Hamilton Airport - Hogan Field

The Hogan family owned and operated Hamilton Airport for more than 52 years after Carl "Pop" Muhlberger and Joe Hogan co-founded it in July 1929. Muhlberger taught Joe to fly, and Joe managed and maintained the field. When Muhlberger could no longer afford to operate the airport during the Great Depression, it closed in July 1932, but with financial backing from Joe's older brother Charles and their father William, the family purchased and reopened it. The airport became a family enterprise as Joe taught his brothers Bill, Bernie, and Art to fly, while sisters Mary Ann, Katie, and Loretta Sauer, along with their mother Emma, helped run the airport and its restaurant. The family supported the airport through barnstorming, sightseeing flights, and flying lessons. After the Civil Pilot Training Act of 1939, the airport expanded, and in partnership with Miami University and under a War Department lease through the Civil Aviation Authority, the Hogans trained more than 300 pilots for service during World War Two. After the war through the 1970s, the brothers improved the airport by lengthening the runway twice, building hangars, and installing runway lights and radio navigation equipment. By 1974, more than 200 aircraft were based there, with 74,000 general, private, and charter flights, and in 1985, unable as private owners to obtain government grants and loans for further renovations, the Hogans sold the airport to the Butler County Commissioners and the cities of Hamilton and Fairfield. It later became known as Butler County Regional Airport-Hogan Field.

Fairfield, Ohio · United States