Bettis Field was an airstrip in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, established in 1924. It was named for U.S. Army Air Corps Lieutenant Cyrus Bettis following his fatal accident on Jack's Mountain near Bellefonte, Pennsylvania in 1926.
Initially a grass strip in a meadow established by local investors Barr Peat, Clifford A. Ball and Bo Phelan, it was gradually improved. Changing hands several times, it was operated by the Pittsburgh-McKeesport Airport Corporation. Curtiss-Wright sold the field to Gus Becker, who operated the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics, which trained engine and aircraft mechanics in downtown Pittsburgh classrooms. During World War II PIA operated under government contracts, delivering training for the military. By 1944 the airstrip was a 2,500 feet (760 m) paved surface. Sold to Westinghouse in January 1949, the field was closed and redeveloped, becoming the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory. The two paved runways, used for parking, and two hangars remain. The Art Deco terminal building was razed sometime in the 2000s.
There was a landing at Bettis sometime in the 1960s when a small plane landed claiming he confused it with Allegheny Co Airport, one mile (1.6 km) east, due to smoke obscuration.
Pittsburgh International Airport, formerly Greater Pittsburgh International Airport, is a civil–military international airport in Findlay Township and Moon Township, Pennsylvania. Located about 10 miles (15 km) west of downtown Pittsburgh, it is the primary international airport serving the Greater Pittsburgh Region as well as adjacent areas in West Virginia and Ohio. The airport is owned and operated by the Allegheny County Airport Authority and offers passenger flights to destinations throughout North America and Europe. PIT has four runways and covers 10,000 acres (4,000 ha).
Capital Airlines was an airline serving the eastern, southern, southeastern, and midwestern United States. Capital's headquarters were located at Washington National Airport across the Potomac river from Washington, D.C., where crew training and aircraft overhauls were also accomplished. In the 1950s Capital was the fifth largest United States domestic carrier by passenger count after the Big Four air carriers.
Allegheny County Airport is in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, United States, 7 miles (11 km) southeast of Pittsburgh. It is the fifth-busiest airport in Pennsylvania following Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, and Harrisburg. The airport is owned by the Allegheny County Airport Authority and is the primary FAA-designated reliever airport for Pittsburgh International Airport. Allegheny County Airport was dedicated on September 11, 1931.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport is mostly in Pittston Township, Pennsylvania, and spans the border between Luzerne County and Lackawanna County. It is owned and operated by the two counties; it is about 7 miles from Scranton and 8 miles from Wilkes-Barre. It is the fifth-largest airport in Pennsylvania by passenger count and calls itself "your gateway to Northeastern Pennsylvania and the Pocono Mountains".
Williamsport Regional Airport serves Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and the surrounding area with a population of roughly 200,000. The airport processes approximately 40,000 passengers annually and has served north central Pennsylvania since 1929.
Reading Regional Airport is a public airport three miles (5 km) northwest of Reading, in Bern Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania. It is owned by the Reading Regional Airport Authority.
Capital City Airport is a public airport in Fairview Township, York County, Pennsylvania, three miles (5 km) southeast of Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania.
Winslow–Lindbergh Regional Airport is 1 mile mile west of Winslow, in Navajo County, Arizona. The U.S. Forest Service has a firefighting air tanker base here. The airport was served by TWA and Frontier Airlines but now sees no airline service.
West Mesa Airport, also known as Western Air Express Airport, TWA Airport, or Cutter-Carr Airport, was an airport on the West Side of Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States, which was the city's main commercial aviation facility during the 1930s. It was built in 1929 by Western Air Express as a stop on the airline's Los Angeles–Kansas City route, with a hangar and passenger terminal added in 1930. It was the city's second airfield after the original Albuquerque Airport, which was used by a rival airline, Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT). The two airlines merged in 1930 to form TWA, moving all of their operations to the West Mesa field. The merger gave TWA control of the nation's first coast-to-coast passenger airline route and allowed it to secure a lucrative federal airmail contract.
Zanesville Municipal Airport is a city-owned airport six miles east of downtown Zanesville, in Muskingum County, Ohio. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 called it a general aviation facility.
Pittsburgh–Monroeville Airport is a private airport located one nautical mile (1.8 km) north of the central business district of Monroeville, in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. The airport is privately owned by the estate of Helen M. Brown and is also known as the Harold W. Brown Memorial Field.
Aviation history in the Pittsburgh region is one of the richest in the world. With the first regularly scheduled air mail service and a leading region in manufacture and innovation during both World Wars, the Pittsburgh area has much to discover about aviation's past. From Bettis Field and the Allegheny County Airport, to the modern Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT), the city continues to play an important role in the industry and science of flight.
Miss Pittsburgh is a historic Waco 9 airplane, powered by a Curtiss OX-5 engine, known for making the first airmail flight from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Cleveland, Ohio on 21 April 1927. Miss Pittsburgh was rediscovered and restored by OX 5 Aviation Pioneers, and is now displayed at the Pittsburgh International Airport Landside Terminal.
Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport, also known as the Butler County Airport or K. W. Scholter Field, is a public airport 5 miles (8 km) southwest of the central business district of Butler, the county seat of Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States. The airport serves the northern suburbs of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. It is owned by the Butler County Airport Authority.
New Castle Municipal Airport is a small municipal airport located in Union Township, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania serving Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. Union Township is an outskirt of New Castle, Pennsylvania hence the name. The airport is located four nautical miles northwest of the central business district of New Castle. The airport is a public-owned airport and is controlled by the Lawrence County Airport Authority.
Transcontinental and Western Airways Flight 1 , a Douglas DC-2, crashed into Cheat Mountain, near Uniontown, Pennsylvania, approximately 10:20 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on April 7, 1936, killing 12 of the 14 passengers and crew aboard. Flight 1 was a regularly scheduled TWA Sun Racer flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Los Angeles, California, with almost a dozen intermediate stops between. Approaching the flight's second stop, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Allegheny County Airport, pilot Otto Ferguson lost contact with the airport's radio navigation signal, and tracked several miles in a southwestern line off course. Fearing icing conditions, he descended in an attempt to find visual landmarks for navigation. Thick fog hindered him, and his descent continued until Flight 1 hit ice-covered trees atop Cheat Mountain, about 40 miles (64 km) south of Pittsburgh on the West Virginia line and near Uniontown, Pennsylvania. When the plane crashed it was aiming in a northern flight direction indicating that the pilot finally realized he had tracked south of his flightplan and may have been trying to correct it.
TWA Flight 15A , a Douglas DC-2 operated by Transcontinental and Western Air, crashed into a gully in Clifton, Pennsylvania, now Upper Saint Clair, a suburb approximately 7 miles (11 km) south of Pittsburgh. The crash occurred at approximately 6:40 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on March 25, 1937, killing all 13 passengers and crew members. Flight 15A was a regularly scheduled flight from Newark, New Jersey to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania via Camden, New Jersey.
Clifford Ball was an American farmer, soldier, bookkeeper, clerk, automobile dealer, airplane dealer, airline owner, airline operator, airline executive, radio manufacturer, Civil Air Patrol officer and chaplain, and aviation pioneer.
Camden Central Airport was an airport in Pennsauken Township, Camden County, New Jersey, United States. It had its peak of activity in the 1930s, serving as the main airport for the neighboring city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
