2VG2- Upperville, VA

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Sitting around tonight with some friends discussing random stuff over beer, we ended up on odd things we've seen.

My addition to the discussion was a strangle little airfield I came across as a Boy Scout. While hiking a section of the AT I came across a razorwire fence in the middle of the woods. I was told by the scoutmaster not to take any photos as we walked long the fence for about a mile. Come to find out a few years later, I had walked along the outer boundary of Mount Weather, a COG facility.

Anyway what stuck me as odd even at 12 was this airfield out in the middle of nowhere. Upon Google Earth coming out I indulged my curiosity and found a runway with the words Restricted written up and down. This airfield happens to be only six or so miles away from Mount Weather.

A little research turns up that this airfield was built by a wealthy family for personal use.

So what do y'all think?

I think it was built by the family, but also helped along by the government in case Mount Weather ever needed to be used.
 
I did not know about Mount Weather, thank you.
 
This runway was built for Paul and Bunny Mellon on their Oak Springs Farms property. It features lots of horse stables, gardens, a mansion, and an I.M.Pei designed poolhouse. They actually kept their rather unmodified G-3 at IAD in the hangar at the (then) Hawthorn FBO. I had been in it. Except when he was going to Yale, the Yale runway was too short for the G-3 so he rented a Lear.

I believe it's on the market again, if you've got $70 Million burning a hole in your pocket.
 
As Ron alludes to, there is a long history to 2VG2, which was built/owned by the Mellons.

Technically, Mt. Weather is not at their property, but is some distance away (it, too, has a long history, starting as a weather research station & exists today as a FEMA facility). Mt. Weather was featured in the 1960's movie Seven Days in May & was walking distance to the site of the crash of TWA 514.

2VG2 is on the east side of the mountain & there was an agreement with the US Government to use the airfield in the event of a national emergency. It is the closest field to Mt. Weather, but is in private hands. As I recall, the field has been used by presidential family members visiting the Mellons.

With the death of Bunny a couple of years ago, the entire property is on the market as Ron notes. Beautiful property, beautiful area & perhaps some cold war intrigue to go along with it.
 
wsuffa said:
As Ron alludes to, there is a long history to 2VG2, which was built/owned by the Mellons.

Technically, Mt. Weather is not at their property, but is some distance away (it, too, has a long history, starting as a weather research station & exists today as a FEMA facility). Mt. Weather was featured in the 1960's movie Seven Days in May & was walking distance to the site of the crash of TWA 514.

2VG2 is on the east side of the mountain & there was an agreement with the US Government to use the airfield in the event of a national emergency. It is the closest field to Mt. Weather, but is in private hands. As I recall, the field has been used by presidential family members visiting the Mellons.

With the death of Bunny a couple of years ago, the entire property is on the market as Ron notes. Beautiful property, beautiful area & perhaps some cold war intrigue to go along with it.
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I read that the TWA crash was the lynchpin in the public learning about the facility. The article said that a newspaper leaked the name of the unknown bunker. Don't know how true that is, but none the less it's interesting. Kinda like what happend at the Greenbriar.

The property looked very beautiful when I drove past it 11 years ago.
 
Back in the day, the Mellons used a 727 as their private jet. It's a STOL capable jet. Apparently, 2VG2 had (has?) a private ILS system.

Also back in the day, a friends father worked for C & P Telephone (pre Bell Atlantic, Verizon). He had a Top Secret security clearance to work on the phone lines / systems there (The Mountain). That's all he would say.

Ex father-in-law worked for FEMA from late 50's thru late 80's. FEMA, pre disaster assistance era was a Cold War, nuclear fallout, DOD type planning think tank. His office was on "The Mountain". Never knew if he was an accountant, or planning the number of body bags needed after a bomb drop.
 
