Washington Hoover Airport

Hoover Field
Hoover Field (bottom and left) and Washington Airport (right) at the foot of Highway Bridge in 1932
IATA: none ICAO: none
Summary
Owner	Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company (1925-June 1927) Henry Berliner (June 1927-July 1928) Mt. Vernon Airways (July 1928-November 1928) International Airways (November 1928-January 1929) Atlantic Seaboard Airways (January 1929-December 29, 1929) New Standard Aircraft Company (December 30, 1929-July 31, 1933 National Aviation Corporation (July 31, 1933-merger on August 2, 1933)
Serves	Washington Metropolitan Area
Location	Arlington County, Virginia

Coordinates: 38°52′N 77°03′W / 38.87°N 77.05°W / 38.87; -77.05

Hoover Field was an early airport serving the city of Washington, D.C. It was constructed as a private airfield in 1925, but opened to public commercial use on July 16, 1926. It was located in Arlington, Virginia, near the intersection of the Highway Bridge and the Mount Vernon Memorial Parkway, where The Pentagon and its northern parking lots now stand.

Considered one of the most hazardous airfields in the United States, Hoover Field suffered from short and unpaved runways, numerous life-threatening obstructions around the field, poor visibility (due to a burning garbage dump to its northwest), and poor drainage. It was purchased by the owner of nearby Washington Airport in early 1929, causing a brief merger of the two fields, but was sold to a new owner just 12 months later. It nearly went bankrupt in 1933, and was sold at auction and merged with Washington Airport to become Washington-Hoover Airport on August 2, 1933.

Washington-Hoover Airport closed in June 1941. Washington National Airport (now Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport) was built as its replacement.

Hoover Field was built in 1925 by Thomas E. Mitten, president of the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company (which held the airmail contract between Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia). Hell's Bottom, a 37.5-acre (15.2 ha) site at the foot of the Highway Bridge in Arlington County, Virginia (formerly a horse racing track) directly across the Potomac River from the city, was selected by Mitten for the site of his new "airport." Pioneering aviator Alys McKey Bryant helped clear trees and brush and run the tractor which leveled the land for the airfield. The single sod runway was 2,400 feet (730 m) long. A single hangar, 60 feet (18 m) by 100 feet (30 m) in size, was constructed. Construction ended in 1925, and at first the field was used only by planes giving sight-seeing tours over the national capital.