When flying into a new airport, do you ever wonder how it wound up there? Sometimes the factors that typically drive the development of airports, like proximity to major cities, business centers or vacation destinations, seem to be absent. Indeed, many airports are located far from obvious points of interest.
Just like early carriage roads, railroads, and highway systems, U.S. airports reflect the needs for national defense, commerce, and travel at the time they were designed and built. The growth of airmail service drove a boom of airport construction during aviation’s golden age between the world wars. The network continued to expand with the need for training bases for pilots and crews during World War II.
