Tulsa International Airport - History

History

Duncan A. McIntyre, an early aviator and native of New Zealand, came to Tulsa in 1919. His first airport was located at Apache and Memorial and opened August 22, 1919. He moved and established a private airport on an 80-acre tract at the corner of Admiral Place and Sheridan Avenue. McIntyre Field had three hangars to house 40 aircraft and a beacon for landings after sundown.

McIntyre evidently closed his airport during the 1930s and merged it with R. F. Garland a Tulsa oil man and owner of the Garland Airport at 51st and Sheridan Road. He ran the airport and became the President of the new venture. This airport would later become the Brown Airport (after a number of owners and names including the commervcial airport before it moved to 61st and Yale. In 1940, McIntyre accepted a position with Lockheed Corporation and moved to California.

Charles Lindbergh landed at McIntyre Field on September 30, 1927. He had been persuaded to visit Tulsa by William G. Skelly, who was then president of the local Chamber of Commerce, as well as a booster of the young aviation industry. In addition to being a wealthy oilman and founder of Skelly Oil Company, Skelly also founded Spartan Aircraft Company. Lindbergh had already landed at Oklahoma City Municipal Airport, Bartlesville Municipal Airport and Muskogee's Hatbox Field. All of these were superior to the privately-owned McIntyre Field. Lindbergh pointed this out at a banquet given that night in his honor.

The initial municipal airport facility was financed with a so-called "stud horse note." This was a promissory note similar to those used by groups of farmers or horse breeders who would collectively underwrite the purchase of a promising stud horse. The note would be retired with the stud fees paid for use of the horse. In the case of the Tulsa airport, the note would be paid from airport fees. Using this vehicle, Skelly obtained signatures from several prominent Tulsa businessmen put up $172,000 to buy 390 acres (178 hectares) of land for use as a municipal airport. It was dedicated and officially opened July 3, 1928. The city of Tulsa purchased the airport, then named Tulsa Municipal Airport, in 1929, and put its supervision under the Tulsa Park Board. Charles W. Short was appointed Airport Director in 1929, and remained in this position until 1955.

The first terminal building was a nondescript, one-story wood and tar paper structure that looked like a warehouse. The landing strips and taxiways were simply mown grass. Still, it sufficed to handle enough passengers in 1930 for Tulsa to claim that it had the busiest airport in the world. The Tulsa Municipal Airport handled 7,373 passengers in February 1930 and 9,264 in April. This outpaced Croydon Field (London), Tempelhof (Berlin), and LeBourget (Paris) for the same months.

In 1932, the city inaugurated a more elegant Art Deco terminal topped with a control tower. Charles Short decorated the inside walls with a notable collection of early aviation photographs. This building served for nearly 30 years, until Tulsa broke ground on a new terminal, designed by the firm Murray Jones Murray, in November 1958 and opened on November 16, 1961; on August 28, 1963 the facility was renamed Tulsa International Airport.

In January 1928, Skelly bought the Mid-Continent Aircraft Company of Tulsa and renamed it the Spartan Aircraft Company. It first built a two-seat biplane, the Spartan C3 at its facility near the new airport. Later it would also build a low-wing cabin monoplane for use as a corporate aircraft, and the NP-1, a naval training plane used in World War II. In 1929, Spartan also established the Spartan School of Aeronautics across Apache street from the new Tulsa airport to train future fliers and support personnel.The Spartan School was activated as a U. S. Army Air Corps (USAAC) facility on August 1, 1939 as an advanced civilian pilot training school to supplement the Air Corps' few flying training schools. The Air Corps supplied students with training aircraft, flying clothes, textbooks, and equipment. The Air Corps also put a detachment at each school to supervise training. Spartan furnished instructors, training sites and facilities, aircraft maintenance, quarters, and mess halls.

The 138th Fighter Wing of the Air National Guard is based here. It was originally organized at the Tulsa airport in 1940 as the 125th Observation Squadron, then renamed when it deployed overseas during World War II.

In 1941, the Federal Government constructed Air Force Plant No. 3, adjoining the east side of the airport. The plant was operated by Douglas Aircraft Corporation to manufacture, assemble and modify bombers for the U. S. Air Force from 1942 to 1945. Production was suspended when World War II ended in 1945. The plant was reactivated in 1950 to produce the B-47 Stratojet and later the B-66. In 1960, McDonnell Douglas, the successor to Douglas Aircraft Corporation, continued to use the facility for aircraft maintenanace. Rockwell International leased part of the plant to manufacture aerospace products. McDonnell Douglas terminated its lease in 1996. Boeing bought Rockwell International's aerospace business in 1996, and took over much of the facility for aerospace manufacturing.

In June 1946, American Airlines decided to build a maintenance and engineering base adjacent to the Tulsa Municipal Airport. According to the company, it is one of the largest private employers in Oklahoma.

The Tulsa Air and Space Museum (TASM) was established in 1998, on the northwest side of the airport property. The museum added the James E. Bertelsmeyer Tulsa planetarium in 2006.