The American Airport

"If an airport is defined as ‘a place set aside primarily for the purpose of conducting regular, sustained flights,’ it can be safely said that America’s first airport was Huffman Prairie Flying Field, established by the Wright brothers eight miles outside of Dayton, Ohio, in 1904." —from Chapter 1, "Pick a Pasture"

Where once stretched little more than quiet open fields and gravel roads, the modern airport sits like an elaborate palace on the American landscape, steadfastly awaiting the arrival and departure of the traveling masses. The American Airport chronicles the history of America's airports from the Wright Brothers’ first flying field at Kitty Hawk, to the early barnstorming days, the nostalgic propliner age, the first jetports, and the post-millennium era’s multi-billion dollar airport revitalization schemes.

The American Airport covers nearly 50 major airports from the first century of flight. More than 180 images depict the ever-expanding terminals and growing runways, tracing the evolution of the airport along the leaps in technology and whims of architectural style.