Jacksonville Municipal Airport Imeson Field

[Jason]

Welcome Papa Jeff!!!

I've lived between Jax and Daytona all of my life but would still call myself a transplant.  I'm amazed nearly everyday at some new tidbit of Jacksonville history I come across.  Thanks for supplying more.

[Lunican]

Dec. 21, 1955:

City's first commercial air crash left 17 dead

All 17 people aboard died when an Eastern Air Lines Constellation crashed seconds before a scheduled landing at Imeson Airport.

The four-engine, 60-passenger plane was northbound from Miami to Washington, New York and Boston.

Twenty-two passengers awaited to board at Imeson.

The crash was the first of a regularly scheduled commercial airplane in Jacksonville.

The plane was making what appeared to be a routine instrument landing in fog at the Jacksonville airport at 3:40 a.m.

It clipped a stand of pines a half-mile from the runway and cut a 200-yard swath of destruction through woods and back yards of homes just west of Main Street.

Killed in the crash were 12 passengers and five crew members. Airline officials said the plane was on a "slack-time" flight. It normally carried a full load of 60 passengers.

Luggage and personal effects were scattered through the woods. The plane also carried Christmas mail and, ironically, the body of a longtime Eastern Air Lines employee being flown from Miami to Washington for burial.

Veteran observers recalled only two other major crashes in the Jacksonville area: a B-25 bomber crash at the city prison farm during World War II and an unexplained "non-scheduled flight that crashed several years ago."

Dove Etna of 202 Jericho Road, whose home was closest to the burning plane, said she looked out the window and "all I could see was a ball of flame."

"I just knew my house was going, too, and I called the fire department as fast as I could."

City firefighters and several county volunteer fire departments battled the flames until dawn. The last of the bodies was removed at 6:40 a.m.

[Jaxson]

Decent train system, LOL, I saw the Auto Train sitting along US 17, near NAS Jax for 2+ hours tonight, waiting for CSX engineers to fix something, as there were 2 CSX trucks by a signal tower.

Get off public rail and you stand a chance as to decency.

Wow I bet that hasn't ever happened on a plane where people had to sit on the runway for an hour our two while engineers fix some problem. OK bad example I'll try again.
Wow I bet that hasn't ever happened in a car where people had to sit on the highway for an hour our two while the FHP fixes some problem. OK bad example sorry can't help you.

I have read about passenger airlines that were stuck on the tarmac for hours.  I recall that there was one incident that was so bad (lavatory filled with waste, passengers sweating it out in a stinky cabin) that Congress was asked to take action.

[duvaldude08]

I had nooo idea this used to be the airport. growing up I just remember sears, then AOL and Prudential being in that building. This is some good history.

[Jaxson]

I remember when I worked a help desk at Prudential and I dispatched techies to the Imeson Building.  I also remember when everyone and his brother was lining up for a job at AOL.  It was THE job to have back then.  I remember applying for a position there, but didn't get hired.  My sister, however, got an AOL job.  Those were the gravy days!
On another note, I worked a temp job out at Imeson.  I was helping out a beer distributor.  I remember driving around and seeing evidence of Imeson's past life...

[stjr]

Re: 1955 plane crash:

The plane also carried Christmas mail...

By father has a partially burned letter from this crash that was delivered to him with a Post Office notation that it was burned in a plane crash.

By the way, the only other commercial crash I recall here from Imeson or JIA was a regional airline flight in the 1980's, I believe, from Jax to Tampa.  Forget how many died but it seems it was in the same range.  Crashes are so tragic.

[RMHoward]

For anyone interested, here are four overheads of Imeson.  The first is from 1943 during WWII.  I believe the Army had first possession of the field, but transferred to Navy at some point. Notice the barracks at the north end of field. I believe the Navy flew light bombers from this field (Navy version of B-24).  The other three photos are from 1952.  One is a closeup of the terminal.
Rick

1943

1952

1952

1952

[urbanlibertarian]

That runway going off to the northeast pointed right at the house I grew up in (about 3/4 mi away).  We slept better after the airport moved.

[Dog Walker]

Took my first remembered commercial flight out of Imeson on a Constellation.It was a really beautiful airplane.

Remember coming back years later on an Electra from my first flight to Europe with a couple of Dutch guys who were on business.  They didn't believe me when I said that it was 36C and 90% humidity.  They were wearing heavy business suits.  The expression on their faces when they hit the heat, humidity and stink from the paper mill was memorable.  No jetways in those days and by the time we got into the terminal their suits were soaked through with sweat.

[maxmo11]

Anyone with old photos of Imeson or the airport restaurant Please email I have been looking for pictures or videos for a long time. I used to fly a v-tail bonanza out of Laurie Young flight center. I remember when I was little my mother carried me up to Clark road to see the Eastern Airline that crashed just short of Main Street by Clark Road.

[Dog Walker]

Laurie Young had a four digit pilot's license number.  He was taught to fly by Wright who signed his license. He taught my father to fly in the late-1920's in a Jenny.  I've got pictures of them both beside my father's Fairchild F-2 from the 1950's somewhere in the boxes of old photos.  Will look for Imeson terminal pictures too, but am sure have none of the restaurant.

[maxmo11]

I Took some instrument training with Al James who used to work with Laurie. I saw Laurie many years later after he had moved to Hilliard. Had a lot of respect for both of them. I went to the University of Miami and I flew a Cessna Skymaster up from Miami for my father in law to look at . He was in the market for a plane and we let Laurie check it out for us. It turned out there were to many things to fix to make it worth while. Thanks for looking for some old pictures. If I can do anything for you let me know