Aviation  became wildly popular around the world. In addition to the Wright brothers, several other entrepreneurs began building and flying airplanes, and the Early  aviators  were  treated like  Rock Stars  of   today.

Early  Aviation in Tucson  or   A Leap From Stagecoach To Airplane

   The first aircraft in Tucson came only a few short years after the Wright brother's flight at Kitty Hawk December 17, 1903, North Carolina.

Hamilton one of the original  "American Daredevil" Pilots learnd how to fly from Curtiss.

   Charles Hamilton and Glenn Curtiss, aviation pioneers, were at an aviation meet in Phoenix.   (Elysian Grove Owner) Emmanuel Drachman and (CofC pres) George Kitt,  Both well-known Tucson businessmen, made a deal  to put on an exhibition in Tucson. It would be performed at the Elysian Grove Amusement Park by the aviation pioneer "the Birdman" Charles Hamilton.  Cross country flights were a few years away so the plane was brought to Tucson by train. On February 19, 1910, Lured by $2000.00 dollars, Hamilton and two mechanics, and many on-lookers, assembled his Curtiss biplane (with a "pusher"-type engine). He flew over the excited crowd, at terrific speed, on Saturday. On Sunday he did it again reaching an altitude of 900 feet, this time when landing, he hit a post on the field and that ended the show at the Elysian Grove Amusement Park. The next day he packed up and went to Douglas and El Paso.  The show in Tucson lost money but it did make aviation history.

    Other events nourished Tucson’s history with aviation.  On November 1 and 2, 1911, two aviators flew into Tucson, bound in opposite directions. Robert G. Fowler came out of the West, trying to make the first transcontinental flight from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and landed on a vacant lot where the old University of Arizona Library stands. From the East, Calbraith Perry Rodgers flew in with his Vin Fiz Flyer the next day and landed on Ninth Street, about six blocks from where Fowler had set down. Rodgers was competing for a $50,000 prize that newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst had offered for the first successful Atlantic-to-Pacific flight in 30 days or less. Unhappily, he had 15 accidents and so many breakdowns that his trip lasted 84 days, so he collected nothing—except the honor of being the first man to fly across the United States.

   In 1915, Tucson was thrilled by the arrival of one Katherine Stinson known as "the Flying Schoolgirl", because of her youthful appearance. She  had given up a career as concert pianist to become an aviatrix and was founder and president of Stinson Aviation Co.. Stinson flew a Partridge Tractor biplane at the Pima County Fair and treated the citizens to a three-day exhibition of entertainment aerial acrobatics—including the loop-the-loop (few men tried this maneuver) as part of the at the Pima County Fair. She was the first woman authorized to carry the U.S. Mail in the United States and carried the first Airmail in Arizona, from the Tucson Fairgrounds to a vacant lot behind the U.S. Post Office, where she dropped it from her airplane.

    The Tucson Chamber of Commerce recognized the marketing pull of aviation, and formed an aviation committee in the early 1910s. The city did not have an airfield, or any privately owned airplanes. Nevertheless, the city, and southern Arizona in general, were recognized as having tremendous potential for aviation activities.

    World War I put flying to its first practical test. It also put Tucson firmly on aviation’s map. Army fliers stationed in California and Texas praised  Tucson’s year-round flying weather.

Macauley Field

The Chamber of Commerce in 1917 appointed a committee of five civic leaders to greet the aviators, truck gasoline to their planes, and provide overnight lodging and meals. The committee also oversaw first the leasing, then the grading of Tucson’s first airstrip, Macauley Field, off Oracle Road near the present site of Amphitheater High School.

   Fliers were impressed, and word spread in official reports about Tucson’s hospitality. The reputation paid off in the spring of 1919, when the famous Army Flying Circus came to the city to perform in behalf of the government’s Victory Liberty Bond sale.

   The very day the military aces flew in, Army General Billy Mitchell addressed a letter to Mayor 0. C. Parker notifying him that the government had designated Tucson as one of 32 official landing places for military aircraft in the United States.

