Bowman Field

by Charles W. Arrington

Overview

Louisville's Bowman Field is Kentucky's oldest continuously operating airport and one of the oldest in the United States. Abram Hite Bowman, Robert Bob Gast, and Wallace Sidney Park are considered the founders of Bowman Field, which dates to 1920. John Bennett, Frank Holzaphel, Dick Mulloy, and Wil Paris were among those who made the airport a success. Bowman Field was the landing place of Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis in 1927. It also hosted aviatrix Ruth Nichols, who, in 1931, ended a record-setting flight when her airplane caught fire. During World War II, the airfield was repurposed as the Bowman Army Airbase and a training facility for flight nurses. In 1957, Bowman Field was the nation's busiest local traffic airport. As we approach the airfield's centennial, the Bowman Field Administration Building, built in 1929, has been hardly touched by the hands of time. Bowman Field is the airport where the past meets the future.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467126991
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	11/06/2017
Series:	Images of Aviation
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Charles W. Arrington has been collecting photographs and information about Bowman Field for nearly 40 years. In addition to local archives such as the University of Louisville and the Louisville Regional Airport Authority, Arrington has compiled images and research from notable local aviation historians, like Merritt Edward Peck, William Russell Beeler, and Chester Lamppin.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 6

Introduction 7

1 From Cornfield to Airfield 11

2 Building Bowman Field 25

3 World War II 53

4 Bowman Field Takes Flight 77

5 Air Shows, Fly-Ins, and Festivals 101

6 Looking Back, Looking Forward 109