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EDITOR'S NOTE: This is part of a weekly series on our region's history coordinated by the Trumbull County Historical Society.
Ernest Craft Hall was born in 1890 in Gustavus. His family moved to Warren in 1895 and opened a music store.
Hall was fascinated with aviation and, in 1906, built several variations of gliders and experimented with flying them. In 1911, he built an airplane designed by Frenchman Louis Bleriot and taught himself to fly in a field near the area of Crescent Drive in Warren.
Becoming proficient in the Bleriot craft, he designed four variations.
During this time, he befriended the Wright Brothers and corresponded regularly with them. He became known as one of the original "Wright Fliers" and soon realized there should be some type of formal training for pilots.
He purchased a Wright Brothers Model G Seaplane Serial No. 2 and started a flight school on Conneaut Lake in 1915. Hall charged $90 per flight hour, which included room and board, and in today's dollars is approximately $2,700. The public was eager to pursue flight.
In 1917, Hall began training military pilots for the U.S. government. He taught recruits up to the equivalent of today's private pilot license, then the government continued their training. Hall trained more than 550 pilots for World War I. In 1921, he established Hall Flying Field on state Route 46 in Howland near today's Howland Township Park.
The airplane initially used there was a Curtiss J-1 Standard, similar to the Curtiss Jenny, a World War I training craft. That plane exists and is on loan from the Henry Ford Museum to the Glen Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport, New York.
Hall used a number of aircraft over the years to train hundreds of local pilots. In the 1950s, he used one of three Piper J-3 Cub airplanes. In comparison to the early days of aviation, he charged $3 for a 15-minute lesson, making dreams of flight affordable.
Hall was appointed by the Ohio governor to be the director of aviation and flew a WACO (Weaver Aircraft Co.) airplane throughout the state. The WACO was built in Troy, Ohio.
He was a member of a number of elite aviation organizations including the OX-5 Club and the Quiet Birdmen. He received accolades for his pioneering role in aviation and held a number of patents for aircraft parts and accessories.
In 1972, when he died at the age of 82, he was the oldest active pilot and the longest continuously active flight school instructor -- more than 57 years.
Shortly after his death, it was decided to auction his belongings in May 1973. The Trumbull County Historical Society disassembled his hangar with plans to relocate it to the fairgrounds on Bazetta Road.
There, a small museum was planned and airplane rides were to be given during the fair. During the reassembly process, a windstorm destroyed the items. With insufficient funds to replace the damaged timbers, the project was abandoned, and Hall's story ended there.
In 2013, ground was broken under the direction of museum founder Bill Griffin. In 2014, the Ernie Hall Aviation Museum welcomed its first guests at the former Sloas Airfield, 4033 North River Road. The museum is open noon to 3 p.m. weekends and by appointment.