Otherwise-obscure Airport Namesakes

prosa · Mon Jul 01, 2013 6:06 pm

This came up on another forum - people who would be mostly forgotten today, except that major airports were named after them. Just in the United States:

Butch O'Hare
Edward Logan
Ben Douglas
Eugene Eppley
William Hopkins
Albert Lambert
William Hobby
Eugene Bradley.

Possibly also Pat McCarran, William Hartsfield and Billy Mitchell.

psa1011 · Mon Jul 01, 2013 6:41 pm

Reno/Tahoe used to be Reno Cannon, which I think they realized was too obscure.

LoneStarMike · Mon Jul 01, 2013 6:47 pm

Austin's old airport (Robert Mueller Municipal Airport) was named after an Austin City Council member who passed away in 1926.

Austin's current Airport (Austin Bergstrom International Airport) kept the old Bergstrom Air Force Base name. Bergstrom was named after Captain John August Earl Bergstrom, a reservist in the 19th Bombardment Group, who was killed at Clark Field, Philippines in 1941. He was the first Austinite killed in World War II.

Dallas Love Field was named after First Lieutenant Moss Lee Love, 11th Cavalry who was killed in a Type C Wright pusher bi-plane at North Island, San Diego, California, practicing for his Military Aviator Test on September 4, 1913.

LoneStarMike

71Zulu · Mon Jul 01, 2013 6:48 pm

John B Moisant

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Moisant

Moisant Field

"The international airport of New Orleans, Louisiana was originally named Moisant Field in his honor, though it has since been renamed Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. The airport retains its "MSY" identifier, derived from the airport's origins as "Moisant Stock Yards" the name given to the land where Moisant's fatal airplane crash occurred, and upon which the airport was later built."

rampart · Mon Jul 01, 2013 6:57 pm

Quoting PROSA (Thread starter):
Possibly also Pat McCarran, William Hartsfield and Billy Mitchell.

Mitchell is certainly not obscure. Father of the Air Force and Naval Aviation? My high school was named for him as well.

-Rampart

MakeMinesLAX · Mon Jul 01, 2013 6:58 pm

Adding to the list:

Jim Hogg
Norman Mineta (who will probably be obscure soon enough)
William Mines (couldn't resist)
Michael Norman Wright McCoy

Italianflyer · Mon Jul 01, 2013 7:20 pm

LAS aka Sen. Patrick McCarran...impotus of the CAB (and unapoligitic fascist) is pretty obscure.

9w748capt · Mon Jul 01, 2013 7:26 pm

I doubt most people nationwide know who Will Rogers is/was (OKC).

Cubsrule · Mon Jul 01, 2013 7:27 pm

Maybe the list of those who are NOT obscure is shorter, at least in this country . . .

Charles Lindbergh
John Wayne
George H.W. Bush
Bill Clinton
Gerald Ford
John F. Kennedy
Ronald Reagan

But to add some folks to the obscure list . . .

Harry S. Berry
John Foster Dulles (probably shouldn't be obscure, but that's another thread)
Medgar Evers (see comment on Dulles)
Fiorello LaGuardia
Fred Shuttlesworth
Elisha David Standiford

rwy04lga · Mon Jul 01, 2013 7:31 pm

Quoting PROSA (Thread starter):
Billy Mitchell.

Mitchell is probably the best known of the bunch! In time, only Alaskans will remember Ted Stevens.

cargolex · Mon Jul 01, 2013 7:33 pm

PAE - named for Army Lieutenant and then early air-mail pilot Topliff Olin Paine, who died in 1922, long before PAE was constructed as part of the Works Progress Administration (and expanded during WW2 by the Army Air Corps.).

Many relatively obscure (to the general public) aviation Pioneers have airports named after them in the Western US - Pappy Boyington (now the namesake of Coeur d'Alene airport in Idaho, was friends with Clyde Pangborn, who is now the namesake of an airport in Wenatchee, Washington. There are many smaller fields like that.

Quoting Cubsrule (Reply 8):
Fiorello LaGuardia

I think I'd take exception to that one. Although La Guardia's time in office is now very distant, most people in New York have at least heard of him, and until recently, most of the older generations in New York actually remembered him. My grandparents and their siblings certainly did. It's strange to think that it's nearly eighty years ago that he became mayor, after a couple of decades of some of the worst Mayors NYC ever had ("Red" Mike Hylan and Beau James Jimmy Walker). When Rudy Giuliani replaced David Dinkins, my Grandmother waxed poetic about La Guardia and how much better he was than any of the recent mayors at that time.

