Curtiss Northwest Airport and its Fliers

Curtiss Northwest Airport and its Fliers. . Curtiss Northwest Airport – In 1919, Snelling and Larpenteur Avenues were two-lane, unpaved roads in what was then Rose Township. The southeast corner of the intersection had most recently been a farm field. But now it became home to the first major airport in Minnesota and, for a brief time, the center of aviation in the state. You could buy a plane here, learn to fly it, and have it serviced and repaired. Hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people would come here on summer Sundays to watch air shows.

Phoebe Fairgrave and Vernon Omlie –
This duo first teamed up at Curtiss Northwest Airport in 1921 when Fairgrave set a world's record 15,2000-foot parachute jump with Omlie at the plane's controls. Fairgrave and Omlie left St. Paul to barnstorm and eventually married. She became the first woman to achieve a Transport Pilot's License and went on to win several national air races. Together, they established the first airport in the mid-South.

Bill Kidder –
A former real estate salesman with a flair for promotion, Kidder learned to fly at a Curtiss Company flight school in Newport News, Virginia. Following World War I, he got his start in the aviation business by acquiring a trainload of second-hand Curtiss Jenny biplanes for pennies on the dollar. Kidder's contract with Curtiss gave him exclusive rights to represent the company in Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota. He was a pivotal figure in the early days of transition between the barnstorming era and commercial aviation.

Charles "Speed" Holman –
The legendary barnstormer and Northwest Airway's first pilot was an enthusiastic promoter of aviation across the region. In 1924, Curtiss Northwest mechanics helped him prepare his Thomas-Morse Scout biplane to compete in the Nation Air Race at Dayton, Ohio. Holman finished second, adding to his growing reputation. St. Paul's downtown airport is named for him.

Glen Curtiss
Glen Curtiss – An aviation pioneer and rival of the Wright Brothers, Curtiss was the first to fly an airplane in Minnesota. On June 23, 1910, 12,000 people watched as he took off from the Minnesota State Fairgrounds and flew to Lake Johanna and back, airborne for an impressive 10 minutes. By 1916, Curtiss headed the world's largest aviation company, establishing dealerships to sell planes across the United States, one of the first being right here.