Logansport, IN
At the confluence of the Wabash and Eel rivers — historically an important Native American trading center for the Miami people. Logansport was named after a Shawnee chief, Captain Logan, who fought alongside the Americans in the War of 1812. Today the airport serves north-central Indiana with corporate traffic. The Wabash River from the air winds spectacularly through the region. Logansport is the start (or end) of the historic Wabash and Erie Canal route.
Originally Bunker Hill Naval Air Station (1942), then a Strategic Air Command base that stood nuclear alert through the Cold War before drawing down to a joint civil-military Air Reserve base in 1994. Renamed for astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom, the Indiana native born in Mitchell (southern Indiana, about 130 miles south of Peru). The outdoor aircraft display includes a B-47 Stratojet, B-58 Hustler, F-14 Tomcat, and A-10 Warthog — all visible from pattern altitude. The 12,500ft military runway occasionally hosts KC-135 tanker operations.
On the shores of Lake Shafer since 1926 — "There's more than corn in Indiana." A nostalgic Midwestern boardwalk amusement park with classic wooden coasters, rides, and a beach. Briefly closed in 2020, reopened by new owners and operating since. The narrow, twisting Tippecanoe River reservoirs (Lake Shafer and Lake Freeman) create some of the best low-altitude scenic flying in northwestern Indiana — like flying along silver ribbons through farmland.
This forest-ringed reservoir was the site of the last battle fought in Indiana between Native Americans and U.S. military forces (1812). The annual Mississinewa 1812 reenactment every October is one of the largest War of 1812 reenactments in the country — sometimes visible from the air as encampments along the shore. The reservoir itself is beautiful from altitude, surrounded by hardwood forest with minimal development.
Fulton County is the round barn capital of the world — over 17 historic round barns survive in the county, the highest concentration anywhere. The Fulton County Museum has exhibits on round barn architecture, a unique American innovation from the late 1800s. Lake Manitou itself — a glacier-formed kettle lake — has a folk legend of a lake monster reported by the Potawatomi in the 1830s. The Round Barn Festival each June celebrates the heritage. From above, the round barns dot the farmland like coins.