Tucson Municipal Flying Field  the first municipal airport in the United States
    The field was known as New Macauley Field until 1920, when it was changed to Fishburn Field, and then to Tucson Municipal Flying Field in 1923.
  After Davis Monthan was dedicated in 1927, Charlie Mayse leased the old field for his flying school and it became known as Mayse Field. Many people continued to use the old field until the end of 1930, even though D-M field was in service.

    The airport on South Sixth Avenue served Tucson’s needs for about ten years. The city grew like a boom camp in the 1920s. Military and civilian aviation grew even faster. Army air traffic increased because Tucson became a regular refueling stop; and Charles W. Mayse, Arizona ‘s most famous early aviator, arrived in the city and set up its first flying school at the municipal airfield. By1925, it was clear Tucson was outgrowing this facility and needed a new one.

In 1924, Capt. Lowell Smith landed at Tucson Municipal Flying Field during a record-setting around-the-world flight. Smith was accompanied by three other Army Air Service aviators in the flight, which began in Seattle in April 1924 . The other pilots consisted of Maj. F. L. Martin, who commanded the mission, 1st Lt. Leigh Wade, and 1st Lt. E. H. Nelson. The aircraft used in the flight consisted of an experimental type built by the Douglas Company, known as the World Cruiser. This type of plane was constructed specifically for the around-the-world flight at the Douglas plant in Santa Monica, California. Smith's plane was called the Chicago. The flight was extremely difficult, and was hampered by bad weather, countless logistical and mechanical problems, forced landings, and other mishaps. Two of the airplanes were lost during the flight, the Boston and Seattle, although the former was replaced by the prototype, and was called the Boston II. On September 28, the remaining planes completed the 27,553- mile flight around the world.


The Flight Log Book

In 1925, Dewey Simpson, another colorful figure in aviation history, landed at Tucson's dirt field. Simpson was sent to Tucson by the Air Service in order to establish a refueling and service stop for Army planes. These stops increased in frequency, and it was soon realized that a new, more advanced airport was needed. In 1925, Simpson inaugurated the use of a log book in which each person landing at the field would record their name, passenger names, aircraft number, aircraft type, home station, arrival and departure date, and their destination. The book was used continuously until 1936, when the final name was entered.
 

On May 21, 1927, Charles Lindbergh flew the first nonstop, solo flight from New York to Paris. Although he was not the first to cross the Atlantic Ocean, Lindbergh became a hero as a result of the flight. His popularity in the United States was particularly high, as over one million people lined the streets of New York to greet him upon his return.
Photo above: Charles Lindbergh arrived Tucson from San Diego Ca. Sept,23. The photo above was the make "America Air Conscious" Guggenheim tour. He landed at the Tucson Municipal Flying Field on S.6th Ave.    Photo below:     Lindbergh attended the  dedication of the new Davis Monthan Air Field on September 23, 1927. After the dedication he flew his the "Spirit" to the Tucson Municipal Flying Field, and departed Tucson for Lordsburg New Mexico early on the 24th.	These early years of aviation have been referred to by many as the "Barnstorming era." This refers to the variety of pilots who practiced stunts to the amazement of observers. Exhibition teams put on death-defying shows. Some of the more popular stunts included loops, rolls, wingwalking, and flying extremely close to the ground (hence the term barnstorming). For a fee, people could also fly with the pilots. Some of the more colorful and well-known pilots during this period included Charles Lindbergh, Katherine and Eddie Stinson, Harriet Quimby, and Bessie Coleman. Eddie Stinson, in fact, was the first to discover how to recover a plane from a spin. He and Charles Lindbergh would both fly into Tucson and sign the flight log (at separate times). July 20, 1927 to October 23, 1927 Daniel Guggenheim Fund sponsored Lindbergh on a three month nation-wide tour. Flying the "Spirit of St. Louis," he touched down in 48 states, visited 92 cities, gave 147 speeches, and rode 1,290 miles in parades.
Tucson Municipal Flying Field,  S. 6th Ave.  on Sept. 24th 1927

