Dr. Clifford Strange
1891-1958

Dr. Clifford Strange, a native of Portland, Maine, became profoundly interested in aviation at an early age. In 1915, while a student at Harvard Dental College, he and several companions designed and built a hang glider that flew successfully from a hilltop in Cape Elizabeth, Maine prior to World War I.

Upon graduating from college, class of 1917, he received a captain’s commission in the U.S. Army and served with the Dental Corps at a training field in Spartanburg, S.C.

After the war he purchased a government surplus Curtiss “Jenny”, the primary training plane of WW I and learned to fly it from a former WW I flight instructor at Old Orchard Beach, Maine.

In 1922 he acquired several acres of farmland in Stroudwater, on the outskirts of Portland, and graded a small, grass-covered runway for personal use.

His airstrip soon attracted other early pilots and aircraft owners who he permitted to park their planes there between flights. In 1927 the airstrip was recognized and identified by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce as the “Stroudwater Flying Field”.

Under Strange’s ownership, in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s, he developed a second runway, constructed two hangers, installed an airport beacon and fueling facilities. The field was then renamed, “Portland Airport”.

Title to the “Portland Airport”, now site of the Portland International Jetport was transferred from Dr. Strange to the City of Portland in 1937.

Dr. Strange was known throughout the state for his efforts to promote aviation in Maine and was frequently asked to speak on its progress and development at local schools and various civic organizations. He was one of the founders of the Aero Club of Maine that, prior to WW II, numbered over 400 members state wide.