Originally this land was the Wesley A. Trost family farm. The original farm house was built in the 1800's but the larger part of the house was built in 1909. An early picture shows it to be of brick construction. It was purchased by Mr. Heinrichs in the 1960's. Mr. Heinrichs raised horses and put in a private F.A.A. approved airstrip. Since he was a horse breeder, there were fenced in pastures on both sides of the narrow runway. This presented no problem to Mr. Heinrichs as he flew a highwing Cessna 210. When Mr. Heinrichs decided to move with his horses he put the farm with it's original, but remodeled farm house, outbuildings and airstrip up for sale. That was in 1974.
Robert Ladd, of Milwaukee, who was then in the real estate business with Lewis Stanley (currently of Mukwonago) showed the Heinrich farm to Lyle and Gloria McCullough. The McCullough's offered advance payment for the Southwest quarter of the farm if Robert Ladd and Lewis Stanley would use the funds to purchase the farm and develop the remainder into a residential airstrip. Wayne and Cheryl Carstens purchased the original homesite and its associated buildings. Hence, "Air Troy Estates" came into being in 1974 with Lewis Stanley as its first President.
Stanley and Ladd laid out the subdivision on the West side of the runway with its roadways being named after different aircraft, incorporated it and set down the basic Covenants and By-laws. Lewis Stanley remained the President of the Air Troy Estates until 1977. Officers and directors were elected from the property owners themselves, their responsibilities being to see that the runway and road was maintained, that taxes and insurance was paid and that the residents police themselves so as to be good neighbors and an asset to the surrounding area.
In 1977 Lyle McCullough was elected president and served until 1984 when Donald Voland, the present president, was elected. There are presently 21 homesites and each one carries one vote in the associations affairs. Property owners share expenses for taxes, maintenance and insurance in the form of a yearly assessment. Everyone helps in the mowing and maintenance of the air strip proper during the summer.
This a dream come true for grass-roots aviation enthusiasts; a homesite with their plane and hangar just a few steps away. The average owner is middle income, middle class, and middle aged. The youngest couple are in their twenties, the oldest in their sixties. Some residents have aviation oriented occupations; an F.A.A. inspector, a commercial pilot, an aviation mechanics instructor. Most pursue non-aviation orientated jobs; a Sears serviceman, teachers, advertising exec., phone company employee, veterinarian, electrician, retired families, etc. All are however, interested in the common pursuit of recreational flying. Most own and fly factory built aircraft and nearly half have either restored an airplane, built or are in the process of building an airplane. This is an avocation requiring learning new skills, a patient spouse, and thousands of hours of work.
Gloria McCullough November 20, 1986
Dec 3, 1986
Dec 3, 1986
2008
Unique is probably one of the best words to describe a subdivision in the Town of East Troy. Unique because not only does every home have a driveway, but down the center of Air-Troy Estates is a 50 foot wide runway for airplanes. There are 21 home sites included in the subdivision. Although not all home owners have airplanes, most have their own hangars and do fly.
Originally, the land was the Troost family farm. It was purchased by a Mr. Heinrichs, who raised horses and put in a private F.A.A. approved airstrip. Because Mr. Heinrichs was a horse breeder, there were fenced in pastures on both sides of the narrow runway. But this presented no problem to Mr. Heinrichs, as he flew a highwing Cessna 210. He decided to sell the property in 1974, and included with it its original remodeled farmhouse, outbuildings, and airstrip.
Robert' Ladd of Milwaukee, who at that time was in the real estate business with Lewis Stanley, currently of Milwaukee, showed the farm to Lyle and Gloria McCullough. At that time, the McCulloughs lived near an airfield, and had their airplane at Mitchell Field.
The McCulloughs offered advance payment for the southwest quarter of the farm provided Ladd and Stanley use the funds to purchase the farm and develop the remainder into a residential airstrip. Wayne and Cheryl Carstens purchased the original homesite with the associated buildings. Air-Troy Estates came into existence in 1974 with Stanley as its first president.
Stanley and Ladd laid out the subdivision on the west side of the runway. It's roadways were named after different aircraft. Basic covenants and by-laws were determined. Stanley remained president of Air-Troy Estates until 1977. Property owners themselves elected officers and directors. Their responsibilities included the maintenance of the runway and roads, payment of the taxes and insurance, and assuring that the residents police themselves to continue being good neighbors and an asset to the surrounding area.
In 1977, Lyle McCullough was elected president and served until 1984 when Donald Voland was elected. "This is a dream come true for grassroots aviation enthusiasts," explained Gloria McCullough. "Some residents have aviation oriented occupations - an F.A.A. inspector, a commercial pilot, an aviation mechanics instructor. Most pursue non-aviation oriented jobs."
"All, however, are interested in the common pursuit of recreational flying," said Mrs. McCullough. "Most own and fly factory built aircraft and nearly half have either restored an airplane, built or are in the process of building an airplane. This is an avocation requiring learning new skills, a patient spouse, and thousands of hours of work."
Mrs. McCullough knows well of the hours of work and learning new skills. Her husband Lyle is currently building an airplane. File cabinets are filled with numerous specifications, all of which must be followed exactly in order to meet F.A.A. requirements.
Although Mrs. McCullough doesn't fly herself, she is responsible for the navigation. She monitors the radio and follows their travels by map. The couple, and other members of Air-Troy Estates, attend fly-in breakfasts and often special events at various airports. They take along their folding bicycles in their plane, just in case the airport they land at is small and without rental cars. (After all, once you land your plane, you need something to use for ground transportation, said Mrs. McCullough.)
They fly for vacations, and have visited relatives in Indianapolis, and friends in Oshkosh. They attend the E.A.A. Fly-In. Mr. McCullough is secretary for the group.
Air-Troy Estates is an interesting concept. There are several strips similar to this in the state of Wisconsin, and Florida has a large similar set-up.
Basically, pilots have to be responsible like drivers, said Mrs. McCullough. Airplanes must be inspected every year. And every two years, a pilot must go up with another licensed pilot to insure he/she has not lost the skills. Everyone is very safety conscious, said Mrs. McCullough.
"We're very cognisant of the East Troy airport and our pattern is designed so we do not conflict with their air space," stressed Mrs. McCullough.
Safety is a primary concern. And so it would be with the backyards and frontyards of people's homesteads along an airstrip. In the 13 years they have been in existence, there has been only one accident, and that was pilot error, said Mrs. McCullough. And no one was injured - the pilot walked away from the plane.
Within the past years, the airstrip has had a number of interesting visitors. The state highway patrol was forced to land on the airstrip once because the winds were too high for them to land another place. They had a couple stop and spend the night, who they had met at the E.A.A. Fly-In. The couple was from Australia. They've had planes with snow skis land on the strip.
The concept is an interesting one. The family of Air-Troy Estates is a group who gets together one night a week in the summer to mow their airstrip. Things have worked well for the people involved and their neighbors.
At Air Troy estates we enjoy a relaxed lifestyle in our great community. We are looking to the future and with an improved runway, our pleasant homes, good size hangars on an around an acre of land with an easy driving to cities and situated in a lovely part of Wisconsin, we have wonderful future instore.
We look forward to the next 50 Years!
