Area Enters Air Age

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Piedmont Airlines served Tri-State Airport until 1989,
 when it merged with Allegheny Airlines, which
 also served Tri-State, to form US Airways.

File photo | The Herald-Dispatch

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Huntington officially entered the air age in 1952
with the dedication of Tri-State Airport,
 which continues to serve the region.

Efforts toward the development of aviation in the Tri-State
 Area were initiated in 1922 when the Huntington
 Chamber of Commerce formed its first
 aviation committee to select
 a site for an airfield.

Their original selection of Kyle Field at Kyle Landing
 on W.Va. 2 was used until 1927, when a search
 for a larger site was undertaken

Ultimately, the committee determined that the present-
day location of Tri-State Airport in Wayne County —
just minutes from Huntington, Ashland and
 Ironton — was the most feasible. In 1949,
 the West Virginia Legislature formed the
 Tri-State Airport Authority, authorizing
 it to build and operate the new airport.
 A 534-acre site was purchased
 and construction began.

On Nov. 2, 1952, an estimated crowd of at least
 10,000 people crowded the new, $1.3 million
 airport to witness the dedication ceremonies
 and welcome the first two commercial
 aircraft to land at the long-
awaited airport.

The first plane to land was an Eastern Airlines
 Silver Falcon. The twin-engine airliner was
 the first to touch down at 1 p.m., after
 circling for two hours, waiting for
 smoke from nearby forest fires to
 lift. At the controls was a
 Huntington pilot, Captain
 Eugene R. Scott.

At 3:55 p.m., a Piedmont Airlines DC-3 landed carrying
 the president of the firm, Thomas H. Davis. Just over
 four years earlier, Piedmont entered the air transportation
 field with only four planes and a small but experienced
 staff. By 1952, its fleet of aircraft had expanded to
 more than a dozen DC-3s and was serving
 a growing list of communities.

The dedication address was delivered by Jennings
 Randolph, assistant to the president of Capital
 Airlines and a former West Virginia
 Congressman. (Randolph later
 would return to Congress
 as a U.S. Senator.)

“I hope this is the beginning of thousands
 upon thousands of comfortable and
 safe flights which will move out of
 here in the future,”
 Randolph said.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Note:  This Article and picture appeared in the Herald-Dispatch Newspaper on Oct. 8, 2024.

-----------------------------------------------------------

[ Back ]