Tucson International Airport

Aviation has a rich history in Tucson. Our first encounter with flight occurred in 1910, when Charles Hamilton, the "birdman," landed his Curtis bi-plane on the banks of the Santa Cruz river downtown. Tucson had the first municipal airport in the country in 1919. The airport moved several times and for a number of years shared facilities at the Davis Monthan U.S. Air Force base. However, in 1947, after World War II, the military asked the city of Tucson to make other arrangements for an airport since they felt civilian and military operations were not compatible. The city of Tucson was not interested in managing an airport so they approached the local chamber of commerce. They had an aviation committee and their 15 members raised $25,000 that became the budget for the airport. In 1948 the Tucson airport authority was created by state charter as a nonprofit, quasi-governmental corporation. The authority and the city of Tucson executed a 25-year lease for the airport. That lease was eventually extended for 100 years.