Allen Chorman, of Milton, Delaware, had his first airplane ride at age 12 and was “hooked”, knowing he had to fly for a living. As a youth, he worked at Rehoboth Beach Airport on weekends and on cropduster Joe Hudson’s farm and spray planes after school.
He started flight instruction in 1963 at age 16 at Laurel Airport. In 1964, he received his private pilot certificate and his commercial rating in 1966. At age 18, he began flying a 450 HP Stearman for Joe Hudson, gaining experience seeding and spraying. He also flew charter for Aircrafters at Rehoboth Airport, often being called out of school to fly a charter to BWI or Kennedy airport.
In 1968, he began flying a twin engine Beechcraft fulltime for Joe Hudson, spraying for the Delaware Mosquito Control program. He was Hudson’s Chief Pilot for 21 years, until 1987, when he bought the Hudson aerial spraying business. In 1991, with 5 spray planes, he purchased Nanticoke Homes Airport in Greenwood, Delaware and renamed it Chorman Airport. He added space to existing hangars and built 6 new ones.
These contributions to Delaware’s General Aviation are Allen’s way of “giving back” to Delaware aviation. His achievements and contributions have been recognized over the years by some 15 honors and awards from national and regional organizations.
Chorman & Son now operates a fleet of 14 planes and one helicopter, spraying for 630 customers in Delaware and Maryland as well as a contract with the Delaware Mosquito Control Agency.
Allen is still an active pilot in the business after nearly 50 years of flying, with a commercial license, single and multi-engine land and instrument ratings for a total of over 30,000 hours, the equivalent of almost 2 million challenging miles including 11 “dead stick” landings!
