FreightWaves Classics/Infrastructure: SFO is a key gateway airport (Part 2)

An aerial view of San Francisco International Airport in 1970. (Photo: SFO Airport: Aviation Museum & Library Collection)

Earlier this month San Francisco International Airport (SFO) celebrated its 95th birthday. The largest of the three major airports serving the San Francisco Bay area, an earlier FreightWaves Classics article covered the early history of SFO. You can read that article here, while today’s article will profile the airport’s history during the first two decades of the jet age.

The jet age begins at SFO

In March 1959 the first commercial jet service at SFO began when Trans World Airlines (TWA) flew...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classicsinfrastructure-sfo-is-a-key-gateway-airport-part-2

FreightWaves Classics/Infrastructure: SFO is a key gateway (Part 1)

Charles Lindbergh and the Spirit of St. Louis on the way to a special hangar at Mills Field, September 16, 1927. (Photo: Horace Chaffee/Department of Public Works/opensfhistory.org)

Earlier this month San Francisco International Airport (SFO) celebrated its 95th birthday. The largest of the three major airports serving the San Francisco Bay area, SFO began its life as Mills Field Municipal Airport in 1927. It opened two weeks prior to Charles Lindbergh’s flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

At the time, the population of the Bay area (San Francisco, Alameda and Santa Clara counties) was about 1.25 million. Today, more than 7 million people live in the same area.

The mayor of...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classicsinfrastructure-sfo-is-a-key-gateway-part-1

FreightWaves Classics: “Aerial newsboy” was a pioneering pilot

Didier Masson at the controls of an airplane that landed in San Bernardino, California in 1911. (Photo: San Bernardino Sun)

On January 7, 1911, the first bulk delivery of newspapers via an airplane occurred in California. This took place just over seven years after the Wright Brothers’ made aviation history during their pioneering flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

Orville and Wilbur Wright were the first to successfully fly an airplane on December 17, 1903. (Photo: biograpy.com)Orville and Wilbur Wright were the first to successfully fly an airplane on December 17, 1903.
(Photo: biograpy.com)

Background

Didier Masson (February 23, 1886 – June 2, 1950) was also a pioneering aviator who was born in Asnières, France. 

After...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classics-aerial-newsboy-was-a-pioneering-pilot

FreightWaves Classics: Aviation begins; air cargo follows quickly (Part 2)

Yesterday’s FreightWaves article was FreightWaves Classics: Aviation begins; air cargo follows quickly (Part 1). In Part 2, the article continues with the post-World War II era.

Post-World War II

The International Air Traffic Association was founded in 1919, the year of the world’s first international scheduled air service. Its successor was founded even before World War II ended. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) was formed by 57 airlines at a conference held in Havana on April...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classics-aviation-begins-air-cargo-follows-quickly-part-2

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