History
The first recorded flight in Billings was in 1912 by a local dentist named Dr. Frank Bell. The flight was flown in his home-made airplane Curtiss 0-X-5.
The "First" flight was made on Memorial Day 1913, with much publicity, Dr. Bell took off from Billings flying to Park City and back, a round trip distance of 40 miles (64 km). This historic flight was captured by a local artist named J.K. Ralston in his painting entitled "First Flight," which is displayed in the lobby of the Billings Logan International Airport.
By 1927, the people of Billings realized that the community was in need of an airport. The City of Billings approved $5,000 and 400 acres (162 ha) on top of the Rims to construct a runway. The 1,820-foot (550 m) runway and small administrative building was constructed by using a horse-drawn equipment. The runway and building was completed in 1928. The Billings Municipal Airport was opened on May 29, 1928.
After the airport was established, Northwest Airlines was the first major airline to begin air services to Billings in 1933.
Major improvements over the years include the first runway lights installed in 1935 to the new 120-foot (37 m) air traffic control tower completed in 2005. Major terminal expansions were made in 1958, 1972 and 1992. In early 2006, the airport added electronic monitors that provide real-time updates on flight arrivals and departures.
The airport changed from the Billings Municipal Airport to Billings Logan Field in 1957, after Dick Logan, the airport manager, died. Then in 1971 the airport was renamed Billings Logan International Airport.
Read more about this topic: Billings Logan International Airport
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“In the history of the human mind, these glowing and ruddy fables precede the noonday thoughts of men, as Aurora the sun’s rays. The matutine intellect of the poet, keeping in advance of the glare of philosophy, always dwells in this auroral atmosphere.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I am ashamed to see what a shallow village tale our so-called History is. How many times must we say Rome, and Paris, and Constantinople! What does Rome know of rat and lizard? What are Olympiads and Consulates to these neighboring systems of being? Nay, what food or experience or succor have they for the Esquimaux seal-hunter, or the Kanaka in his canoe, for the fisherman, the stevedore, the porter?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“We know only a single science, the science of history. One can look at history from two sides and divide it into the history of nature and the history of men. However, the two sides are not to be divided off; as long as men exist the history of nature and the history of men are mutually conditioned.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)