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Curtiss Airport On Old Main Street Rd.


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Noticed this airport in the magazine Automotive News dated June 27, 1929.  Looks like, on a 1930 map the airport featured the Curtiss Wright Flying Service.  The Curtiss Airport featured headquarters buildings as well as administrative buildings.

On the opposite site of the street, there was Well's Flying Field that included the South Main Speedway located within the Well's parcel of land.  More information on that later, if I can find it. 

Curtiss Buys Airport Site at Houston, Tex.

Houston, Texas., June 26, - The Curtiss Airports Corporation of New York has announced the purchase of 450-acre tract on the Old Main Street Road two miles south of Rice Institute for a consideration of $500,000. The tract will be improved at once and will be used for an airport with hangars, a flying school, and an aviation service center. 

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Automotive News dated September 24, 1929.

Houston Curstiss Airport To Be Erected Soon.
Houston, Tex., Sept. 23. - Actual development of the Curtiss Airport on the Kirby plot, adjacent to the Old Main Street Road, will start within ninety days, according to Paul C. Jackson, manager of the-- (airport?).

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Another short magazine/news paper article. Forget where I found this. Looks like it was dated after 1929 as the airport was completed. 1930, 1931? 

Curtiss Interests in Houston, plans have been completed, and the first unit will be erected shortly, together with a hanger 100 by 150 feet.

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The location of the airport can be found on the Houston Adjacent Subdivisions Map 1930.

Printed on front: "Compiled from data and information furnished by City Planning Commission, City Engineering Department, resident engineer of State Highway Department and other sources by W.G. Jones, Secretary-Manager-Motor League of South Texas and R.M. Stene, road log engineer."

Shows city blocks, named streets, major highways, proposed highways, subdivisions, bayous, and ship channel. Includes lists of schools, hospitals, and cemeteries and index guide to streets of Houston. Title from title block. Scale of map is approximately 1 mile to 2 in.

Across the field on South Main, you can see the Houston Main Street Airport, called South Main St. Airport, Inc. 

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From the magazine Manufacturers Record dated June 06, 1927.

Tex., Houston - Curtiss Airports Corp., Garden City, Long Island, New York, acquired 450-acre site five miles from Houston on Old Main Street Rd.; construct $2,500,000 super-airport; port will maintain flying field for Curtiss services' own use; servicing field for transcontinental aviation; headquarters for air taxi service; cotton dusting service, aerial photograph and aerial surveys; sales and services headquarters for Curtiss products, and Curtiss Flying School.

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I admit that I totally forgot this company was involved with the Wright brothers, renowned for history's first flight.

Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company (1909 – 1929) was an American aircraft manufacturer originally founded by Glenn Hammond Curtiss and Augustus Moore Herring in Hammondsport, New York. After significant commercial success in its first decades, it merged with the Wright Aeronautical to form Curtiss-Wright Corporation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_Aeroplane_and_Motor_Company

The Life and Times of Glenn Hammond Curtiss

http://aviation-history.com/early/curtiss.htm

When it comes to crossing the Atlantic, many people may think that Charles Lindbergh was the first to do so in 1927. As marvelous as his achievement was, he was just the first person to fly solo from New York to Paris. Back in 1919, Curtiss flying boats manned by U.S. Navy aviators set out to become the first to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. On May 8, three flying boats took off from Naval Air Station Rockaway, NY. The three planes flew on to Nova Scotia and then to Newfoundland. On May 16, they all left Trepassey Bay and headed for the Azores off the coast of Portugal. Two of the three planes could not complete the overall trip. However, on May 17th, flying boat NC-4 reached Horta in the Azores. Ten days later, it flew successfully to Lisbon, Portugal. Finally, on May 29th, the plane left Lisbon, and eventually reached Plymouth, England on May 31st.

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