A strong feature of Ledyard is its ties to aviation. Off Angling Road, Ron Buxenbaum runs a private, grass airstrip which looks to be long enough to land a B-17, from World War II. Ron says the biggest plane to land there would be up to the largest twin engine private plane, now flying. Who knows how big a plane could get in during a crisis? Picture Charlton Heston at the controls of the 707, talking himself down.

There is another private strip off Levanna Road, but it does not get the traffic that Match Mate Airstrip (Ron's farm name) does. It is mostly used by the owner who plays with his private airplane stock. And we have some Canadian folks living in Aurora who fly to Cayuga Lake, and land their bush (not the president) pilot seaplane along the shores of the lake in Aurora. So we see a good deal of low level air traffic during the warm weather in dear old Ledyard.

Ron was a life-long dairy farmer, who had an early interest in flying. He started flying lessons in 1971, and by 1977 had started the groundwork for the landing strip that would become Match Mate, of course, on the farm. So a good piece of pasture and hayland was cut out for the wide and long strip. He purchased and sold several planes over the next few years, and travelled extensively by air. With a Beech Bonanza he bought, he flew his family to the Bahamas in one year's trip.

The strip was destroyed in 1972 by the washout of Hurricane Agnes, and had to be rebuilt and regarded at considerable expense. It has one hangar which is nestled in with the farm barns: you can't tell what it is from the road. One of Ron's planes is stored inside, another is tied down outside with a group of neighbors' planes, which he stores for them. And summer people from along the lakefront fly in during the season, as well as Wells College parents, more and more frequently. The airport is officially listed on the Section Maps, and the location is:18 nautical miles on Ithaca VOR, 342 degrees radial.

Anticipating retirement in 1991, Ron studied for and got his instructors rating from the FAA. And he got familiar with the 25 pound FAA regulation book. He's been training fledgling pilots how not to land in trees or rooftops. Just the facts ma'am: he does a fine job of training according to everyone who has gone through his school. If you want to learn how to fly that war surplus B-25 you just bought, give him a call. If he can't do it, he knows a lot of other trainers who can.

Having flown with Ron for some aerial photos, I can attest to the professionalism and kindness of the man. He has flown to help find lost cattle and dogs, and usually refuses compensation. However if you wanted to fly to Vegas with Ron, I'm sure it would be a different story. Who would want to go to Vegas, after they had lived in swinging Ledyard?

William Dugan is former supervisor for the town of Ledyard.