Davis-Monthan Field
A location for a proposed new field was found on a tract of land given to the University of Arizona by the federal government. The land had subsequently been turned back to the government and opened for homesteading. The current owners of the land agreed to turn it over to the city for use as an airport. Two more sections of land surrounding the original tract were then purchased, for a total of 1,280 acres.  They didn't know it at the time but they had purchased the largest municipal airport in the United States. Work began immediately on turning this undeveloped land into a modern flying field. Two hangars were moved to the site, and a large floodlight was purchased and installed in 1927. The new facility was named Davis-Monthan Field. Charles Lindbergh was on hand for the dedication of the field on September 23, 1927. Lindbergh had just completed his nonstop crossing of the Atlantic Ocean and flew his Spirit of St. Louis to Tucson for the ceremony. The country had not seen anyone like Lindbergh before and there was state wide excitement.  Special trains arrived, bringing groups from Phoenix, Nogales, Douglas and remote mining camps. Schools and offices were closed and a wave of 20,000 people arrived at the airport before the 2pm arrival time. Lindbergh was on time and circled the field  before landing. He threw the switch on the "Lindy Beacon" as part of the ceremony. That Beacon resides at Ryan Field to this day. The mothers of the two pilots that the field was named for were on hand to meet Lindbergh. As a part of the dedication, a unique aircraft constructed by a local florist out of ocotillo stalks, saguaro ribs, prickly pear cacti, and a barrel cactus was displayed.

The naming of the field came from two military aviators, both of whom were from Tucson. Lt. Samuel Howard Davis came to Tucson as a child in 1904, and attended the University of Arizona. He joined the U.S. Army at the outbreak of American involvement in World War I. After serving in various roles during and after the war, Davis was killed in 1921 in an aircraft accident in Florida. Lt. Oscar Monthan settled in Tucson in 1900, and enlisted in the Army in 1917. Following the end of the war, Monthan was trained as a pilot, and stationed in California and Ohio. In 1924, he was killed in a crash of a Martin  B-2 bomber while he was stationed at Lake Field, Hawaii.

NOTE: Tucson had eagerly sought Davis-Monthan for the revenue it would bring and had sent Monte Mansfield, a leading businessman and one of the original Chamber Aviation Committee, to Washington to lobby for it. Tucson won over intense competition from other desert cities.

With the Army ensconced, however, the handwriting was on the wall, and the city fathers had to worry about finding a site for the third municipal airfield. After scouting the possibilities, the city in 1940 bought about 4000 acres some two miles south of Mayse Field the original Municipal Airport and reserved 2500 acres for a new field. During the war, the Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft Corp. built three huge hangars at the new site for use in its B-24 modification program. These buildings stand today and form part of the airport industrial center.
    

In 1947, the Tucson Municipal Airfield moved to the new location, thanks to the efforts of the Tucson Airport Authority, founded at the urging of the Chamber for the purpose of running the airport. It has done so ever since.
 

 

 

Jack Frye, founder-President of Aero Corporation and Standard Airlines, parent companies of TWA. He and his first wife (Debbie) christen one of his planes, the very first commercial flight from Los Angeles to Phoenix and Tucson http://www.sedonalegendhelenfrye.com/page91.html FIRST PASSENGER AIR EXPRESS SERVICE TUCSON-PHOENIX-LOS ANGELES   President Frye Pilots Passenger Carrying Plane In On Time, Inaugurating Service; Early Transportation Event Recalled Read about the  beginning of Transcontinental and Western Air, or TWA.. ..  First Plane On Time Business-like and punctual, the passenger and express plane which came to Tucson yesterday afternoon on schedule left this morning at 8 a.m. exactly on schedule for the return trip. Sam Elrod local realtor, L.C. James, automobile dealer, and the Mensrs. Whitman and Richardson occupied seats in the cabin of the plane, while behind them were a number of express packages for Phoenix and the coast. Early this afternoon the plane will be back in Los Angeles, and by the time this paper is in the hands of subscribers, the first round trip will have been completed and be but one important episode in Tucson's history of transportation.  TRAVEL BY AIR AIDS BUSINESS TUCSONS SAY note: Mayse Airport was where the Tucson Rodeo Grounds is now. Sam Elrod and L.C. James Urge Use of Planes for Trade Trips November 29, 1927 If you haven't taken an air trip from Tucson to Phoenix, you haven't seen nothin' yet, according to L.C. James and Sam Elrod, local business men, who yesterday were passengers on the first passenger plane to leave the city for Phoenix and the coast. The Tucsonans were two of the four passengers carried out this morning on the return trip of the first round-trip made by the Aero Corporation of California. An hour and ten minutes after they left the Mayse Airport here, they were in Phoenix. Both transacted business there during the day, and returned to the city on the train last night, the train time being slightly in excess of 4 hours. "The air trip to Phoenix is well worth the cost from the scenic standpoint alone," said Mr. James who is a dyed-in-the-wool air fan. "The view of the mountains and valleys with the cultivated areas looming up is excellant. In addition the time and convenience of traveling by air makes it a particularly good mode of travel." "In the future I will make my trips to Phoenix by plane, and when we are after deliveries I will send a man to Phoenix by plane, so he can be back in the city by early afternoon, and still so a half days's work here." Sam Elrod, local realtor, who is particularly interested in the development of the Granada Fig Farms, was impressed with the view of the state obtained by by such a trip. "It is the coming mode of travel," he said this morning, "after my arrival in Phoenix, I went to Casa Grande by automobile, transacting some business there in addition to the Phoenix trip, returning to the city by train last night. "I have been interested in the Casa Grande valley for some time, but did not know before I made this trip, just how much land there really was in cultivation there, and the progress being made." Both recommended the trip to their friends and predict prosperity for the air line just established.