By that standard however, BWI - Thurgood Marshall - will probably sadly someday be an obscure name to many Americans, even though Marshall was first a landmark civil rights attorney and then a legendary heavyweight on the Supreme Court.

To echo your thoughts, I don't think any of those people deserve to be obscure, but it's a sad truth of our culture these days that if it didn't happen ten minutes ago, most people can't remember it.

[Edited 2013-07-01 12:42:03]

Viscount724 · Mon Jul 01, 2013 8:05 pm

Some Canadian airports named for (mostly) former politicians:

Toronto (YYZ) - Lester Pearson (former prime minister)
Toronto City Airport (YTZ) - Billy Bishop (Canadian ace in WWI and closely involved in military aviation affairs during WWII). The small airport at Owen Sound, Ontario (YOS) is also named for him. They got annoyed when YTZ also took the name.
Montreal (YUL) - Pierre Trudeau (former prime minister)
Saskatoon (YXE) - John Diefenbaker (former prime minister)
Winnipeg (YWG) - James Richardson (Manitoba businessman and aviation pioneer)
Ottawa (YOW) - Sir John A. Macdonald (Canada's first prime minster), and Sir George-Étienne Cartier (French Canadian statesman and a "father of confederation")
Halifax (YHZ) - Robert Stanfield (former premier of Nova Scotia, then leader of the federal Conservative party)
Hamilton (YHM) - John Munro (federal member of parliament and cabinet minister from YHM)
Timmins, Ontario (YTS) - Victor Power (former mayor)
Whitehorse, Yukon (YXY) - Erik Nielsen (former federal senator from the Yukon, and brother of late actor Leslie Nielsen, of "Airplane!" and "Naked Gun" spoof movies fame)
Edmonton City Centre Airport (YXD) - Kenneth Blatchford (mayor when the airport opened in the 1920s, Canada's first licensed airport)

BlueShamu330s · Mon Jul 01, 2013 8:21 pm

John Lennon Liverpool...oh, hold on; that one's the other way round

rampart · Mon Jul 01, 2013 8:34 pm

Quoting 9w748capt (Reply 7):
I doubt most people nationwide know who Will Rogers is/was (OKC).

You'd be surprised. One of the great humorists of the 20th Century, A no brainer for me.

Quoting Cubsrule (Reply 8):
Medgar Evers (see comment on Dulles)
Fiorello LaGuardia

Both show up in middle school history books at least. These are not now-obscure airmen who died during a training flight or local politicians (well, I guess LaGuardia is, but he was mayor of the capital of the world

)

-Rampart

point2point · Mon Jul 01, 2013 8:57 pm

Before we had Denver International Airport, which opened in 1995, we had Stapleton.......

Stapleton was opened on October 17, 1929 as Denver Municipal Airport. Its name was changed to Stapleton Airfield after a 1944 expansion, in honor of

Benjamin F. Stapleton,

the city's mayor most of the time from 1923 to 1947, and the major force behind the project when it began in 1928.

rampart · Mon Jul 01, 2013 9:21 pm

Quoting point2point (Reply 14):
Stapleton was opened on October 17, 1929 as Denver Municipal Airport. Its name was changed to Stapleton Airfield after a 1944 expansion, in honor of

Benjamin F. Stapleton,

the city's mayor most of the time from 1923 to 1947, and the major force behind the project when it began in 1928.

Along those lines, does anyone other than pilots and severe airnerds know who Elrey Jeppeson was, for whom the current DIA terminal is named? Though I knew who he was -- extreme airnerd that I am -- I thought at the time of the naming, "interesting, what an obscure name for the nation's newest airport terminal."

-Rampart

prosa · Mon Jul 01, 2013 9:37 pm

Even if LAS had a different name, movie buffs would remember Pat McCarran as the (alleged) inspiration for the crooked Senator Geary in Godfather II

point2point · Mon Jul 01, 2013 9:40 pm

Quoting rampart (Reply 15):
does anyone other than pilots and severe airnerds know who Elrey Jeppeson was

tibits from wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elrey_Borge_Jeppesen

Elrey Borge Jeppesen (January 28, 1907 – November 26, 1996) was an American aviation pioneer noted for his contributions in the field of navigation. He developed manuals and charts that allowed pilots to fly much more safely....

