This Toledo Blade archive photo, taken Oct. 20, 1940, shows just how popular air shows have been in Toledo. Conservative estimates said 50,000 people attended the second annual Civilian Reserve Air Show at Toledo Municipal Airport in 1940. This photo was taken by Frank Carson, a Civilian Air Reserve officer, from the roof of a hanger. Wood and Lucas County sheriff’s deputies and city police handled traffic that jammed half a dozen roads in the area for more than five hours. Automobiles parked on all four sides of the airport and on side roads up to a mile away. The traffic lines backed up to Toledo bridges, seven miles from the airport. Deputies said, based on traffic, they estimated the crowd was closer to 100,000 people as about 20,000 vehicles reached, or tried to reach, the event. One-hundred-fifty planes from the Dawn Patrols of Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana landed throughout the day.
THE BLADE/Frank Carson
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