Bettis Field was an airstrip in

West Mifflin, Pennsylvania West Mifflin is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, located southeast of downtown Pittsburgh. The population was 20,313 at the 2010 census. It is named after Thomas Mifflin, 1st Governor of Pennsylvania, signer of the Un ...

, southeast of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, established in 1924. It was named for

U.S. Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...

Lieutenant Cyrus Bettis following his fatal accident on Jack's Mountain near

Bellefonte, Pennsylvania Bellefonte is a borough in, and the county seat of, Centre County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is approximately twelve miles northeast of State College and is part of the State College, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. The boro ...

in 1926.

History

Initially a grass strip in a meadow established by local investors Barr Peat, Clifford A. Ball and Bo Phelan, it was gradually improved. Changing hands several times, it was operated by the Pittsburgh-McKeesport Airport Corporation.

Curtiss-Wright The Curtiss-Wright Corporation is a manufacturer and services provider headquartered in Davidson, North Carolina, with factories and operations in and outside the United States. Created in 1929 from the consolidation of Curtiss, Wright, and v ...

sold the field to Gus Becker, who operated the

Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics The Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics (PIA) is a private trade school focused on aviation-related programs with its main location in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania. The institution's headquarters is at the Allegheny County Airport and it has three ...

, which trained engine and aircraft mechanics in downtown Pittsburgh classrooms. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

PIA operated under government contracts, delivering training for the military. By 1944 the airstrip was a paved surface. Sold to Westinghouse in January 1949, the field was closed and redeveloped, becoming the

Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory is a U.S. Government-owned research and development facility in the Pittsburgh suburb of West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, that works exclusively on the design and development of nuclear power for the U.S. Navy. It was one ...

. The two paved runways, used for parking, and two hangars remain. The Art Deco terminal building was razed sometime in the 2000s. There was a landing at Bettis sometime in the 1960s when a small plane landed claiming he confused it with Allegheny Co Airport, east, due to smoke obscuration.

Airlines

* Clifford Ball Airline was a contract carrier for the U.S. Mail between Pittsburgh and Cleveland from July 1, 1925. * CBA became Pennsylvania Airlines * Pennsylvania Airlines was merged with

Central Airlines Central Airlines was a passenger airline (the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) called it a "local service" air carrier) in Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas from 1949 to 1967. It was founded by Keith Kahle in 1944 to oper ...

becoming

Pennsylvania Central Airlines Capital Airlines was an airline serving the eastern, southern, southeastern, and midwestern United States. Capital's headquarters were located at Washington Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, National Airport (now Reagan Washington Natio ...

(PCA), "The Capital Airline", eventually becoming Capital Airlines and becoming part of United Air Lines in 1961. * Transcontinental and Western Air,

TWA Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with ...

, stopped at Bettis Field from 1930 through 1932 as one of eleven stops made on a transcontinental airline service between Los Angeles and New York. Service was then shifted to the Allegheny County Airport.timetableimages.com TWA timetable Oct. 30 1930

References

* http://www.airfields-freeman.com/PA/Airfields_PA_SW.htm#bettis * Richard David Wissoli
"Airport Early Days"
Part 1 * Homestead & Mifflin Township Historical Societ
"Bettis: Pittsburgh's first airfield"
''Homestead & Mifflin Township Historical Society Newsletter'' April 2002 Volume 2, Issue 4, pp. 3–6

History

Airlines

See also

References

Further reading