He was born on January 28, 1907 in Lake Charles, Louisiana. He grew up in Odell, Oregon, before moving to Portland......

Pilots at that time depended on Rand McNally automobile road maps

he founded Jeppesen & Co. in the basement of his Salt Lake City home to sell his information for $10 a copy

He was involved in an overrun accident at Denver Municipal Airport on June 10, 1941. While landing in a rainstorm, the United DC-3 aircraft overran the landing area, travelled through the airport boundary lights and into a 3-foot (0.91 m) ditch where the right landing gear failed. None of the crew or 15 passengers was injured, but the aircraft incurred major damage.

So..... a pilot who crash landed has the terminal named after him at DEN. I guess the fact that none of the 15 pax or crew were injured merits him the honor.

reality · Mon Jul 01, 2013 9:41 pm

Are there any airports named after Amelia Earhart? Certainly not obscure except not much is named after her. Or any major airports named after women? I often have thought that OAK should be named Amelia Earhart Airport since that is where she started her last around the world journey and sadly never returned

MountainFlyer · Mon Jul 01, 2013 9:45 pm

Ernest Groves Wold and Cyrus Foss Chamberlain - MSP (although not used anymore, it is Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport)
Major Harold Geiger - GEG (Known in some circles still as Geiger Field, although more commonly Spokane International Airport now)

treebeard787 · Mon Jul 01, 2013 9:53 pm

World-Chamberlain Field MSP could be considered obscure, it was named after two WW-I pilots named Ernest Groves Wold and Cyrus Foss Chamberlain. Today its better known as just MSP International.

Mountain Flyer beat me to it.

[Edited 2013-07-01 14:54:43]

MakeMinesLAX · Mon Jul 01, 2013 10:09 pm

Quoting point2point (Reply 17):
So..... a pilot who crash landed has the terminal named after him at DEN. I guess the fact that none of the 15 pax or crew were injured merits him the honor.

I was at the LAX Appreciation Day unveiling of the new TBIT addition last Saturday, and those of us "in the right place at the right time" were treated to a QF 388 tow-in to one of the gates. I was expecting the individual named on the nose - David Warren - to be a QF CEO or something of the sort, but found out he's the inventor of the black box.

Keeping somewhat on-topic, I think Tom Bradley is a significant figure who deserves to have at least a terminal named after him. Not so sure about the new "Villaraigosa Pavilion" inside it, though...

toering · Mon Jul 01, 2013 10:17 pm

Some airports in my area that strike some interest is Sioux Falls SD, (FSD) named after Joseph Jacob "Joe" Foss was the leading fighter ace of the United States Marine Corps during World War II and a 1943 recipient of the Medal of Honor, recognizing his role in the air combat during the Guadalcanal Campaign.

My home town of Fergus Falls MN has it's airport (FFM) named after Einar Mickelson who was a resident of Fergus and later served in Burma as a Flying Tiger in WW2. He later died flying a transport over the "hump".

Fargo's Hector (FAR) story is kinda boring, it's named after the guy who donated the land for the airport.

Minneapolis (MSP) is named "Wold–Chamberlain Field" for the World War I pilots Ernest Groves Wold and Cyrus Foss Chamberlain. I always thought Wold or Chamberlain were basket ball players for the Lakers.

srbmod · Mon Jul 01, 2013 10:19 pm

Quoting psa1011 (Reply 1):
Reno/Tahoe used to be Reno Cannon, which I think they realized was too obscure.

Quoting ItalianFlyer (Reply 6):
LAS aka Sen. Patrick McCarran...impotus of the CAB (and unapoligitic fascist) is pretty obscure.

The interesting thing there is that Senator Cannon was from the Las Vegas area and Senator McCarran was from Northern Nevada. The road to RNO is named after McCarran and the aviation museum at LAS is named after Cannon.

For the most part, the people whose names are on airports are well-known on a local basis and as the years go by, become less and less known. When an airport is named after someone whose fame transcends regions, countries, and even continents, the names will live forever. People 100 years from now will still know for example who Charles De Gaulle, Leonardo Da Vinci, Mozart, and Charles Lindbergh were.

us330 · Mon Jul 01, 2013 10:25 pm

How's this for obscure: Moss Lee Love--the 10th fatality in US Army aviation history who died in 1913--the namesake of Love Field.

airman99o · Tue Jul 02, 2013 12:06 am

There is a SMALL FBO in the US, Kansas I do believe, called Amelia Earhart Airport.

