If Mayor Richard Daley were truly serious about improved security vis-a-vis Meigs, he might have asked the Army to bring back the anti-aircraft artillery (ack-ack) brigade that was stationed just north of the lakefront airport’s runway in the early ’50s. Then again, maybe it’s not such a great idea. The Tribune eventually pointed out that the Army’s barracks, heavy guns and ammunition stores sat a couple of hundred feet from where as many as 4,200 planes a month were taking off and landing. Ack!
Value of parked plane that vanished from Meigs during a wind storm in 1952: $5,500.
Airports available on Microsoft’s Flight Simulator 2002 game: 22,000. Default airport: Meigs.
Takeoffs and landings at Meigs in 1950: 25,800. In 1990: 61,000. In 2002: 32,000.
Cost per hour, in the air, of operating a corporate jet: $2,000.