I don't believe it. He had a long range G-2 (I was wrong in the statement above). There are some comments about 2VG2 being big enough to land a 727, I'm not sure they ever owned one. There's no sign that there is a localizer or glide slope on the field now (I'm doubtful as well if there ever was.
 
flyingron said:
I don't believe it. He had a long range G-2 (I was wrong in the statement above). There are some comments about 2VG2 being big enough to land a 727, I'm not sure they ever owned one. There's no sign that there is a localizer or glide slope on the field now (I'm doubtful as well if there ever was.
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One of the Mellons (Richard Mellon Scaife) who recently died kept a white DC-9 at KLBE.

This one: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N8860/history/20130829/2000Z/KACK/KLBE
 
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I found this after a very intense and lengthy 5 minute search. The information appears to be about 7-8 years old.


Upperville Airport is a private runway located on the estate of the late Paul Mellon. The precise date of construction of the field is unknown, but it was apparently built at some point between 1957-60, as it was not depicted at all on the 1957 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe). The earliest reference to Upperville Airport which has been located is the 1960 Washington Sectional Aeronautical Chart, which described it as having a single 3,500' bituminous runway. Upperville was listed among active airports in the 1962 AOPA Airport Directory, by which time the runway had been lengthened to 4,500'. At some point between 1970-72 the runway had been lengthened again, as the 1972 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe) described Upperville as having a 5,100' paved runway (which remains the current length, as of 2003). The single 5,100' northwest/southeast runway is used to operate private jets (including a private Boeing 727 which once flew in for a party!). The runway is lighted & is painted with instrument approach markings. There are no hangars at the facility, just a small parking ramp along the south side of the runway. Upperville Airport is located almost immediately underneath the busy approach path to nearby Dulles Airport's Runway 12, and it was once used for an emergency landing by a Dulles-bound airliner which was experiencing difficulties. Upperville is depicted as a private airfield on current Sectional charts. Although its construction & ownership by a wealthy private individual makes perfect sense, the location of a private jet-capable paved runway (which is also very secure & rarely used) a mere 6 miles from the Mount Weather presidential bunker would appear to invite speculation. Was this field constructed with some "agreement" with the federal government, with the provision for its use in a national emergency to bring personnel in & out of the Mount Weather bunker? Since the only aircraft facilities on the Mount Weather property consist of a grass runway for helicopters or light aircraft, it would appear to have been highly desirable to have some nearby facility capable of handling fixed-wing aircraft.

(Taken from "Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields" website, © 2002, © 2007 by Paul Freeman; http://www.airfields-freeman.com/VA/Airfields_VA_Faquier.htm#upperville)
 
Zeldman said:
I found this after a very intense and lengthy 5 minute search. The information appears to be about 7-8 years old.


Upperville Airport is a private runway located on the estate of the late Paul Mellon. The precise date of construction of the field is unknown, but it was apparently built at some point between 1957-60, as it was not depicted at all on the 1957 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe). The earliest reference to Upperville Airport which has been located is the 1960 Washington Sectional Aeronautical Chart, which described it as having a single 3,500' bituminous runway. Upperville was listed among active airports in the 1962 AOPA Airport Directory, by which time the runway had been lengthened to 4,500'. At some point between 1970-72 the runway had been lengthened again, as the 1972 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe) described Upperville as having a 5,100' paved runway (which remains the current length, as of 2003). The single 5,100' northwest/southeast runway is used to operate private jets (including a private Boeing 727 which once flew in for a party!). The runway is lighted & is painted with instrument approach markings. There are no hangars at the facility, just a small parking ramp along the south side of the runway. Upperville Airport is located almost immediately underneath the busy approach path to nearby Dulles Airport's Runway 12, and it was once used for an emergency landing by a Dulles-bound airliner which was experiencing difficulties. Upperville is depicted as a private airfield on current Sectional charts. Although its construction & ownership by a wealthy private individual makes perfect sense, the location of a private jet-capable paved runway (which is also very secure & rarely used) a mere 6 miles from the Mount Weather presidential bunker would appear to invite speculation. Was this field constructed with some "agreement" with the federal government, with the provision for its use in a national emergency to bring personnel in & out of the Mount Weather bunker? Since the only aircraft facilities on the Mount Weather property consist of a grass runway for helicopters or light aircraft, it would appear to have been highly desirable to have some nearby facility capable of handling fixed-wing aircraft.

