History
Butler County Airport opened as the Pittsburgh-Butler Airport on September 27 and 28, 1929 with much fanfare and aircraft demonstrations. It was later named the Butler-Graham Airport. For more than twenty years the Butler airfield was one of the primary airports servicing the city of Pittsburgh until Pittsburgh International Airport was completed in the early 1950s. During its early years, the airport served as an important training area for potential pilots. One notable trainee was Amelia Earhart who received her instrument flight certificate there while practicing for her solo flight over the Atlantic Ocean in 1932. It was also at the airport that Earhart had the long-range fuel tanks installed on her Lockheed Vega. Another notable aviator was C.G. Taylor, who in 1935 moved his Taylorcraft Aircraft company to Butler. His new planes were tested at the airport. During World War II the airport served as a training ground for fighter pilots. By the late 1990s, the airport was getting too small to handle the amount of aircraft coming in so plans were made to extend the runway by 800 feet. The extension of the single runway was completed in 2004.
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