When the former Pease Air Force Base in Portsmouth, N.H., was converted into a civil airport in the early 1990s, Bob Jesurum, a computer hardware and software developer, saw an opportunity to build an aviation business. Instead of opening an FBO first then adding other services, Jesurum started a maintenance shop–Port City Aircraft Repair–in one of the gigantic old Air Force hangars at the airport. In June 2003, he built an FBO and renamed the company Port City Air, then later that year bought New Hampshire Helicopters.
Pease International Airport was named after Capt. Harl Pease, Jr., a World War II B-17 pilot. Pease and his 19th Bomb Group crew had been scheduled to take part in a “maximum effort mission” on Aug. 7, 1942 in Papua, New Guinea. But two days earlier, the crew’s B-17 lost an engine and they were forced to return to their base in Australia. Instead of sitting out the mission, the crew patched together an airworthy B-17 from one of the unserviceable airplanes and flew all day and into the night to rejoin the 19th Bomb Group in Port Moresby at 1 a.m.
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