Pioneering Pilot
It's been five years, and efforts to honor an aviation pioneer with ties to Butler County remain grounded.
In 2016, the airport authority changed the name of the facility from the Butler County Airport to the Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport. The change reflects its original name in 1929, the Pittsburgh-Butler Airport, and authority members believed it better suited their goals of serving the region.
However, the change also removed the secondary name given to the airport's airfield: K. W. Scholter Field, named after Ken Scholter.
A longtime manager of the airport, Scholter was a notable character throughout its history.
From 1935-69, Scholter managed and operated what was then the Butler-Graham Airport in Penn Township.
After Scholter's retirement in 1969, the airport's name was changed to Pittsburgh-Butler Airport and K. W. Scholter Field in his honor.
But Scholter's career stretched back to the beginnings of aviation in this country.
“He is truly a legend. There should be something, a plaque in front of some of the buildings,” said Joyce Echevaria, of Bloomfield, Conn., a former Butler County resident.
Echevaria, a freelance writer, has written a history of Scholter, “Not Just a Hero, But a Legend.”
Echevaria said she has been a longtime friend of Scholter's son, John Scholter, of Marietta, Ga.According to Echevaria's research, Scholter became involved in the fledgling field of aviation in 1924 when the 14-year-old began running errands and doing odd jobs for pilots at the Pittsburgh-McKeesport Airport.By the time the Great Depression hit the United States, Scholter dropped out of school to work at the airport cleaning planes and learning mechanics.In 1927, when Charles Lindbergh was doing a flying tour of the United States after his transatlantic solo flight, he landed at Bettis Field, as Pittsburgh-McKeesport Airport was then named.Scholter had made a large sign reading “Hello Lindy” that could be seen from the air. Lindbergh saw the sign and decided to land and meet the sign's maker.Scholter received his pilot's licence in 1930 when he was 21. By 1931, he became the chief testing pilot for airplane maker Aeroncia in Detroit, where he set an altitude record flying an Aeroncia plane.
When John Graham bought the dormant Penn Township airport in the early 1930s, he asked Scholter to help him get the airport up and running.Echevaria said, “At the time there were two hangars. Farmers stored their hay and corn in them. He helped John get those cleaned out and the airport up and running.”It was at the airport that Scholter met Amelia Earhart on May 20, 1932, when she flew in her B-5 Lockheed to have Scholter install a long-range fuel tank and obtain instrument certification from Scholter in preparation for her upcoming transatlantic solo flight.Scholter was also instrumental in the creation of the first prototype of the Taylorcraft airplane.Its creator, Clarence Taylor, built it in a hangar at the airport in 1936. Scholter welded the tubing that made up the fuselage and took a picture of the plane on its maiden flight at the airport.Any chance that Butler could have been the home for an aircraft manufacturer was squelched when Taylor moved his operation to Alliance, Ohio, later in 1936.Scholter was also responsible for the airport's Cadet Pilot training program for the Civil Aeronautics Administration.He died in 2002 at age 91.Scholter contributed a collection of photographs and personal papers to the research materials in the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania's archives.His collection focuses on the founding and growth of the aviation industry in Western Pennsylvania during the 20th century.It was in the 21st century, in 2016 to be exact, airport authority members changed the name of the airport from the Butler County Airport to the Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport and removed Scholter's name from its designation.
Butler County Commissioner Kimberly Geyer, who is the ex officio member of the Butler County Airport Authority — meaning she attends every meeting but doesn't vote — said the move was made to reflect the increase in the size and activity at the airport. It was no longer Butler's airport but a regional airport.“Placing Pittsburgh in the name got the airport better name recognition and helped make the airport more accessible to pilots' pull-up technology,” Geyer said.His son, John Scholter, in 2019 expressed his wish for his father's name to return.Two years later, there is no movement on getting Scholter's name attached to something at the airport.Echevaria said, “I don't know, to me they've just sort of ignored the fact we should put up a memorial.“I've suggested renaming Airport Road. There's a number of things that could be done, a building with Ken Scholter's name, a memorial plaque. It's not for me to decide,” she said.Ike Kelly, the airport manager, said “There were people who were just as important, if not more, to the development of the airport.”“The authority is working to come up with some type of way to recognize people,” Kelly said.Geyer said the authority is taking a measured approach to a Scholter memorial.“To date, there are no plans announced about a memorial to the late Ken Scholter,” Geyer said.Geyer said she knows Scholter's son, John Scholter, had asked the Penn Township supervisors about naming something after his father.John Scholter's request to memorialize his father is not forgotten, Geyer said. “It needs to be thoughtful and dignified in a way that honors everybody.”She said Scholter was one of many figures in the aviation field or leadership positions who had a positive impact on the airport.“So we need to talk about what are thoughtful, strategic ways that set precedent. ” Geyer said.
