Thank you all for attending our 2024 Fall Fly In!
Lake Ridge Aero Park is a private use airport in Durham, NC. Located next to Falls Lake and just 11 nm north of Raleigh-Durham, the airfield’s history dates back to 1945.
1945 : Pharris Field
Dan K. Bryan converts farmland into two intersecting runways
Runway 6/24 2600 ft
Runway 14/32 3200 ft
Airport named Pharris Field after Dan Bryan’s wife
The Boy Brothers sold surplus WWII aircraft from the airfield including North American T-6s, Twin Beech and Stearman airplanes
Airfield was used by crop dusters and for glider operations
A racetrack was located on northeast end of Runway 6 where Linwood Roberts ran the motor grader
1948 : Bryan Field
Airport renamed Bryan Field
1955 : Wilkins Field
Odell Wilkins, WWII Flight Instructor and A&P Mechanic, leases airport
Airport renamed to Wilkins Field
Wilkins Flying Service offers aircraft maintenance and flight instruction
In 1965, Odell Wilkins leaves Durham to join Eastern Airlines in Atlanta
1966 : Durham Skypark
Woody Woodall leases airport
Woodall Flying Service offers flight instruction, aircraft maintenance and avionics shop
Airport renamed Durham Skypark
Rented airport for $100 month
Property owned by Aviation Land and Development Company (WTVD Channel 11)
Field had been abandoned; runways so rough they were not driveable by car
Woody first lands at the field in a Piper Cherokee N4504R owned by Warren Wheeler(Warren had just joined Piedmont Airlines and was their first African American pilot)
Woodall Flying Services has 2-3 full time flight instructors / mechanics and 9 planes in the fleet including C150, C172, Skylane, Apache, Citabria, Tri-Pacer
Cessna Dealer / Cessna Pilot Center, 141 Flight School
Sold Esso fuel
45 aircraft based at field
1976 : Lake Ridge Aero Park
Sterling Gann buys airport and adjacent land for residential development
Airport renamed Lake Ridge Aero Park
FAA Identifier W65
1978
Falls Lake construction begins
Runway 6/24 closed due to housing development leaving one Runway 14/32
A section of the old Runway 6/24 is the taxiway near the hangars and windsock
1993
Empire Aviation Flight School opens with one Cessna 150 before adding a Piper Cherokee, Cessna 172, and other aircraft to its fleet. Moves to Henderson-Oxford Airport (KHNZ) in 2009.
1995
Airport sold to BRNJ, Inc. (Randy Smith, Bobby Fuller and Rick Fuller)
2001
FAA Identifier changed from W65 to 8NC8
December 2020
Airport sold to Lake Ridge Aero, LLC (Paul Rovegno II & Daniel Rovegno)
The brother's host two Fly-In event's each year which take place in the Spring and Fall. The events are focused around introducing people to general aviation and expanding the network of pilots already within general aviation.