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They had traveled from every state in America including Hawaii and Alaska. Loyal viewers of RFD-TV who had heard about the Half Century Of Progress II came in droves to Rantoul, Illinois. They hauled in more than 2,000 pieces of farm equipment. And for three days they played hard.

Staged on the property of the abandoned Chanute Air Force Base, the three-day show featured in-the-field demonstrations along with static equipment displays and two simultaneous tractor rides. It was the unforgettable view of 50-year-old machines actually doing the work they were intended to do that drew the crowd of thousands out to the field.

Under a bright, hot sun and laboring in a cloud of dust, the collectors of vintage tractors, plows, combines and corn pickers made those old machines work. And usually the equipment worked just the way it was supposed to. Sometimes it didn’t.

It was in an isolated area at the far backside of the airport property where we discovered J. Brown on one of those 90-degree afternoons. The trucker from Indiana was there with his Allis-Chalmers tractor and mounted corn picker. Not a thread of his shirt was dry, and he was covered with chaff from trying to unplug the stalks from his picker. “I’m about ready to roll again,” he said with a smile. He actually seemed to be enjoying himself back there, a good half-mile from any other human being.

Plow Shares By The Dozen

When a 60-bottom plow and its remarkable 106-foot hitch were put to the test in those Champaign County, Illinois fields, it was not at all isolated from the crowd. Folks were standing ten-deep in some spots on all sides of the plow, looking in awe at the behemoths hooked to it. Three 110-horsepower Case steam tractors were fired up and lashed together for a record-breaking attempt. And the crowd loved it.

Large multiple bottom plow efforts had been carried out before at Rollag, Minnesota and West Lafayette, Indiana. But no one had tried 60 bottoms, and the spectators standing out there in the heat knew it. There was a feeling of historical accomplishment at Rantoul on those days in August. The people who witnessed it will likely spin the tale more than a few times down at the elevator or uptown at the coffee shop. They were there. They actually saw it.

Central Illinois farmer and steam tractor owner Bill Jansen helped lead the team of 40 who crafted the hitch, gathered the plows and worked to acquire the three tractors from Michigan, Oklahoma and Iowa. “It rained people here today,” Bill said. “We go to several shows a year, but this is the biggest thing we’ve been involved with,” he added.

Cleared For Take-off

An operational airport provides a unique setting for a vintage farm equipment show. While the aging taxiways once used by Air Force jets allowed the old farm equipment and its fans to enjoy a dust-free environment around the tent city, the active runway 9/27 at the Rantoul National Aviation Center occasionally delayed the progression of the old farm machines. Lined up awaiting the take-offs on the runway they were trying to cross, the Half Century crowd did not seem to mind the sideshow.

And one of the massive hangars once used by the flyers protecting our nation provided the “shop” where volunteers crafted the big plow hitch. With its expansive doors allowing an opening two-and-a-half football fields wide, the builders of the hitch did not have to worry about making something they could not get out.

A Ton Of Work

Dirk Harms and his welding torch, working for several hours, put a bead on that huge plow hitch steel beam. Delmar Johnson night after night manned the phone by his recliner returning hundreds of calls from RFD-TV viewers in some three-dozen states. John Fredrickson spent more time that summer on the Chanute runways than at his Indiana grain elevator to assure that tents went up, bleachers were properly placed and the power was turned on. They pitched in with fellow members of their club, the Illinois & Indiana Antique Tractor & Gas Engine Club.

The volunteerism here, and at places like Mt. Pleasant, Pontiac and Portland, is what makes these vintage equipment shows so remarkable. They put the “can-do” spirit of American Agriculture on full display. A retired agriculture curator for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington witnessed this during his career. Larry Jones, who now lives in Pennsylvania, spent many days helping at Rantoul this summer. “When these farmers set their minds to it, and everyone pitches in, they prove that anything is possible. It’s that entrepreneurial and cooperative spirit that has made our farming industry so great,” Larry said.

And somewhere out there many rods from the tent city and its throngs, with the sun dropping quickly in the sky, J. Brown the last time we saw him was still trying to get that old Allis and its picker going again. Wiping his brow he yelled to the boys on the ATV, “Man, sometimes it sure is a lot of work to have fun!”