minute trips to CLE, saving over an hour and a half over typical driving time (before I-480 was constructed) from the affluent east side suburb. It would cost $15 (a whopping $121 in 2024!) per trip. As in the past, several residents and council people expressed concerns over noise, dust, and safety problems helicopters might create. The proposed landing area was near Commerce Park, a light industrial area near Chagrin Boulevard and I-271, not near any residents’ homes.
Approximately a year later, in January 1971, Air Central presented a similar idea to the village of Bratenahl to transform a lawn above a parking garage east of the Bratenahl Place II apartment complex on Lake Erie north of Eddy Road into a "helistop." This helistop would offer on-demand helicopter transportation to any of the Greater Cleveland airports or other helistops in the area. The cost of a 12-minute trip to CLE would be $15.75 (equivalent to $122 today).
After early 1971, I could not locate further information about Air Central and remain uncertain about its fate. While NIMBYism hindered the expansion of helicopter services, the primary reasons for the lack of success of these carriers in northeast Ohio and other areas were probably the significant economic challenges associated with their high costs and low passenger volumes, which did little to alleviate traffic congestion.
Thanks to R.E.G. Davies’ iconic volumes, Airlines of the United States since 1914, for much of the early source material on helicopter airlines for this article. The Cleveland Plain Dealer was also used as a source.
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