AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 41

AIRPORTS

Solberg Airport
A New Jersey airport named for a Viking
BY DENNIS K. JOHNSON

THOR SOLBERG (top left). The Loening C-2C Air Yacht he flew

(above), displayed in Oslo, Norway.

IF YOU'RE TRAVELING, by air or road,
through the Garden State of New Jersey,
make a detour to visit Solberg-Hunterdon
Airport. The small rural airport is named
for a pioneering Viking pilot, Thor Solberg.
The Norwegian-born aviator became
modestly famous, at least in Norway, for
making the first flight from the United
States to Norway in 1935. Born in 1893 on
the family farm at Florø, Norway, Solberg
earned his pilot certificate in Germany
before immigrating to America in the
1920s where he worked various jobs in
New York City while planning his United
States-to-Norway flight.
After one failed attempt in 1932, Solberg
departed from Brooklyn's Floyd Bennett
Field on July 18, 1935, flying a Loening
C-2C Air Yacht, an open-cockpit, singleengine amphibious airplane he named the
Leif Erikson. Paul C. Oscanyon accompanied
Solberg on the flight as the radio operator and the duo made stops at Labrador,
Canada; Greenland; Iceland; and the Faroe
Islands, before landing in Norway on August
16. Solberg planned the flight to follow the
route of Leif Erikson, the tenth-century

Viking who was the first known European
to sail the Atlantic and set foot on the continent of North America. On arrival, the King
of Norway presented the pilots with a gold
medal.
Returning to the United States, Solberg
founded Solberg Airport in New Jersey in
1939, which was used during World War II
for military pilot training. Solberg remained
in New Jersey until his death at the age of
73 in 1967.
The airport Solberg founded is still
active and owned by his descendants. For
the past 37 years it has hosted the New
Jersey Festival of Ballooning, which claims
to be the largest summertime hot air balloon and music festival in North America
(balloonfestival.com).
Solberg Airport made aviation news in
2015 when it successfully defended itself
against attempts by nearby Readington
Township to seize the family-owned airport and prevent any improvements under
a local "open space" policy. The township
spent millions of taxpayer dollars in legal
fees, plus millions more to hire a public relations firm to foster voter opposition to the

Solberg-Hunterdon Airport (N51)
39 Thor-Solberg Road, Whitehouse Station, New Jersey
solbergairport.com/908-534-4000
Solberg Airport is located approximately 30 miles southwest of New York City and 4
miles south of I-78. The Solberg VOR is located on the airfield, so if you're flying, tune
in 112.90. The main runway is 4/22 and is 5,598 feet by 50 feet of asphalt with a 735foot turf displaced threshold. The airport also has two grass runways.

airport. The legal judgment stated that "the
township's asserted reason for the taking,
i.e., open-space preservation...was actually
motivated to stifle aviation-related activities
on the property."
Currently, the airport endures the challenge of being closed by the U.S. Secret
Service any time President Trump visits
his nearby golf club. Its flight instructors
must resort to flying the training aircraft to
other airports for the duration of a presidential visit. (AOPA has long advocated for
a solution for airports negatively affected
by presidential temporary flight restrictions, and a spending bill signed into law in
February provides some financial relief for
Solberg and other affected airports.)
In remembrance of the pioneering
Norwegian-American pilot, a bust of Solberg
and a commemorative plaque stand by the
ramp, while nearby, new student pilots train
in Cessna and Piper aircraft and GA pilots
enjoy recreational flying from the 700-acre
facility. Also, if you're ever in Oslo, Norway,
visit Solberg's historic airplane, now on display at the Norwegian Museum of Science
and Technology.

VISIT THIS AIRPORT
WITH YOUR PILOT PASSPORT
ON THE AOPA APP
aopa.org/travel/pilot-passport

aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 41

http://www.balloonfestival.com http://www.solbergairport.com/908-534-4000 https://www.aopa.org/travel/pilot-passport http://www.aopa.org/pilot

AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019

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