Clapper Airport

The specific reason for closure is not officially documented. As a small, privately-owned airfield with a turf runway, its closure was most likely due to economic factors, the owner's retirement, or a decision to sell or repurpose the land for more profitable agricultural use. This is a common fate for small, private general aviation fields.

The airport is permanently closed and has been completely decommissioned. The land has been fully returned to agricultural use. Current satellite imagery of the coordinates shows a cultivated farm field with no remaining trace of the former runway, hangars, or any other aviation-related infrastructure.

Clapper Airport (formerly FAA LID: 3IL3) was a private general aviation airfield. It featured a single unpaved turf runway oriented roughly north-south, with a length of approximately 2,600 feet. The airport was operational for at least three decades, serving the needs of its owner and likely other local private pilots. Operations would have consisted of light, single-engine aircraft such as Cessnas and Pipers for personal transportation and potentially agricultural spraying, which is common in this rural region of Illinois. Its significance was local, providing basic aviation access to the Mansfield community.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening Clapper Airport. The land has been fully reclaimed for farming, and all infrastructure has been removed, making any potential reopening highly improbable and cost-prohibitive.