Wings Over Addison

Addison is one of the busiest general-aviation airports in the country, and aircraft have been part of its identity for generations. This driving loop pairs that aviation story with the pioneer settlement of Frankford that predated it. The route centers on Addison Airport — long the home of vintage warbirds and the Cavanaugh Flight Museum's restored fighters and bombers — then drives north to the little community of Frankford, where a Masonic-lodge church doubled as schoolhouse and a pioneer cemetery holds settlers from as early as 1862, including the founder of the town that became Addison. It closes back at the old townsite's surviving bank. From propellers to plowshares and back again, it's a short drive that links Addison's frontier roots to its life in the air.