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America's Airports: Airfield Development, 1918-1947 (Centennial of Flight Series, 1): Janet R. Daly Bednarek

Across the country, Americans take for granted the convenience of air flight from one city to another. The federal role in managing air traffic and the cooperative corporate planning of major airlines mask to some degree the fact that those airports are not jointly owned or managed, but rather are local public responsibilities. In this unique history of the places travelers in cities across America call "the" airport, Janet R. Daly Bednarek traces the evolving relationship between cities and their airports during the crucial formative years of 1918-47. She highlights the early history of experimentation and innovation in the development of municipal airports and identifies the factors -- including pressure from the U.S. Post Office and the military, neither of which had the independent resources to develop a network of terminals -- that made American cities responsible for their own air access. She shows how boosterism accelerated the trend toward local construction and ownership of the fields. In the later years of the period, Bednarek shows, cities found they could not shoulder the whole burden of airport construction, maintenance, and improvement. As part of a general trend during the 1930s toward a strong, direct relationship between cities and the federal government, cities began to lobby for federal aid for their airports, a demand that was eventually met when World War II increased the federal stakes in their functioning. Along with this complex local-federal relationship, Bednarek considers the role of the courts and of city planning in the development of municipal airfields. Drawing on several brief case studies, she looks at the social aspects of airports and analyzeshow urban development resulted in a variety of airport arrangements. Little published work has been available on this topic. Now, with Bednarek's thorough treatment and broad view of the subject, those interested in the patterns of American air travel will have new understanding, and those concerned with urban development will recognize an additional dimension of their subject.

Summary: An Excellent Introduction to an Important Topic

Rating: 5

"America's Airports" is a valuable addition to the historical literature on the development of flight in the United States. One could argue that the ability to fly is the critical technology of the twentieth century and airports are a critical piece of the infrastructure of this technology. Anyone who has spent hours cooling their heels in airports--and who hasn't--will attest to their significance.Now Janet Bednarek, one of the permier historians of aviation in America, has written a book on the rise of these institutions from their origins as grass strips to the paved runways and terminals that offered a variety of amenities. In so do, she chronicles the development of airways, air traffic control systems, and the other components of airports from restaurants to rental car agencies.A core part of Bednarek's book is its discussion of how the airports started as private endeavors and evolved into huge government institutions with local, state, and federal involvement. How and why this took place is a critical element in the history of aviation in the United States. At a fundamental level, this resulted from the seizing of the technology of the airplane for government purposes through the air mail, military operations, etc. Additionally, the cost of operating the technology ensured that it could not remain a wholly private endeavor and that public funds had to be invested for the advancement of the air system. Most Americans accepted this as an important investment in the future of the nation and did not question these expenditures. By 1947, Bednarek concludes, the basic system of public/private involvement in the airport infrastructure had been solidified and that is where she ends her study. I hope she will continue it in another book, bringing the history of American airports up to the recent past.

Summary: Wow!

Rating: 5

This is the best book on Airports that I have ever read. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in this important subject.

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Rating:
2.5 out of 5 by Book123