Operations and ownership changes Hoover Field

biplanes sit on sod apron @ hoover field. dome of u.s. capitol building can seen on plane in middle. smokestacks , other tall buildings, safety hazards airport notorious, line horizon.

in june 1927, new airmail contractor federal government refused use hoover field longer because unsafe. airmail service transferred nearby bolling field, military airport. hoover field s location—bordered highways, rivers, , federally owned land—also prevented expansion accommodate newer aircraft requiring longer runways.

at same time, henry berliner began leasing , later took majority ownership in hoover field. berliner secured interest in airport, number of government officials , businessmen suggested united states department of agriculture sell experimental agricultural fields hoover field expansion. plan not acted on.

a fire @ field on july 3, 1928, destroyed 8 planes , hangar, causing $100,000 in damages ($1.275 million in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars). flights out of hoover field suspended 18 days. berliner s finances damaged fire, , sold interest in hoover field e.w. robertson s mount vernon airways on july 20, 1928. few months later, on september 11, 1928, first daily flights washington, d.c., new york city began out of hoover field.

by november 1928, canadian company, international airways, had taken on control of airfield mount vernon airways. despite small size, 3 foreign flights per day left hoover field, , in 18 months prior december 1928 airport saw more 50,000 flights depart. in june 1928, set area record sending 4,200 passengers aloft in single month. these statistics belied real dangers @ field. in 1928, pilot , engineer killed when plane crashed during take-off. later year, plane attempting land @ night struck car parked on field, injuring four.

in 1929, new holding company, atlantic seaboard airways, created take on international airways , subsidiary aviation businesses. owners of atlantic seaboard owned washington airport (see below), , time 2 fields operated same company (although not merged). on december 30, 1929, group of investors led r.h. reiffen, chairman of new standard aircraft company, purchased atlantic seaboard airways , took control of hoover field.

safety @ airfield improved in mid-1932, after arlington county commissioners revoked permits burning of trash @ landfills in county—including 1 next hoover field, not 1 next washington airport.