Direct Flights to Westborough?

Not quite.

However, opening in the early 1930s (appearing on a Navy Aviation chart for the first time in 1934), Westborough once had an airport similar to the present day Marlborough Airport – a small single-runway airport used for general aviation.

Paul Freeman, an aviation enthusiast who has dedicated a portion of his website to collecting information about the airport, gives a detailed account of the facility which I will briefly summarize here.

The first operator of the airport is said to be Desjardin Flying Service, Inc. which ran the airport for the first couple decades before being operated by Kenneth Lynde and Lynde’s Flying Service. Up until the 1960s, the field used a grass strip between 1300-1500 feet long as a runway.

In the 1960s, Westborough Airport, also known as Turnpike Airport, constructed a longer paved runway measuring 2300 feet in length. Yet, despite the length, one account from a pilot recalls how it was still difficult to land over the power lines and stop before the slight hill at the end of the property.

The last operator of Turnpike Airport was Dick Stone, a worker at Bay State Abrasives, who owned the facility until its closure in 1977.

Property records shows that Astra Zeneca began development on the land around 1981 and, over the course of the next decade, completed their present day facility – replacing a former aviation landmark with a new pyramid shaped landmark.

By 1992, no aspect of the original airport appeared on town maps. Within about 50 years, Westborough saw the coming and going of a small municipal airport.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone has memories of the airport, or if anyone had the opportunity to use the airport! Feel free to post comments below. If you're interested in learning more, you can also check out Paul Freeman’s account of the airport by clicking the blue link.