Aeri28 · Tue Jul 02, 2013 12:14 am

I always wondered why no major US airport (that I can think of) was ever named after FDR (Roosevelt).

(now someones going to tell me Schenectedy or Misoluala airports were named after him...)

BD338 · Tue Jul 02, 2013 12:16 am

some of these are so obscure I'm having difficulty figuring out where some of the airports actually are!

BMI727 · Tue Jul 02, 2013 12:19 am

Quoting PROSA (Thread starter):
Billy Mitchell.

Quoting MakeMinesLAX (Reply 5):
Norman Mineta

Quoting 9w748capt (Reply 7):
Will Rogers

Quoting Cubsrule (Reply 8):
John Foster Dulles

Quoting Cargolex (Reply 10):
Thurgood Marshall

Quoting Viscount724 (Reply 11):
Lester Pearson

Quoting Viscount724 (Reply 11):
Pierre Trudeau

What the hell sort of rock do you have to live under for these people to be counted as obscure?

flflyguy · Tue Jul 02, 2013 12:39 am

How about Wilcox Field (more commonly known as Miami International Airport)?

Named after J. Mark Wilcox (1890-1956), a U.S. congressman from Florida.

The terminal exterior at MIA Terminal E still says "Wilcox Field".

prosa · Tue Jul 02, 2013 12:41 am

Quoting toering (Reply 22):
I always thought Wold or Chamberlain were basket ball players for the Lakers.

On a not-unrelated note, it is safe to say that CLE will NEVER be renamed LeBron James Airport

steex · Tue Jul 02, 2013 12:53 am

A couple more to add to the list:

- PIA is named for General Wayne A. Downing (an army general)
- CMI is named for Arthur Cutts Willard (former president of University of Illinois)

boeingrulz · Tue Jul 02, 2013 1:15 am

YKM in Yakima Washington is called McAllister field after an aviation pioneer in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. It took some research to find out why the airport was named McAllister field. Now that is an obscure name.

ltbewr · Tue Jul 02, 2013 1:33 am

Stewart Airport - SFW - near Newburgh, NY (about 60 miles north of NYC) was named after the last name of the family that donated the original site, at one time a dairy farm and home of an airplane enthusiast, in 1930 to the Town of Newburgh. A small airport was developed, by 1934 it became a site to give flight training to Cadets at West Point (about 15 miles away). It would be taken over by the Federal government in the later 1930's as Newburgh couldn't afford to develop it. It then became and continued to be a full time Army Air Corps/Air Force base until 1970, and from then to today, a base of the NY Air National Guard. Here is more details on the name and about the airport: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stewart_International_Airport

taxpilot · Tue Jul 02, 2013 1:58 am

As a former Air Force pilot, many years ago, we all agreed we never wanted an Air Force Base/airfield named after us. The thing that linked most so honored was death in an aircraft. Our mantra was don't make an ash of yourself!

N328KF · Tue Jul 02, 2013 2:05 am

Butch O'Hare is not someone I'd call obscure anymore. I think he was famous in his day, but by now, the airport is what has kept his name well-known.

But anyone who calls "Billy Mitchell" obscure needs to have their American AvGeek credentials reviewed.

N908AW · Tue Jul 02, 2013 2:09 am

Quoting 9w748capt (Reply 7):
I doubt most people nationwide know who Will Rogers is/was (OKC).

Will Rogers is still somewhat well-known today, but maybe not so much in a generation or two.

But I always get a sad but ironic kick out of the other Oklahoma City airport, tiny Wiley Post Airport, named after a guy who ended up dying in a plane crash...with Will Rogers. Both now share the namesake of the airport they crashed at in Barrow, Alaska.

warden145 · Tue Jul 02, 2013 2:46 am

Quoting MakeMinesLAX (Reply 5):
Norman Mineta (who will probably be obscure soon enough)

What about Ernie Renzel? (the airfield at SJC was named after him)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Renzel

Quoting Cargolex (Reply 10):
To echo your thoughts, I don't think any of those people deserve to be obscure, but it's a sad truth of our culture these days that if it didn't happen ten minutes ago, most people can't remember it.

