Washington–Hoover Airport

Washington–Hoover Airport was an airport serving the city of Washington, D.C., in the United States from 1933 to 1941. It was created by the merger of Hoover Field and Washington Airport on August 2, 1933. It was in Arlington, Virginia, near the intersection of the Highway Bridge and the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway (where the Pentagon and its parking lots now stand).Peck, 2005, p. 8. Washington–Hoover Airport, like its predecessors, suffered from safety problems, short runways, and little room to grow. It closed for public use in June 1941, and the United States Department of War purchased the site in September, closing it for good. Washington National Airport (now known as Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport), which opened in June 1941, was built as its replacement.

Hoover Field

Hoover Field was built in 1925 by Thomas E. Mitten, president of the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company."Field In Arlington to be Air Terminal." Washington Post. June 28, 1926.Crouch, 2004, p. 608.Goode, 2003, p. 460.Goode, 1989, p. 7. It was constructed on Hell's Bottom,Carroll, 2004, p. 22. a site at the foot of the Highway Bridge in Arlington County, Virginia (formerly a horse racing track) directly across the Potomac River from the city. The single sod runway was long.Goode, 2003, p. 460-461. A single hangar, by in size, was constructed.Goode, 1989, p. 8. The field was expanded,Goode, 1989, p. 7-8. and the "new" airfield dedicated on July 16, 1926."Arlington's Flying Field Is Dedicated." Washington Post. July 17, 1926. It was named for then-Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, a major promoter of civil aviation.Leuchtenburg, 2009, p. 54; Walch, 2003, p. 255.

Hoover Field suffered from significant safety problems. Arlington Beach, a local amusement park, was northeast of the airport next to the Highway Bridge, and a landfill stood on the north-northwestern edge of the field.Dietrich, 2005, p. 55.Schom, 2004, p. 111. The trash in the landfill was also on fire. The smoke sometimes obscured the landing field."Dump Is Suspected As Stench Nuisance." Washington Post. October 28, 1927. The United States Department of Agriculture owned the Arlington Experimental Farm immediately adjacent to the northeastern end of the runway."A Local Airport." Washington Post. December 8, 1926. A public swimming pool was located at the airport, and local children would cross the runway to get to it.Fitzhugh, 2003, p. 11; "Airport Swim Pool Opens Tomorrow." Washington Post. June 16, 1938. Safety conditions at the airport were so poor due to these and other obstructions that local businesses and city officials began calling for the construction of a city-owned airport in a safer location just three months after Hoover Field opened."District Fliers Demand New Municipal Airport." Washington Post. October 23, 1926.

In February 1927, a group of aviators and aviation companies, led by aviation pioneer Henry Berliner, called for the establishment of a new, larger airport to be built on vacant land across Military Road (the southern boundary of Hoover Field)."Airport Along River Urged by Committee." Washington Post. February 15, 1927. This plan was not immediately acted on however. In June, Berliner began leasing Hoover Field, and soon took a majority financial interest in the airport."Zihlman Will Seek Permanent Airport at Next Congress." Washington Post. June 18, 1927; "Berliner to Start Airplane Factory in Alexandria Soon." Washington Post. August 16, 1927. A fire at the field on July 3, 1928, destroyed eight planes and a hangar, causing $100,000 in damages ($1.275 million in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars)."Planes and Hangar at Hoover Field, Va., Destroyed By Fire." Washington Post. July 4, 1928. Berliner's finances were significantly damaged by the fire, and he sold his interest in Hoover Field to E. W. Robertson's Mount Vernon Airways on July 20, 1928."Mount Vernon Airways Buys Potomac Service." Washington Post. July 21, 1928.Mount Vernon Airways had been incorporated in late January 1928 to build the Hybla Valley Aviation Field near Hybla Valley, Virginia (about eight miles south of Hoover Field). See: Whitman, LeRoy. "Flying and Fliers." Washington Post. February 5, 1928. By November 1928, a Canadian company, International Airways, had taken over control of the airfield from Mount Vernon Airways."Air Travel Urged By Commerce Body." Washington Post. November 7, 1928.Coontz, John L. "What Price Airport?" Washington Post. December 2, 1928.

