flying Ortner brothers: Part one, The

Air Classics, Apr 2002 by Friedman, Tom D

It is no small assumption that the average American aviation enthusiast has not heard of Wakeman Airport, located just outside of Wakeman, Ohio - twelve miles south of Lake Erie - in the north central part of the state. The village of Wakeman has around 1000 residents, one bank, one traffic light, and two gas stations. The town, along with Wakeman Airport, are pieces of true old-- time Americana. The airport, located on State Route 60, is nestled between corn and soybean fields and today accommodates a small variety of privately owned sport aircraft housed in a full-size hangar and a long open air "T" hangar. A two-story brick house serves as an office/pilots' lounge.

The airport does not draw much activity anymore but, from the late-1940s to the mid-1970s, the most common sound reverberating through the surrounding crop fields was from an incredible inventory of privately-owned civilian and World War Two aircraft purchased and operated by Andy and Dean Ortner under the title "The Ortner Air Service." In those bygone days, the little Wakeman Airport was the hub of classic aviation in Ohio - years before people had the historical foresight regarding operational vintage aircraft. In its time, Wakeman could have been compared to Chino by today's Warbird activity standards.

The Ortner brothers had a "ground floor" opportunity after WWII to purchase surplus Warbirds and other civilian aircraft for a pittance of current multi-million dollar price tags. Over a 30-year time span, they owned, flew, and serviced the following single engined aircraft: P-51D Mustang, F4U and FG-1 Corsairs, two BT-13s, a PT-19, a Waco UPF-7, several AT-6s, Piper Cubs, and Stinsons. The Ortner brothers even owned a Fairchild 24, purportedly flown by Charles Lindbergh but was confirmed to be at one time owned by Earl "Early" Winn, who was one of the Cleveland Indians' first pitchers just after the baseball team was established. In the multi- engined category the inventory consisted of seven Beech 18s, eight C-46 Commandos, six DC-7s, one DC-6, one Cessna T-50, one DC-3, and an A-26 Invader Onmark conversion.

Andy and Dean Ortner's "good old American ingenuity," coupled with their spirited "seat of the pants" piloting skills, eventually led them to aeronautical entrepreneurism as operators and owners of one of the first and largest air freight services east of the Mississippi River with exclusive Part 121 non-scheduled service. The Ortners' talent, and knowledge of the aviation industry and of the air freight business in general, also helped them to transition into airshow entertainers, corporate private pilots, and airport owners.

For all their skill, fate would catch up with the brothers in unrelated incidents only three years apart. Anybody who knew the brothers would agree that each of them departed life doing what they loved most. They have been gone many years now, but they left quite a legacy of legend and fact with their aerial exploits and air freight operations out of northern Ohio. It is this writer's goal to document the Ortner brothers' aviation history as a tribute to them and those that they touched through the Ortner Air Service - from individuals, to the Ford Motor Company, to the United States Government.

The Ortner Air Service headquarters had its humble beginning as the Ortner family farm. The airport's inception as an operating business was during 1946. With WWII over and victory attained, our troops came home. The United States government initiated the GI Bill program, which afforded the war veterans the opportunity to pursue their dreams. In Wakeman at the fledgling Ortner Airfield, the brothers Andy, Dean, and Ferd capitalized on the bone thrown to American veterans by the government. The brothers were taught their basic piloting skills by Harry Griffing of Sandusky, Ohio. Andy then received his A&E license (aircraft and engine) and passed on his maintenance and repair skills to Dean and Ferd. The three brothers started giving flying lessons and aerobatic instruction via the GI Bill which was the foundation of their aviation business. Local veterans now had aviation to pursue as a career or hobby and the GI Bill proved to be quite lucrative to the brothers by generating a cash flow and a steady income - thus paving the way to larger aviation ventures.

The flight training income earned by the GI Bill was a "cash cow" for the brothers until its conclusion in the mid-- 1950s. However, they had the foresight not to rest on the program's laurels which for ten years reaped rapid and continuous dividends. This revenue provided enough surplus cash for the brothers to operate two other airports in Ohio - Norwalk and Wellington - where additional flight training took place. Ferd Ortner ran Wellington, Dean ran Norwalk, while Andy ran Wakeman, as well as undertaking daily administration of all three sites. All major repairs were done at Wakeman.

As the business steadily flourished, the Ortners began to compile an impressive fleet of aircraft which they operated out of all three locations - the majority being 16 Piper Cubs. As the Cub fleet grew, they came up with a system to identify where each craft was based so they painted the engine cowls of each Cub: Yellow represented Wakeman, red Wellington, and black Norwalk.