Camp Meigs

[6] In 1869, the land was obtained by the Norfolk Agricultural Association, improved upon, and ultimately became the Readville Race Track.

On December 12, 1915, the newly formed Sturtevant Aeroplane Company tested its new A-3 Battleplane prototype on the Readville field, becoming the first American airplane engineered specifically for air combat.

[9] The A-3 was designed by Grover C. Loening, most recently the Army’s aeronautical engineer at San Diego and hired by Sturtevant.

The Battleplane featured a water-cooled 140 hp Sturtevant V-8 engine with two removable 8-foot × 2.5-foot nacelles positioned mid-wing for machine gunners to fire outside the propeller arc.

By World War II, the site was largely abandoned, although U.S. Navy pilots from Squantum Naval Air Station flying their Stearman biplanes would practice "touch and go" landings on the remnants of the old oval track.

Recruiting poster, 1863.
Monument to soldiers who died at Camp Meigs in the Old Village Cemetery