Fort Worth Aviation History

Who is this Fort Worth aviation pioneer? Click the picture to discover part of our aviation heritage.

Fort Worth played a strategic role in the golden age of airships during the 1920s and 1930s. Click the picture to learn more.

Fort Worth's municipal airport has been a major factor in the growth of aviation in North Texas since its inception after WWI. Click the picture to learn its early history.

Why is this building on the N.E. corner of 7th Street and
Main an historic Fort Worth aviation landmark?
Click the picture to discover
another part of our city's aviation heritage.

Large amounts of our local aviation history have been lost or misreported. Uncovering past events that led Fort Worth to become a major center of aviation is not an easy task but our curator and historian have done an excellent job of "aviation archeology" that has uncovered many interesting facts from our past. For instance, Fort Worth was once a strategic center in the "Golden Age of Airships" during the 1920s due to the existence of a helium extraction plant built here by the Army, Navy and the US Bureau of Mines. Many giant dirigibles moored here to replenish their gas bags and to take on food and other supplies as they traveled across our country. This period of our local aviation history contributed greatly to the area's conversion from coal and wood for heating to natural gas. During World War One, many aviation "firsts" were achieved by aviators at our three aviation training bases. Noteworthy were the first military air ambulances developed at Carruthers Field in 1918 at Benbrook, and the first aerial refueling, also in 1918, at Barron Field. Later, Fort Worth became an airmail center at North Texas' first municipal airport at Barron Field near Everman. All of these events, including displays depicting the B-36 era and much more, will be heralded in our museum. We hope that by re-discovering these events and teaching them to our youth we may inspire future generations to strive to achieve their dreams. Please help us in any way you can.

Barron Field, near Everman, became Fort Worth's first municipal airport in 1924. In 1925, both Dallas and Fort Worth established municipal airports at their present locations at Love Field and Meacham Field.

Greenwood Cemetery
Memorial to British and Canadian aviation cadets killed while training in Fort Worth during W.W. I

December 18, 1949 paycheck stub of a Consolidated Vultee B-36 mechanic.
The worker's name and social security number are munged as he is alive today.

B-36 PEACEMAKER MUSEUM

FORT WORTH AVIATION HISTORY