Greater St Louis Air & Space

Consortium formed in 1928 establishing Port of St. Louis, part of which was the airport.  Curtiss-Steinberg Airport (Curtiss-Wright Corporation and Mark Steinberg of Steinberg Skating Rink in Forest Park) dedicated in November 1929. Curtiss-Wright invested heavily in airports across the country to promote aviation in the wake of the Lindbergh flight of 1927.  Hangar 2, the Museum building, built in 1929-1930. Dedicated March 1930. (Note Curtiss-Wright logos on hangar façade depicting St. Louis-built Curtiss “Robin.” The “Robin” was used in the endurance flights and for “Wrong-way” Corrigan’s flight to Ireland.).  No manufacturing was done at Curtiss-Steinberg. Airplanes were built at Curtiss-Robertson and Curtiss-Wright plants near Lambert Field (factory area absorbed by McDonnell Aircraft).  Entire airport leased to Oliver Parks in 1940 for use as training school for military pilots and crewmen. Remained a flight school throughout WWII.  Hangar now on National Register of Historic Places.  Airlines with roots in Hangar 2—TWA, American, Ozark.  Early aviators visiting and/or associated with Hangar 2—Ray Wassall, Charles Lindbergh, Jimmy Doolittle (Doolittle made an emergency parachute jump here in 1931), James and May Haizlip, Albert Lambert, Oliver Parks, Wiley Post, Amelia Earhart, Frank Hawks, Wallace Beery.