![\"Wendover](\"http:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-content\/uploads\/wendover-airport01-800x600.jpg\")
Even before she learned to drive, Wendover Airport Director Lisa Dunn was learning to fly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was flying when I was 14, long before I ever got my driver\u2019s license,\u201d says the 52\u00adyear\u00adold who lived in Phoenix at the time. \u201cMy parents had friends who were pilots, so they let me sit in the cockpit whenever they flew. It was an incredible thrill, and made me want to be a pilot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Enamored with flight as a teen, she knew her career would involve aviation.<\/p>\n
Last summer, Lisa replaced Jim Petersen, who retired to devote more time to the Historic Wendover Airfield Foundation. He established the nonprofit foundation in 2001 to preserve World War II buildings at the historic airfield adjacent to the airport. A year later, he replaced the retiring airport director and began managing the airport\u2019s modern jet service, while also overseeing preservation projects at the airfield.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter I started, he stayed on for six weeks to help provide a smooth transition,\u201d says Lisa. \u201cI learned a lot from him.\u201d<\/p>\n
She says the airport has always been dear to her heart.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a small airport, it has an amazing number of passengers and celebrities,\u201d Lisa says. \u201cPlus, the nearby air base has such historic significance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lisa was familiar with northern Nevada before becoming director. She worked for 15 years as president of XTRA Airways, where she had a carrier providing flights to casinos throughout the United States, including West Wendover.<\/p>\n
As the new airport director, one of her first major projects was overseeing completion of a helicopter fueling station in January.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a big deal for us because Trans Aero helicopters will stop here for fuel now,\u201d Lisa says. \u201cThe Wells Rural Electric Co. crew did a wonderful job of bringing electricity to a part of the airport where there hadn\u2019t been any power before.\u201d<\/p>\n Before the fueling station was installed at the airport, air ambulance helicopters typically stopped only to pick up patients. \u201cNow, Wendover will be a fuel stop of choice for the company,\u201d she says. \u201cIn summer, this could mean 10 to 15 additional flights here a month.\u201d<\/p>\n Lisa says she also would like to see an increase in military use of the airport\u2019s four runways.<\/p>\n \u201cPersonnel from Hill Air Force Base and the National Guard and all branches of the military can use the airport for training runs and fuel stops,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Among her duties, Lisa is supervising the remodel of the operations building.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce it\u2019s done, we can market it to bring in more general aviation business,\u201d she says. \u201cWe want it to be here and in good shape for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n While marketing the modern air service, Lisa says she also supports Jim\u2019s work to promote the nearby historic airfield. Its recently renovated Service Club is a year-round venue for meetings, reunions, dances and receptions.<\/p>\n She says she also backs Jim\u2019s efforts to bring in thousands of visitors each year to the airfield\u2019s museum. Exhibits emphasize the airfield\u2019s importance as a heavy bombardment training base during World War II.<\/p>\n Due to its remoteness, Col. Paul Tibbets Jr. chose it for one of the most important missions of the war. In 1944, his crews secretly trained there to drop atomic bombs on Japan.<\/p>\n The airfield\u2019s cavernous 50,000\u00ad square foot hangar housed a B\u00ad29 Super fortress Bomber that Tibbets named after his mother\u2014Enola Gay. He flew it to drop the world\u2019s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945.<\/p>\n \u201cJim is devoted to the historic air base, and now will have more time to raise funds for the final phases of restoring the Enola Gay hangar,\u201d Lisa says.<\/p>\n In 2010, the hangar was stabilized after Jim organized a fundraising campaign that included a national Save America\u2019s Treasures grant and private donations. The roof still needs to be renovated.<\/p>\n To raise money for ongoing preservation projects, the foundation hosts an annual air show in September.<\/p>\n A special guest at the show two years ago was Brig. Gen. Paul Tibbets IV, the grandson of Col. Paul Tibbets Jr. For the first time, he toured his grandfather\u2019s office on the upper floor of the Enola Gay hangar.<\/p>\n However varied her new airport duties are, Lisa says she will always appreciate the challenges pilots face.<\/p>\n After receiving her pilot\u2019s license for single engine aircraft, she earned her multi\u00adengine rating and an aeronautical degree.<\/p>\n \u201cI became more interested in airline operations than in being a pilot,\u201d Lisa says. Trading a cockpit for a desk chair, she worked for XTRA Airways for 23 years.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were based in Elko for 20 years,\u201d she says. \u201cThen our headquarters moved to Boise in 2010, and to Coral Gables, Florida, in 2015.<\/p>\n After being there a year, I missed the West.\u201d While looking online for work, she noticed an ad for Jim\u2019s job.<\/p>\n \u201cI was impressed with the teamwork and how well the flight programs are run here at the airport,\u201d Lisa says. \u201cI\u2019m so happy to be back in the area. I hope to retire from here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Director expands services while supporting restoration of historic airfield\u2019s buildings By Dianna Troyer Even before she learned to drive, Wendover Airport Director Lisa Dunn was learning to fly. \u201cI was flying when I was 14, long before I ever got my driver\u2019s license,\u201d says the 52\u00adyear\u00adold who lived in Phoenix at the time. \u201cMy parents […]\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32449,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[220],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32448"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"http:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-content\/uploads\/airbase01-800x226.jpg\")
![\"Lisa](\"http:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-content\/uploads\/preserve-airbase01-800x600.jpg\")
![\"Wendover](\"http:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-content\/uploads\/board-airport.jpg\")