Armstrong airport terminal dedicated

Jun. 13—NEW KNOXVILLE — A new terminal building at the Neil Armstrong Airport was dedicated Saturday.

On hand for the dedication of the $1.7 million building was retired NASA astronaut Greg Johnson as well as former airport manager Gary Katterheinrich, who talked about the history of the airport, named after the Wapakoneta native who became the first man to walk on the moon.

Due to COVID-19, the ceremonies were delayed until now.

"We've been open since October of 2020. We started construction in December of 2019. Everything was pretty much on schedule," said Ted Bergstrom, airport manager.

The original 1,500 square foot building was constructed in 1970. This building is 4,400 square feet and includes a basement.

"We now have proper rest facilities for pilots. We even have a shower for pilots. We have a conference room that seats 12 at the table and also adjacent seating around the edges. In the main entryway, we can host large seminars and have comfy seating. We also have a nice display case for advertising and other memorabilia for Neil Armstrong and other airport-related stuff," Bergstrom said.

Some improvements yet to be made on the inside of the terminal building include a giant mural honoring Armstrong and the history of the airport.

Kurt Doll, of Wapakoneta, was given the commission to paint the mural.

"My idea behind it was it was an unconventional timeline. Because that's kind of what they want. They wanted something that incorporated Neil Armstrong's history, but also some history of the airport itself," Doll said.

Doll's rendering of the 12 by 40-foot mural was on display inside the terminal building on Saturday.

"When I thought of Neil Armstrong, I thought he was most famous for Apollo 11 and thought of his flight path. So that's where my idea for the mural design came from was with the flight path, which when you look at the mural starts at kind of in the middle, basically, where they would have taken off from our launch from Earth and comes around, loops up around the moon and kind of shoots back where they land. So kind of a figure-eight or even like a propeller, which kind of ties it in as well to the whole airport and flying and I just wanted to incorporate different things from his life," Doll said.

The mural should be completed sometime before the end of the year.

Reach Sam Shriver at 567-242-0409.