(Taken from "Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields" website, © 2002, © 2007 by Paul Freeman; http://www.airfields-freeman.com/VA/Airfields_VA_Faquier.htm#upperville)
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I also came across that site. Just wanted to see if any of the more local people knew anything about the place. :)
 
That's consistent with what I know about it. No hangars at Upperville, the pilots kept the plane over at IAD and just flew into Oak Springs to pick up and and drop off.
 
flyingron said:
That's consistent with what I know about it. No hangars at Upperville, the pilots kept the plane over at IAD and just flew into Oak Springs to pick up and and drop off.
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It's always interesting to find the history of odd places. Sometimes it tells you what you thought and other times it teaches you something.

There is a abandoned airfield here locally that was built by a local banking tycoon. However, he uprooted a butt load of cypress trees without telling anyone. So the state came in and condemned the runway.
 
ARFlyer said:
It's always interesting to find the history of odd places. Sometimes it tells you what you thought and other times it teaches you something.

There is a abandoned airfield here locally that was built by a local banking tycoon. However, he uprooted a butt load of cypress trees without telling anyone. So the state came in and condemned the runway.
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I used to fly fire patrol over the trees of WV. I found a couple runways that I still wonder about. One was in a field, about 2500X30 paved. No roads going to it at all. I landed on it one day and digging through the grass I found outlines of what possibly could have been an office. I finally found a road bed leading to the runway, but it was just as overgrown as the rest of the area. Someone told me that it could have been a private runway for one of the privately owned coal mines. It was miles away from any town, and the nearest paved road was about 3 miles as the crow flies.

Another runway I found I thought it was not paved. It was more in the hilly section of WV, with lots of trees around it. I landed there and discovered it had a thin strip of asphalt on it and the grass had completely grown through it. There was an approximately 15X15 shack there, but it had collapsed many years ago. I dug through the remains and found parts of an old rotary phone, the kind you turned a handle to use it. I found remnants of a wind sock, cloth, not nylon, and remnants of a US flag. Not enough of it to count stars. I did find some old radial engine parts inside the tree line, mostly a couple of cylinders, spark plugs and what looked like exhaust parts. I didn't go too far into the tree line, was afraid I might find a still working still.

The history of old airports always interest me. It is fun to me to find out why an old airport was put there, what it was mostly used for, who used it and why it eventually died.
 
I'm well aware of the government "agreement" theories, but one would expect the govt to kick in a few bucks for a turn-out on either end of the runway. A 100ft wide runway is a little tight to turn around in anything bigger than a Bizjet.
 
Also in that vicinity was Timberridge which was on the grounds of a nudist colony. It came up for sale about the time I moved to Northern Virginia. I toyed with the idea of buying it. I actually went out there and drove down the runway with my car.
 
Consistent with what I know, too. 5100' (even 4500') is plenty long for a 737 in bizjet configuration that's lightly loaded.
 
I've flown over Upperville. It seems big!

There was an airport very near my house, but there are houses and a racket club/pool there now.

Not far away on River Road along the railroad tracks by the James River is what's left of a grass strip beside a nice, big home. The hangar is still there, too. Apparently the owner of the house had an airplane parts company at RIC and would fly to work.
 
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There are three or four listed airports near my house (within two miles). The largest is Dulles. I was based there for years. Little Glascock field was visible from Route 50 with it's poor neglected red-white-and-blue 150 tied down there. It's gone, there's a professional building sitting on the road side it. Around the corner from my house is the Centreville, Airport (VA16). I'd love to fly from there. There's not much of a runway left, though you can see the ghost of it on the satellite images. At least they've not built anything on top of it.
 
I nearly bought a house next to a small airport at Broad Run Farms/Sterling. That was late 80's. Elected not to because I judged that the commute would be too difficult (given what has transpired since, that was a good choice). Sure was a beautiful spot for an airport, even it it was under the IAD approach path.
 
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