Somerton Airport was opened in 1928, the same year that Ernie became a citizen of the United States. That year or the following, an article appeared in a local paper (source unknown) with the headline “Erect New Hangar at Somerton Airport.” This article was a wealth of misinformation about Ernie’s career but did contain some valuable information about Somerton. Ernie was building a new hangar at the Somerton Airport. The year that the article was published, the newspaper reported that Ernie was celebrating:
It is necessary to weed this article for facts versus fiction. Ernie was working for BMW until April 1920 and he immigrated to the US in May 1920. He did not arrive with a shipment of planes. He did immigrate from Dessau, though, which was the headquarters for Junkers. Also, although Ernie did go down in a plane crash with Amundsen, that occurred in Pennsylvania, and Oskal Omdal was not aboard. It does seem likely that Ernie came to Philadelphia in 1924. During World War II, Somerton Airport was closed, as was every other general aviation airport within a certain distance from the coast. For two years, Ernie trained aviation cadets for the Navy, in connection with Franklin and Marshall College at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. When flying restrictions were lifted, he re-opened Somerton Airport. In February 1952, a picture appeared in “The Breeze...” titled “Farewell to Somerton Airport as Veteran Plane Leaves for ...” (the rest of the publication data was cut off). The accompanying brief article stated that Somerton Airport closed on Saturday, February 23, 1952, at 11 o’clock, when Ernie flew his 1927 Challenger from there to “Buehl Field at Penndel east of the Boulevard at Street road.” Source for information on this page
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