Dallas Love Field
Dallas Love Field is a city-owned public airport in the neighborhood of Love Field, northwest of downtown Dallas, Texas, United States. It was Dallas' main airport until 1974 when Dallas Fort Worth International Airport opened. Love Field covers an area of at an elevation of above mean sea level and has two runways.
Love Field is the birthplace, corporate headquarters, and a major operating base of Southwest Airlines; as of August 2021, Southwest has a 95% market share at the airport. Several full-service fixed-base operators provide general aviation services: fuel, maintenance, hangar rentals, and air charters. The City of Dallas Department of Aviation headquarters is on the airport grounds.
History
Dallas Love Field is named after Moss L. Love, who, while assigned to the U.S. Army 11th Cavalry, died in an airplane crash near San Diego, California, on September 4, 1913, becoming the tenth fatality in U.S. Army aviation history. His Wright Model C biplane crashed during practice for his Military Aviator Test. Love Field was named by the United States Army on October 19, 1917.World War I
Dallas Love Field originated in 1917 when the Army announced it would establish a series of camps to train prospective pilots after the United States entered into World War I. The airfield was one of 32 new Air Service fields. It was constructed just southeast of Bachman Lake, and it covered over 700 acres and could accommodate up to 1,000 personnel. Dozens of wooden buildings served as headquarters, maintenance, and officers' quarters. Enlisted men had to bivouac in tents.Love Field served as a base for flight training for the United States Army Air Service. In 1917, flight training occurred in two phases: primary and advanced. Primary training took eight weeks and consisted of pilots learning basic flight skills under dual and solo instruction. After completing their primary training at Love Field, flight cadets were transferred to another base for advanced training.
After officially opening on October 19, 1917, the first unit stationed at Love Field was the 136th Aero Squadron, transferred from Kelly Field, south of San Antonio, Texas. Only a few U.S. Army Air Service aircraft arrived with the 136th Aero Squadron, and most of the Curtiss JN-4 Jenny aircraft to be used for flight training were shipped in wooden crates by railcar. Training units assigned to Love Field during World War I were:
- Post Headquarters, Love Field, October 1917 – December 1919
- 71st Aero Squadron, February 1918
- 121st Aero Squadron, April 1918
- 136th Aero Squadron, November 1917
- 197th Aero Squadron, November 1917
- Flying School Detachment, November 1918 – November 1919
With the sudden end of World War I in November 1918, the future operational status of Love Field was unknown. Many local officials speculated the U.S. government would keep the field open because of the outstanding combat record established by Love-trained pilots in Europe. Locals also pointed to the optimal weather conditions in the Dallas area for flight training. On November 11, 1918, cadets in flight training were allowed to complete their training; however, no new cadets were assigned to the base. The separate training squadrons were consolidated into a single Flying School detachment, as many of the personnel assigned were being demobilized.
Inter-war years
In December 1919, Love Field was deactivated as an active duty airfield and converted into a storage facility for surplus De Havilland and JN-4 aircraft, some of the latter having been repurchased by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company in the spring of 1919. In what was called "the largest recruiting mission in the spring and summer of 1919", Lt. Col. Henry B. Clagett began with seven DH-4s departing Dallas and flying as far as Boston. A small caretaker unit was assigned to the facility for administrative reasons, and it was used intermittently to support small military units.In January 1921, 1st Lt William D. Coney attempted to fly from San Diego to Jacksonville with just one stop—at Love Field. In 1921, the aviation repair depot next to Love Field moved to Kelly Field in San Antonio to consolidate with the supply depot at Kelly and form the San Antonio Intermediate Air Depot. In 1923, Dallas was a route point between Muskogee and Kelly Field on the southern division of the model airway. However, by 1923, the decision had been made to phase down all activities at the new base in accordance with sharply reduced military budgets, and it was closed. The War Department had ordered the small caretaker force at Love Field to dismantle all remaining structures and to sell them as surplus. The War Department leased out the vacant land to local farmers and ranchers.
In 1928, Dallas purchased Love Field, which opened for civilian use. On April 9, 1932, the first paved runways at the airfield were completed. In March 1939, the airfield had 21 weekday airline departures: 9 American, 8 Braniff and 4 Delta. On October 6, 1940, Love Field's Lemmon Avenue Terminal Building opened on the east side of the airfield.
