Before Hancock International, there was Amboy Airport in Camillus.

It doesn't look like much now, as it is a wastebed for OCCRA.

As Onondaga Historical Association curator Robert Searing describes, it was an aviation hub in the early 1900s.

"It was the municipal airport. Syracuse had air carriers. Again, American, you could get on a plane in Syracuse and you could fly to Buffalo, you could fly to Boston," Searing said. 

Sitting on Hensdale Farm, Amboy started off as an airfield for private flights.

"Very early, aviators are landing in farmers' fields. They're flat," Searing said. "They're generally available. Mayor Charles Hannah, who is himself an aviator during World War I, he's mayor of Syracuse during the 1920s. He recognizes very early on that in order for Syracuse to be an industrial powerhouse, to really put Syracuse on the map and continue Syracuse's economic development, that air travel is the next great leap," Searing said. 

That propelled Amboy to be a prime destination.

"After World War I, it becomes a significant place where bomb stormers and other fliers are using it as a stopping point, as a ground. It's close to the fairgrounds which is another place where very early aviatiors would do displays, do shows, do aerial stunts and things like that," Searing said. 

As Aviation Historical Society Secretary Tom Kehoskie says, if you loved aviation, at Amboy you were guaranteed to spot the favorites.

"'Wrong Way' Corrigan," said Kehoskie.

"Ameila Earhart,"  said Searing.

"Jimmy Doolittle," said Kehoskie.

"Wiley Post lands there as he readies himself to do the first solo trip around the world," Searing said. "Charles Lindbergh lands there in July of 1927 upon the return of his first solo trans-Atlantic flight. I's a who's who of any famous flier."

Amboy made national history with the first mail run and also shaped the aviation industry when it came to lighting standards.

"One of the cool things about it is that Crouse Hinds, the lighting manufacturer, actually uses Amboy field as sort of a testing ground for its incredibly innovative lighting solutions," Searing said. 

"The runway landing lights and the ground-air communication, but also it was used as a staging area during World War II. Planes that were going to the European theater. There was a flight school for military pilots here at Amboy," said Kehoskie.

But as the popularity of commercial flights grew, so did the demand for bigger space.

"The first runways built in Amboy were 3,000 feet," Searing said. "You're going to need 5,000 runways."

Hancock, which was used as an army bomber base and trainer facility during World War II, became the new base.

"Amboy becomes obsolete and will close up shop in 1951 when it's purchased by Allied Chemicals and turned into wastebeds for the Solvay process," said Searing.

Even decades later, all isn't lost.

The Aviation Historical Society of Central New York is working to build the Amboy Airport Museum.

"Everything is there and you don't want to lose history because once you've lost it, you don't get it back," said Kehoskie.

So it remains reaching new altitudes grounded in memories.