Austin’s first airfield

Austin’s first airfield

Written by Karen R. Thompson Friday, 11 April 2008

With the news of Wilbur and Orville Wright’s first flight on the beach of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in December 1903, no one envisioned a landing field being built in Austin within 14 years.

When World War I began in Europe in the summer of 1914, Americans began to realize the United States might enter the war at some point. Angered by attacks upon its ships in the Atlantic, America declared war on Germany in April 1917.

Austin’s fledging Chamber of Commerce, led by Walter Long, anticipating the need for the capital of Texas to have an aircraft-landing field, secured an option on South Austin acreage. The land included a portion of St. Edward’s University, and the farms of the Landa, Gruene and Marbach families.

The chief officer of the United States Army Signal Corps, Gen. George O. Squire, said the property needed to have 150 acres. He approved the Austin site in September 1917.

Meanwhile, Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, was interested in building a flying machine. His wife, Mabel, was the biggest supporter of his experimental aircraft. In 1907, he chaired the formation of the Aerial Experiment Association, A.E.A.

The goal of A.E.A. was to get into the air with a powered aircraft capable of carrying a man. Along with Bell, the original flyers were Glenn Curtiss, F. W. (Casey) Baldwin, Lt. Thomas Selfridge and John A. D. McCurdy. They were known as the “Bell Boys”.

By World War I, Lt. McCurdy was commander of the advanced cross-country and formation flying at Kelly Field in San Antonio. He made an initial flight to Austin, and landed on the field. He approved the site in September 1917, but said the rocks and cornstalks had to be cleared.

To clear it, the chamber of commerce cleanup committee spent four weekends at the field. Their volunteers included Boy Scouts and boys from the Deaf and Dumb Institute, hauling off 317 truckloads of rocks.

In 1918, the Penn Field School of Military Aeronautics was established and conducted by The University of Texas for the U.S. government. It was named in honor of aviation cadet Eugene Doak Penn, an Austin flyer who died in Italy May 20, 1918 in a training accident.

UT was authorized to establish a radio school at Penn Field, and purchased 318 acres for $40,000. A railroad track was extended from downtown to the site and by November 1918, five brick buildings had been constructed. However, Armistice was declared Nov. 11, 1918, and Penn Field was no longer needed.

Woodward Truck Bodies began to use the space to build wood panels for automobiles and trucks. By the 1930s, Broyhill Company was manufacturing furniture at the site, and then Majestic Products built and shipped fireplaces.

Redevelopment at Penn Field, located at 6301 South Congress, began in 2000 and now houses many offices, design firms and specialty businesses.