Five days before Christmas in 2001, the Kansas City Council voted to rename the downtown airport in honor of former two-term Mayor Charles B. Wheeler Jr.
A one-time U.S. Air Force flight surgeon, Wheeler was an aviation buff and was mayor when commercial air service shifted from the city’s original airfield downtown to Kansas City International Airport in 1972.
“I don’t think I could have a better Christmas present,” Wheeler said when he visited the council chamber that day 23 years ago.
Now downtown airport’s name is about to change once again, to Kansas City Downtown Airport – Wheeler Field.
The current city council’s three-member special committee for legal review chaired by Mayor Quinton Lucas met Tuesday and unanimously recommended that the full council approve the name change when it meets Thursday afternoon.
Lucas said Wheeler’s name was being de-emphasized to better market the city, which was the topic of a related ordinance on the docket aimed at boosting the Kansas City “brand.”
“We want to make sure we’re more consistent with naming conventions” at other airports around the country, Lucas said. “Kansas City International, Dallas Love Field, any number of airports that have the city name within it. It’s important from a marketing airport perspective.”
Nowhere is Kansas City mentioned in the downtown airport’s current name, which might confuse people, city aviation director Melissa Cooper said.
The change will mean dropping Wheeler’s first name and middle initial. But keeping his full name in the title would make it too long, Cooper said.
No one consulted Wheeler family
That was concerning to Councilwoman Melissa Robinson.
“Did we have conversations with his family about changing the name, and did they have any feedback about the shortening?” asked Robinson, who along with Andrea Bough are the other members of the legal review committee.
Cooper said no one with the Wheeler family was consulted.
“But historically, members of the aviation department have been in contact with the family and (they) are supportive of really just making sure Kansas City downtown Airport has success.”
Wheeler died in 2022 at age 96. All but one of his immediate family members are dead as well, including his wife, Marjorie, and four of their five children.
But daughter Nina Wheeler Yoakum is still around and as recently as Sept. 14, she boasted on Facebook about the downtown airport being named after her dad.
“Because I am so proud of my ever loving daddy who lived until 96, today I am going to humbly own that he has the airport named after him in downtown KCMO! What an honor that was for him and is for his family that survives him. Thank you Kansas City, Missouri!” the post read.
Along with it were photos of the airport and her dad’s name on it.
The Star’s attempts to reach Yoakum by phone, text and Facebook messaging on Tuesday were unsuccessful. So were attempts to reach three Wheeler’s grandchildren.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Lucas said the city means no disrespect to his predecessor. Similar to how Dallas continues to call its original airport Love Field, the name Wheeler will continue to be associated with Kansas City’s downtown airport, he said.
“We wanted to make sure that, as they’re honoring Love, whomever Mr. Love was, we make sure that Mayor and Dr. Wheeler has that same honor.”
“Mr.” Love was Army Lt. Moss Lee Love, who four years before Love Field opened in 1917 died in a plane crash during flight training in San Diego.
According to the Dallas Aviation Department, it was common in those early days of flight to name airports after fallen aviators. Love was from Virginia and had no connection to Dallas whatsoever.
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