Wings of Hope To Construct Hangar At Spirit Airport

Wings of Hope Inc., a St. Louis-based humanitarian aviation organization, will construct a hangar to serve as its central base at the Spirit of St. Louis Airport.

Construction of the 6,400-square-foot hangar – to include offices, meeting rooms, shops and storage space – will begin this summer and should be completed by year’s end, according to Joseph G. Fabick, president of Wings of Hope.

The decision to establish the central base at Spirit Airport was made at a recent board meeting of the Wings organization, Fabick said. The organization repairs and modifies airplanes for “bush” service in remote areas of the world. The work is done now at rented space at various airports.

Fabick’s announcement followed negotiations by his organization with Richard Hrabko, airport director at Spirit, for a $5,000 a year lease of a 1.4-acre site on the south side of the runway now under construction.

The lease agreement will be sent to the County Council for final approval.

Wings of Hope was founded in 1962 by a group of St. Louis professional and business men to provide air transportation and radio communication equipment and services to suffering and needy people in remote regions of the world.

Fabick said priority is given mercy missions, such as medical rescue and disaster evacuation.

D. Robert Werner, hangar-committee chairman for Wings of Hope, said the new hangar will enable the organization to operate more efficiently.

In addition to the hangar, the Spirit site will provide tie-down space for about 10 aircraft.

Repair work is done largely by volunteer mechanics. Airplanes frequently are modified to permit pilots to land and takeoff’ in remote areas without improved air strips.

Wings of Hope maintains its office at 2319 Hampton Aye.

For more information, call William D. Edwards, executive director, 647-5631.