DuPage Airport is located on what used to be sheep-grazing land, but in 1927, two Chicago entrepreneurs purchased the land and began barnstorming, using the field as a grass strip. In 1941, the U.S. Navy requisitioned DuPage Airport, built brick hangars, paved two runways in an “X” pattern and began training pilots for the war effort. The airport was officially activated in March 1943. Both the hangars and the original runway configuration still exist, though one runway is closed and is now taxiway C. A year after the Navy began operations, Howard Aircraft Corporation opened a factory east of the airport across the road. The company built more than 500 trainer, transport and air ambulance aircraft for the military, and Howard employees were regularly seen pushing aircraft across the road to the little airport to test fly them. In 1946, with the war over, the Navy sold the airport to DuPage County for $1. The post-war boom saw a lot of regional growth and the airport reflected it by adding an east/west runway and a five-story control tower and making plans for further expansion. In the late 1970s, DuPage Airport was designated a reliever airport for general aviation aircraft, and in the early 1980s, the airport authority began an expansion project to accommodate the increased traffic. However, planners learned a lesson from the plight of the beleaguered, land-locked Midway Airport. Surrounded by houses, restaurants and other small businesses, Midway found itself unable to expand and neighbors filed an endless succession of noise complaints. DuPage County would not make the same mistake. The airport grew from in 1985 to by 1992, with the goal of maintaining control of all the property surrounding the runway complex. Much of the land was acquired to provide a large buffer zone around the airport.
Runways
DuPage Airport has four runways. The longest, and the reason for its status as a reliever airport, is runway 2L/20R, which is a Group IV-compliant concrete runway at 7571 x 150 ft. Its slightly smaller partner, 2R/20L, is another concrete runway with dimensions of 6451 x 100 ft. Two asphalt general aviation runways complete the arrangement: runway 10/28 at 4750 x 75 ft and 15/33 at 3399 x 100 ft.
Facilities and aircraft
The DuPage Airport Authority owns and operates four separate business units. This multifaceted business portfolio includes the DuPage Airport, one of the busiest airports in Illinois, its associated fixed-base operator, a Robert Trent Jones, Jr. designed golf course, and the largest corporate research and development park in DuPage County. DuPage Airport sits on and is the only general aviation airport in Illinois with four active runways, two ILS approaches, a 24-hour FAA air traffic control tower, and over 40 aviation and non-aviation support businesses. DPA also has an on-site U.S. Customs Office. For the 12-month period ending July 31, 2008, the airport had 99,802 aircraft operations, an average of 273 per day: 95% general aviation, 4% air taxi, <1% military, and <1% scheduled commercial. There are 365 aircraft based at this airport: 69% single-engine, 14% multi-engine, 16% jet, and 1% helicopter. DuPage Airport also serves as the headquarters for the Illinois Wing of the Civil Air Patrol.
Reception
The airport faced severe political criticism in the 1980s and 1990s. A 1995 Chicago magazine exposé called it "A Monument to Lavish Spending of Taxpayers' Money, a Haven of GOP Patronage, and the Target of a Federal Probe." According to an article by John K. Wilson: According to a May 2006 article in Aviation International News: In June 2010, the board of the DuPage National Technology Park, an technology park that secured a $34 million state grant called for the dissolution of their organization.
