Posted Aug. 27, 2016
Jim Hodgson, director of the Fort Worth Aviation Museum, helps unveil the new historical marker for Meacham International Airport.
The latest Texas historical marker was installed this month to observe the long and colorful history of aviation at Meacham International Airport.
The marker is located between the flag poles at the Fort Worth Aviation Museum, 3300 Ross Ave.
Meacham Field was purchased by the City of Fort Worth on July 3, 1925, and named Fort Worth Municipal Airport.
Commercial aviation began in North Texas with the inauguration of air mail service between Dallas-Fort Worth and Chicago. Iconic Fort Worth newspaper publisher Amon Carter convinced the U.S. Post Office to establish mail service at Fort Worth’s “Muny,” and the first air mail from Meacham was flown on May 12, 1926, by National Air Transport Co. in a Curtiss Carrier Pidgeon called Miss Fort Worth.
On July 16, 1927, Fort Worth Municipal Airport’s name was officially changed to Meacham Field in honor of Mayor H. C. Meacham, and the city’s new airport and its $50,000 hangar were officially opened during a gala public event.
On the same day as Meacham Field’s open house, the Post Office accepted bids on two mail routes, one to Houston and Galveston, the other to Waco, Austin and San Antonio with provision for an extension to Laredo. These routes were potentially more lucrative than any other routes since they would open all of Mexico and South America to air mail service.
American Airways moved its headquarters here in the early 1930s and the airport continued to serve scheduled commercial airline services until 1953, when all commercial flights moved to Amon Carter Field, later known as the Greater Southwest International Airport near present-day Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.
From 1953 to today, Meacham Field has primarily been used for corporate aircraft, commuter flights and student pilot training. In 1985, the airport was renamed Fort Worth Meacham Airport, and in 1995 the name changed again to Fort Worth Meacham International Airport.
Today, Meacham International is one of North Texas’ premier general aviation facility, just five miles from downtown Fort Worth. The airport attracts business to the area by offering high-quality facilities, such as four full-service FBOs, aircraft maintenance facilities, flight schools, onsite rental car facilities and hotel facilities only minutes away.
Read more: http://fortworthtexas.gov/news/2016/08/meacham-historic-marker/