In early 1929, a new holding company, Atlantic Seaboard Airways, was created by the owners of nearby Washington Airport and took over International Airways and its subsidiary aviation businesses.Zukowsky and Bosma, 1996, p. 71. For a few months, both fields were owned by the same investors (although they never merged operations). On December 30, 1929, a group of investors led by R.H. Reiffen, chairman of the New Standard Aircraft Company, seized control of Atlantic Seaboard Airways and Hoover Field."Aviation Concern Sold." New York Times. December 31, 1929; "Hoover Field Sold to N.Y. Group." Washington Post. January 1, 1930.

Safety at the airfield improved somewhat in mid-1932, after Arlington County commissioners revoked permits for the burning of trash at all landfills in the county—including the one next to Hoover Field, but not the one next to Washington Airport."Arlington County Moves to End Dump Permits." Washington Post. March 21, 1932; "Arlington Forbids Burning of Dumps." Washington Post. July 17, 1932.

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.Mitchell, Ewing Y. "Plans to Give City Suitable Field Delayed." Washington Post. August 27, 1933.Goode, 2003, p. 421.Arlington Historical Society, p. 62. 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.Whitman, LeRoy. "Flying and Fliers." Washington Post. February 19, 1928. 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.Goode, 1989, p. 9.

The field was dramatically enlarged (and the shoreline of the Potomac River altered) in April 1928.Whitman, LeRoy. "Flying and Fliers." Washington Post. April 8, 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 Beach Being Dismantled." Washington Post. October 24, 1929. 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."20-Plane Hangar Contract Is Let." Washington Post. January 12, 1930."Buried Power Lines at Airport Upheld." Washington Post. May 4, 1932. 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 granite columns on the Virginia side of the bridge as a beautification measure."Conference Is Set on Island Columns." Washington Post. September 30, 1931. 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."200 Foot Columns For Bridge May Be Aviation Sacrifice." Washington Post. October 1, 1931; "Bridge Shaft Plan to Get New Study." Washington Post. October 13, 1931; "Board to Discuss Column Air Hazard." Washington Post. October 29, 1931; "Lampposts Studied for Memorial Span." Washington Post. February 28, 1932.

Merger First merger effort Washington Airport's owners first attempted to take control of Hoover Field and merge the two entities in the late 1920s. In June 1928, Funkhouser and Fahy created United States Air Transport, a holding company which took over Seaboard Airways, Washington Airport, and Funkhouser's other aviation businesses.Whitman, LeRoy. "Flying and Fliers." Washington Post. August 5, 1928."Capital Plane Service Passes to New Hands." Washington Post. July 11, 1928. In March 1929, Funkhouser and Fahy formed a second, independent company—Atlantic Seaboard Airways—and used it to take over International Airways and Hoover Field."Atlantic Seaboard Company Formed to Take Over Hoover Field." New York Times. March 29, 1929. Ira C. Eaker was named general manager of Atlantic Seaboard."Capt. Eaker to Quit Army." New York Times. March 30, 1929.

United States Air Transport was itself taken over in June 1929 by Federal Aviation Corporation, an airline based in New York City."Better Air Service for Capital Looms." Washington Post. June 28, 1929. Federal Aviation announced it was buying an additional for $675,000, with the goal of merging the two airports and creating a six-runway field with one runway dedicated solely to departing flights. But on December 30, 1929, Federal Aviation sold Hoover Field to the New Standard Aircraft Co., ending unified control of the two fields. Nonetheless, beginning around 1930, the two fields entered into a cooperative agreement. Hoover Field agreed to host all sight-seeing, flight schools, and small planes, while Washington Airport agreed to only be used by larger military, mail, and passenger aircraft.

In July 1931, Federal Aviation was slated to be purchased by National Aviation Corporation,"Proposes to Buy Federal Aviation." New York Times. July 25, 1931. an airline financing corporation originally organized in 1928."Group Organized to Finance Aviation." New York Times. June 26, 1928; "Financial Notes." New York Times. July 10, 1928. But this transaction never occurred.

Second merger effort Hoover Field and Washington Airport both suffered significant financial setbacks during the Great Depression.Bednarek, 2001, p. 115. In 1933, both airports merged after a series of quick financial transactions.