In eighth grade, Brenda Grady’s favorite part of science class was the unit that her teacher, Dick Piwowarski, did on aviation and the physics that made it possible for huge, winged metal objects to seemingly defy gravity.
But it was the homework – unassigned homework, to boot – that thrilled the North End Nashua youngster the most.
“I can actually see it in my mind – my brother, sister and I standing at the fence watching close up the takeoffs and landings,” Grady said. “I just loved being in the presence of that airport.”
She’s far from alone. Since the most primitive open-cockpit, single-engine craft began bouncing down short, grassy runways in the early 1930s, Nashuans have flocked to the perimeters of Boire Field at Nashua Municipal Airport to watch friends, neighbors and perfect strangers rise into and descend from the wild blue yonder.
Opened in 1934 and rededicated 11 years later in memory of Ensign Paul Aime Boire, who at 22 was Nashua’s first military pilot killed in action in World War II, the airport has grown from a tiny “flag stop” for mail runs and the occasional private flier into a busy general aviation facility central to daily business operations and passenger service for much of central New England.
Its most recent milestone was celebrated just two months ago, when city leaders, politicians and airport personnel unveiled a new, longer runway and upgraded navigational facilities that were part of a $25 million project over several years that was hailed as one of the nation’s largest involving a general aviation facility.
The 6,000-foot runway, more than triple the size of the original strip, is designed to accommodate the large jets more and more businesses are putting into service.![]()
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