World War II
"On 6 June 1939, the War Department approved...nine civil school detachments", including one at Dallas and a Ferrying Command control center at Dallas's Hensley Field.By October 1940 at the Texas Army Airfields, classes had entered the Dallas Texas Aviation School, which provided basic flight training using Fairchild PT-19s as the primary trainer The Gulf Coast ACTC school later moved to Brady, Texas; and Love Field also had an Air Materiel Command modification center. In September 1942, the Air Transport Command activity at Hensley Field moved to Love Field. ATC's 5th Ferrying Group, consisting of Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadrons ferried PT-17s, AT-6s and twin-engine Cessna AT-17s; and Love Field was also used by the San Antonio Air Service Command for aircraft overhauls. The 2d Ferrying Squadron of the 5th Ferrying Group was moved by Air Transport Command from Love Field to Fairfax Field at Kansas City on April 15, 1943.
In September 1943, a new north–south runway 18/36 and northwest–southeast runway 13/31 were completed. Air Force facilities closed at the end of World War II except for Love Field's automatic tracking radar station for Radar Bomb Scoring that had been established by June 6, 1945.
Post-war
On November 29, 1949, American Airlines Flight 157, a Douglas DC-6 en route from New York City to Dallas and Mexico City with 46 passengers and crew, slid off Runway 36 after the flight crew lost control on final approach. The airliner struck buildings and caught fire, killing 28. It was the deadliest air disaster in Texas history at the time and, according to modern reference sources, remains the deadliest crash at the airfield.Pioneer Air Lines moved its base from Houston to Love Field in 1950.
In 1953, Fort Worth opened Amon Carter Field, which would later become Greater Southwest International Airport, to compete with Love Field. Fort Worth had attempted to negotiate with Dallas to collaborate on the new airport, but Dallas repeatedly declined those attempts. Upon completion, all of the passenger airlines were transferred from Fort Worth's previous airline airport, Meacham Field, to Greater Southwest, leaving Love Field and Greater Southwest as the only air transportation options for the Dallas–Fort Worth area.
The February 1953 C&GS diagram shows Runway 7, Runway 13 and Runway 18. On June 1, 1954, Runway 7/25 was closed; it was later removed to allow terminal expansion. Love Field then had two runways: Runway 13/31, the main runway, and the shorter 18/36.
The April 1957 Official Airline Guide shows 52 weekday departures on Braniff, 45 on American, 25 Delta, 21 Trans-Texas, 12 Central and 9 Continental. Three nonstops a day to Washington DC, three to New York/Newark, six to Chicago, five to California and 12 a week to Mexico City.
Jet age
Love Field's new terminal opened to the airlines on January 20, 1958, with three one-story concourses, 26 ramp-level gates and the world's first airport moving walkways. Air carriers serving the airport at the time included American Airlines, Braniff International Airways, Central Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Trans-Texas Airways.Turbine-power flights began on April 1, 1959, when Continental Airlines introduced the Vickers Viscount turboprop. Jet airline flights began on July 12, 1959, when American Airlines started Boeing 707 flights to New York. By 1963, Love Field had direct, no change of plane Boeing 707 jet service to London and Frankfurt jointly operated daily by Braniff International and Pan American World Airways. The trips were conducted via an interchange agreement between the two airlines, with these flights making an intermediate stop at Chicago O'Hare Airport.
In 1961, Mr. and Mrs. Earle Wyatt gave a large bronze statue titled One Riot, One Ranger for display in the airport's new terminal. Famed Texas-born sculptor Waldine Tauch created the piece. The inscription refers to an incident in which a single Texas Ranger was supposedly dispatched to quell a riot. The statue was removed from the airport in June 2020 after it was revealed that the ranger who modeled for the statue had been dispatched to the Dallas area in 1956 to help white supremacist protesters defy lawful efforts to end racial segregation of local public schools.
On November 22, 1963, United States President John F. Kennedy arrived at Love Field on Air Force One and was assassinated in Dealey Plaza less than one hour later while his motorcade was traveling from Love Field to the Dallas Trade Mart and died at Parkland Memorial Hospital. Texas Governor John Connally was riding in the presidential limousine and was seriously wounded. Ninety minutes later, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as president aboard Air Force One before it departed from Love Field to Washington, D.C.
On April 2, 1965, the parallel Runway 13R/31L opened. The project had been vexed by legal wrangling; safety concerns were raised regarding its proximity to schools and its minimal safety areas, while nearby residents attempted to stop the anticipated increase in jet noise and the removal of homes and businesses adjacent to the airport to accommodate the project.
