Craig Sinclair

North Hampton- Craig Sinclair, age 74 of North Hampton, NH passed away on Saturday June 10, 2023, at home surrounded by family following a brief illness. He was the loving husband of Cheri Sinclair for 42 years. Born in Waltham MA, he was the son of the late Warren and Elaine Sinclair. It seems he was a handful from an early age. At thirteen, fearing an unstructured summer, his parents sent him to the Canadian wilderness on a month-long canoe trip where he learned life lessons in problem solving and survival skills. Later summers were spent in Canada spending long days working on family farms. There he learned about hard work, operating farm equipment and how to fix things on the fly. He was full of mischief. As a teen, when his father insisted he move the car he’d been restoring out of the garage, Craig disassembled it and put it back together in the family basement. In high school he was a pretty good baseball player who tried to throw off the pitcher by batting first right-handed then switching to left. He could kick a football and excelled as a trombone player which got him into Berklee school of music. His attention span was short because his mind was always on the next project. He had an amazing aptitude for anything mechanical and found a niche working on foreign cars and sometimes working as pit crew for car races. He had built his first home in Bristol NH by the time he was 23 and opened his first automotive shop. He spent years working on beautiful automobiles, briefly working in lumber sales, and opening a small construction business. Years later, at 35 he bought his first airplane restoration project, and the rest is history. When the owner of Hampton airfield saw the quality of his work on the first plane he’d restored, he asked Craig to take over the maintenance shop. Craig agreed, even though he was a novice in the field, had no license and had a line of people were betting on him to fail. He proved them wrong. He loved to learn and constantly researched every aspect of the history of these antique airplanes until he became the expert. He was passionate about preserving history and restoring planes to be better, stronger versions of the originals. One day, Craig flew over the Governor Dale estate and saw a dilapidated hangar in disrepair and decided he wanted to restore it. He approached the owners, offered to buy it, remove it and rebuild it on Hampton Airfield. For this mission, he recruited an army of misfit flight instructors, friends, and pilots, working on reserve who were willing to work for beer. When he needed heavy equipment, he went across the street and said I’ll fix your nonworking equipment if you let me use it to build the hangar. Several hours later he was driving a lull onto the airfield. There were some near death experiences, but surprisingly few serious injuries. For the rest of his life, the Sinclair Aircraft hangar was his favorite place to be. Craig loved to teach and share information. His door was always open and there were often people walking into the hangar to ask questions about how to address a problem, fix something or if he could help. He did a lot of helping over the years and loved to see people be successful in their endeavors. He was a resource, a mentor and inspiration to many at Hampton Airfield and to people in the aviation industry across the country. After more than 35 years, his absence will leave a void that will be hard to fill. There were a lot of things Craig was passionate about. Craig loved his friends, was a great storyteller and was never happier than when he was sharing a tale over a cocktail or two. He had such a great laugh and sometimes just laughed until he cried. He loved road trips with Cheri, adventures in the Caribbean and vacations to St. John with friends. Over the years, he loved his time flying airplanes and later appreciated the many sporty afternoons he spent sailing. He had a great appreciation for vintage, classic planes, cars, and motorcycles. He is survived by his wife, Cheri Sinclair, his son, Douglas Sinclair of Portsmouth, his sister Bonnie Sinclair of Merrimac and the many beloved nieces, nephews and dear friends who were fortunate to be in his circle. A celebration of life for close friends and family will be held at Sinclair Aircraft Hangar, 9A Lafayette Road, North Hampton, on June 23, 2023, from 4PM to 6PM. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in Craig’s name can be made to Bringbackthetrades.org by clicking here which is a non-profit organization offering scholarships to students pursuing training for careers in the trades.

Craig Sinclair

June 4, 2023