As Leesburg Executive Airport nears the ripe age of 50, it gains its best known celebrity since Arthur Godfrey used to barnstorm the town.  Entrepreneur and philanthropist Sheila Johnson has moved her corporate jets there with their distinct salamander logos, under the care of new airport tenant Projet Aviation.

Projet Aviation operates aircraft ground services in Winchester and now in Leesburg. The Town of Leesburg celebrated their arrival to the airport with a grand ribbon cutting on June 2nd, 2010 with a host of local dignitaries and keynote speaker Sheila Johnson.

For me, the evening was a little bit of a homecoming, personally having several ties to the airport. Looking out of the hangar door I could see the woods that were once part of my grandfather’s 1950’s Cool Spring Farm. During the 1970’s my father worked at the airport as an avionics technician and it was a pretty neat place for his teenage son to visit. Today, the airport’s modern terminal bears the name of my friend Stanley Caulkins, WWII B-17 radioman.

I also had the privilege o some f insight into keynote speaker Sheila Johnson, who was no doubt largely responsible for the hundred or so folks who came to the event.  Our family owns a local floral shop and I was called on to take a couple of arrangements to Ms. Johnson’s estate one particular Saturday.  The arrangements required some construction once in situ and I had the pleasure of unexpected conversation with Ms. Johnson while I finished the pieces. I left her home a big fan.