Felts Field: Spokane's First Airfield
Near Spokane, Washington
In nineteen thirteen, aviation began on a dirt airstrip in farmland east of Spokane, making it one of America's earliest airfields. For years it was called Parkwater, after the neighborhood, and in nineteen twenty the Spokane Chamber of Commerce pushed the city to officially designate it a municipal flying field.
In nineteen twenty-seven, during the city's National Air Derby, the airfield was renamed for James Buell Felts, a Washington Air National Guard pilot who had been killed in a crash that May. Over the years, his field hosted famous pilots, record endurance flights, and early airmail routes. Spokane's main commercial airport eventually moved west, but Felts Field is still open. It earned National Register Historic District status in nineteen ninety-one and still serves small aircraft today.
