The Illinois Aeronautics Act of 1945 created the Dept. of Aeronautics (1945-1973) and empowered the department to establish procedures and regulations to augment Federal Aviation Agency and Civil Aeronautics Board regulations. As the successor agency to the Illinois Aeronautics Commission (1931-1945), the Department held numerous responsibilities including Aircraft Financial Responsibility Law enforcement; Illinois commercial airport, heliport, and landing area surveillance; air safety violation prosecution; pilot and aircraft registration; and airport plan review.
The Department's Engineering Section supervised air facilities construction; Executive Air Transportation supplied aircraft and flight personnel for state officials; and the Board of Aeronautical Advisors served as a an advisory group on aeronautics. When the Department was abolished (1973), its responsibilities were transferred to the newly created Division of Aeronautics under the Department of Transportation.
From the description of Directors' general files, 1945-1971. (Illinois State Archive). WorldCat record id: 36317336