The Question Mark
Aerial refueling was proven to be viable in 1923, with several demonstration flights by Air Service pilots. In August of that year, Lt. Lowell H. Smith and Lt. John P. Richter stayed aloft for over 37 hours in their De Havilland DH-4 aircraft, which was refueled by another DH-4. This demonstration flight was conducted from San Diego, and proved that aircraft could stay aloft for an even longer time. In January 1929, a Fokker C-2 named Question Mark, commanded by Maj. Carl Spaatz set a new endurance record by staying aloft for an amazing 151 hours. Other members of the crew consisted of Cap. Ira C. Eaker, Lt. Elwood R. Quesada, and M.Sgt. Roy Hooe. Two Douglas C-1s took turns refueling the Question Mark by use of a hose lowered into a trapdoor in the top of the plane. The crew landed at Davis-Monthan Field on January 22, 1929, flying from Rockwell Field. They all signed the log book.

In 1933, another famous aviator, Wiley Post, set a new record by being the first to fly solo around the world. He flew around the northern hemisphere, crossing the Atlantic, parts of Europe, the USSR, Alaska, and Canada. Post completed the 15,596-mile flight accompanied only by his navigator, Harold Gatty. Post flew into Tucson on several occasions, signing the flight log each time.

That same year, the first modern airliner came into service, the Boeing 247. Aviation was rapidly maturing beyond its "barnstorming" youth.
 

Finally, in 1931, the Army constructed a steel and concrete hangar along with an operations building at Davis-Monthan Field. The field was further improved between 1934 and 1937 thanks to the Works Progress Administration, which built paved roads and taxi strips. During the 1930s, the field was redesignated as the Tucson Municipal Airport. Most still referred to it as Davis-Monthan Field, however. Eventually Tucson Municipal would be moved again just a couple miles south of the old Tucson Municipal flying Field on S. 6th Ave. This move took place in 1947.  The  terminal was located near  the three large hangers that were built during WWII. Later it moved to its present location on the other side of the field, where it is today.

Tucson Air Base
In 1940, the City of Tucson submitted a second proposal to the War Department recommending that an Army airfield be established. With war already raging in Europe and in the Pacific, the War Department was gearing up for increased activities, and a board had been formed to find locations for six new airfields. The board (consisting of Cols. Earl DeFord, F. L. Jones, and O. R. Meredith) spent two weeks in Tucson meeting with the latter's Aviation Committee and city officials. In order to attract the Army, the city offered a 16,000-acre plot of land, which included the municipal airport, along with many other sections of land (including those purchased in 1929).
 

 Davis-Monthan Field and Air Force Base
On December 1, 1941, the airfield's name was changed to Davis-Monthan Field. Eventually the facility would go on serve many varied roles during and beyond World War II. With the creation of the U.S. Air Force in 1947, the field became Davis-Monthan AFB, which it remains today.
Tucson Municipal Airport went on to be Tucson International Airport.