Washington-Hoover Airport - Washington Airport

Washington Airport

Washington Airport was built because a newly formed airline needed a terminal in Washington, D.C. The new Washington Airport opened without fanfare in late 1927 as a field for sight-seeing planes. Its owners included Robert E. Funkhouser (an investor in various airlines), Herbert Fahy (a well-known Lockheed Aircraft Company test pilot), and other investors. The airport added acreage and improved its facilities, and in February 1928 Funkhouser, Fahy and the others formed Seaboard Airways. Seaboard's base of operations was Washington Airport. But Washington Airport was only marginally safer than Hoover Field. The owners could not afford to pave the runway, and the burning trash dumps near Hoover Field and at Washington Airport's own eastern border often obscured the new field's runways.

The field was dramatically enlarged (and the coastline of the Potomac River altered) in April 1928. Safety improvements were also made. Arlington Beach amusement park was purchased and razed; three new runways built on the theme park grounds; a new paved runway planned for the existing airport; and a new terminal, hangar, and office building constructed. Arlington County commissioners also banned the burning of trash at the landfill next to Hoover Field in mid-1932 (but not the one next to Washington Airport). In May 1932, the airport paid local electric power and telephone companies to bury their lines obstructing the landing and take-off lanes. But numerous other safety issues remained.

In the summer of 1931, Washington Airport faced a new safety battle. The commission overseeing the construction of Arlington Memorial Bridge proposed erecting two 200 feet (61 m) granite columns on the Virginia side of the bridge as a beautification measure. The columns, however, posed a serious hazard to planes landing at Washington Airport, and an 18-month political and legislative battle ensued before the threat was defeated in February 1932.