Driving down a remote Washakie County dirt road is not the place one would expect to see an “international” airport.
But there it is — a weathered little building with a metal roof and a large sign that declares it’s the “Nowood International Airport.”
It’s on the Orchard Ranch in the middle of nowhere in central Wyoming. Owner Charley Orchard said the story behind the airport and sign goes back a couple of generations to his great-uncle Burt Orchard.
The sign proclaiming the “international airport” has “been there my whole lifetime,” he said.
The Orchard family’s 10,000-acre ranch in the Nowood River area, located between Ten Sleep to the north and Lysite to the south, was established in 1900.
By the late 1930s or early 1940s, Charley Orchard said, his great-uncle — who became a pilot — decided the ranch needed an airstrip.
A Sheridan Press story on Sept. 19, 1939, mentioned that Burt Orchard and another pilot were completing getting pilot training.
“Mr. Orchard, who comes from Big Trails, received his solo certificate for five hours,” the newspaper reported.
The 3,300-by-50-foot grass airstrip for many years was identified officially as Orchard Ranch Airport by the FAA, listing it as “WY38” 26 miles south of Ten Sleep at an elevation of 5,277 feet.
It was designated for private use with permission needed before landing.
Fighter Pilot Returns
When Charley Orchard’s father Robert returned from serving as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force in 1958, the strip and hangar got a lot more use. Robert shared a love of aviation with his uncle Burt.
An article in the Casper Tribune-Herald “Off the Cuff” column included a paragraph about Robert’s new airplane purchase.
“Bob Orchard dropped in from the ranch in Nowood the other day and bought a new Cessna Sky Lane from Ray Medlock at Natrona Aircraft Service,” the newspaper reported. “He also had the ranch brand — an inverted ‘and’ sign — painted on both sides of the plane.”
Charley Orchard said his dad had several friends with planes and they would fly in as well from time to time.
“We kept that mowed down,” he said. “It had a grass strip.”
Charley Orchard said while his father used the airstrip, he sometimes also used adjacent county road for takeoffs and landings when appropriate and safe.
He recalls one day driving up the road and encountering his father coming at him with his “short takeoff” and “short landing” airplane.
“It’s a little striking when you see an airplane coming up over you,” he said. “He was a really good pilot.”
Robert Orchard would fly off the strip or road nearly every day to check on cattle and other needs at the ranch.
As a young man, Charley Orchard said he would often accompany his dad in the air, but never had the desire to become a pilot and none of the current generation of those at the ranch did either.
A Love Of Flying
Charley Orchard’s brother Mark wrote in a tribute to his father after his passing posted to FamilySearch.org that his dad’s two loves were flying and horses.
“Dad was still flying within six months of his death,” he wrote. “It had been some time since he had ridden a horse. So, maybe his greater love was his plane.
“I have given a general estimate of the hours he had flying, and I would guess conservatively well over 15,000 hours. He flew a lot.”
April Orchard Nelson, Robert Orchard’s daughter, also wrote in her father’s obituary that his passion for flying never left him during his life.
“His passion and skill in piloting a plane proved to be very valuable throughout his life,” she wrote. “Known as the ‘eye in the sky,’ he was able to locate animals, people and landmarks. He always kept his skills sharp.”
Nelson told Cowboy State Daily that as a girl, she often accompanied her dad in the air on his various fights. That changed after she married and had children.
“After I had kids, he said, ‘No, you’re a mom now, you don’t get to fly with me anymore,’” she said. “I was like, ‘Why?!’ And he would say, ‘You’re a mom.’”
Barely Used Anymore
Nelson, who in past years regularly registered the strip with the FAA for inclusion on its maps, said that she stopped doing it after their dad passed away in 2018 and the family stopped mowing and maintaining it.
She said some acquaintances continue to use the runway, but they have used it for years.
“If there was a badger hole or something on it, I wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt on it,” she said.
Charley Orchard said it still exists for anyone who might need a quick emergency exit from the sky over their section of Washakie County.
“If a plane had to land that would be the spot, I would choose,” he said.
Google Earth has not updated its information and still lists it as an airport.
About how it became an “international” airport, the short answer is it never did and never was. It’s just a sign.
The sign on the airstrip granting it “international” status came from hunters in the early days of its existence who came up with the unofficial name for the airstrip.
Charley Orchard said his dad liked it “always called it Nowood International.”
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