Sad, but pretty much true.

Quoting N328KF (Reply 35):
But anyone who calls "Billy Mitchell" obscure needs to have their American AvGeek credentials reviewed.

ABSOLUTELY!!!

bohica · Tue Jul 02, 2013 3:59 am

Mills Field Municipal Airport was named after Ogden Mills who leased his property to the city to build an airport. That airport is now known as San Francisco International. The adjoining town of Millbrae was also named after Ogden Mills.

I hope that one day SFO is renamed Mills Field San Francisco International Airport.

prosa · Tue Jul 02, 2013 4:08 am

Quoting N328KF (Reply 35):
But anyone who calls "Billy Mitchell" obscure needs to have their American AvGeek credentials reviewed.

He's not obscure to anyone who knows anything about aviation or military history, but to the average, John Q. Public segment of society, his name doesn't mean much.

prosa · Tue Jul 02, 2013 4:22 am

Quoting reality (Reply 18):
Or any major airports named after women?

No commercial airports in the United States come to mind. There's Jacqueline Cochran Regional (TRM) in California, but it's a GA facility. Internationally there are quite a few: AMM (Queen Alia), AUA (Queen Beatrix), DEL (Indira Gandhi), ISB (Benazir Bhutto), SXM (Princess Juliana), and TIA (Mother Teresa). I'm sure there are others which don't come to mind.

USAIRWAYS321 · Tue Jul 02, 2013 4:47 am

The Northwest has a fair number of obscure names. I'll add some to those already mentioned:

Boise Air Terminal/Gowen Field (BOI): Gowen was a local Army Air Corps pilot who died in a 1938 B-10 crash in Panama.

Billings Logan International Airport (BIL): Logan was the airport's first manager, serving from 1928 to 1957.

Bert Mooney Airport (BTM): Mooney was apparently the first pilot to deliver airmail to Yellowstone National Park.

B595 · Tue Jul 02, 2013 5:49 am

These airports aren't major (most people in Vermont don't even know their names) but I'll throw them out there anyway:

Hartness State Airport, Springfield, VT (KVSF). Named after former governor and machine-tool entrepreneur James Hartness. Hartness was the first licensed pilot in the state of Vermont and one of the first 100 licensed pilots in the nation. He also established Vermont's first airport (at Springfield).

Edward F. Knapp Airport, Barre-Montpelier, VT (KMPV). Named after former mayor of Montpelier and State Commissioner of Aeronautics.

And one from Wisconsin:

Austin Straubel International Airport, Green Bay, WI (KGRB). From Wikipedia: Named for Lt. Col. Austin Straubel, the first aviator from Brown County to lose his life in his country's service on February 3, 1942, after having served for thirteen years in the United States Army Air Corps.

RyanairGuru · Tue Jul 02, 2013 5:51 am

Quoting PROSA (Reply 40):
I'm sure there are others which don't come to mind

TFS: Reina Sofia

[Edited 2013-07-01 22:52:45]

TWA772LR · Tue Jul 02, 2013 6:08 am

EFD- Named after Eric Lamar Ellington. KIT near San Diego in 1913.
DWH- Named after David Wayne Hooks; who was Charles Hooks' son, the original owner, killed in a plane accident.
STL- Named after Albert Bond Lambert, Olympic medalist and Listerine manufacturer.

All info got from wiki.

toering · Tue Jul 02, 2013 7:21 am

MSP at one point was called Speedway airport because it was built a top of a defunct auto racetrack. Kinda interesting. Lets not forget idlewild (now JFK). What's the story there?

Faro · Tue Jul 02, 2013 10:39 am

Wonders aloud whether 'Ted Stevens' will remain as part of ANC's official designation...

Faro

GCT64 · Tue Jul 02, 2013 10:55 am

Quoting BlueShamu330s (Reply 12):
John Lennon Liverpool...oh, hold on; that one's the other way round

In the same vein: Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield

pa747sp · Tue Jul 02, 2013 11:18 am

I was told once that Montreal-Mirabel was named after the two sisters who owned the farm it was built on; Annabelle and Miriam. True or myth?

ltbewr · Tue Jul 02, 2013 11:31 am

Teterboro, NJ airport (TEB) an important business and GA airport in the NYC area (and about 3 miles from where I live) takes its name from the founder of the airport in the WWI era, Walter C. Teter.

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