Several terminal expansion programs were fueled by the boom in air travel during the 1960s. American Airlines expanded its concourse in 1968, and Braniff opened its "Terminal of the Future." The expansion, showcasing Alexander Girard, Herman Miller and Ray and Charles Eames designs, featured the first rotunda concourse, jet bridges, and several airport innovations. Braniff connected their new terminal to new remote parking lots with the Jetrail monorail system in 1970. Texas International expanded their concourse in 1969, and Delta's concourse was expanded in 1970. By 1972, American used 14 gates on the west end of the terminal, Delta used 13 gates, Braniff International and Ozark together used 13 gates on the east end of the terminal, and Texas International used seven gates. According to the Official Airline Guide, both Braniff International and Delta were operating Boeing 747-100 jumbo jet service from Love Field during the early 1970s with Braniff flying the 747 nonstop to Honolulu and Delta flying 747 nonstops to both Atlanta and Los Angeles.
In 1964, the Civil Aeronautics Board, tired of funding competing commercial airports in Dallas and Fort Worth, gave the two cities a six-month period to plan a new regional airport. In 1968, they finalized an agreement to build Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport and to restrict air-carrier operations at their respective municipal airports to promote the new facility. All carriers then operating at Love Field—American, Braniff, Continental, Delta, Eastern, Frontier, Ozark, and Texas International—simultaneously agreed to shift all commercial flights to DFW Airport when it opened in early 1974.
In 1971, Southwest Airlines—arguing that the CAB had no jurisdiction over purely intrastate flights—received an air operator's certificate from the State of Texas to operate from any airport in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, and began quick, no-frills flights between Love Field, Houston, and San Antonio. Southwest had not signed the 1968 regional airport agreement, and the airline's founders felt that Dallas residents would find the long drive to DFW Airport inconvenient and contrary to the notion of a quick trip. The cities of Dallas and Fort Worth and the Dallas–Fort Worth Regional Airport Board sued, arguing that the 1968 agreement gave them the authority to force Southwest to fly from DFW; however, the courts ruled in Southwest's favor, stating that the cities could not block the airline from using Love Field so long as it remained open as an airport.
In 1972, Love Field saw an aircraft hijacking. On January 12, 1972, Billy Gene Hurst Jr., a resident of Houston, hijacked Braniff Flight 38, a Boeing 727, as it departed William P. Hobby Airport in Houston bound for Dallas. After the plane landed at Love Field, Hurst allowed all 94 passengers to deplane but continued to hold the seven crewmembers hostage. Hurst insisted on flying to South America and made a variety of other demands, including food, cigarettes, parachutes, jungle survival gear,, and a handgun. After a 6-hour standoff, police gave Hurst a package containing parachutes and some other items, and the hostages escaped while he was distracted examining the package's contents. Police stormed the craft soon afterward and arrested him without serious incident. He was later sentenced to 20 years in prison.
In 1973, Love Field, which had more than 70 gates and saw frequent Boeing 747 service, reached record enplanements at 6,668,398 and ranked as the eighth busiest airport in the United States. On January 13, 1974, DFW Airport opened, ending most passenger service at Love Field. Greater Southwest International Airport, which was located just south of DFW Airport and lay in its flight path, was permanently closed and subsequently demolished.
In early 1974, to capitalize on a perception among Dallas residents that Love Field was more convenient than DFW Airport, Metroflight Airlines inaugurated flights between Love and DFW using de Havilland Twin Otters. Airfare was only $10, which was advertised as less than a typical one-way taxi fare between Dallas and DFW Airport. However, the service proved unprofitable, and it was discontinued in September 1975.
With the drastic reduction in flights and only 467,212 enplanements in 1975, Love Field decommissioned several of its concourses.
The city of Dallas attempted to use these dormant facilities by leasing some to Wesley Goyer, who opened the Llove Entertainment Complex in November 1975. The main lobby at the front of a former terminal was transformed into movie theaters, an ice rink, a roller rink, huge video arcades, restaurants, and a bowling alley. During its first two weeks, the Llove center saw 800 people on weekdays and more than 4,000 during the weekend, exceeding Goyer's expectations. Llove seemed especially suited for the pre-teen and teen crowd, who could spend the day for a single admission charge of about $2.95. After exceeding expectations initially, by the end of the first full year of operation, Llove's attendance rates had drastically dropped, leading to the complex being closed in May 1978.