For these early pilots, flying was still very much a seat-of-the-pants operation. Lights were installed at Woodward Field in 1926, but radio signals were a thing of the future. Most pilots flew by visual landmarks. And to help them find their way to Woodward Field, the LDS Church allowed the words "Salt Lake Airport" — and an arrow pointing the way to the airport — to be painted on the roof of the Tabernacle in 30-foot white letters.

An article in the Deseret News on Sept. 28, 1928, told the story:

"Salt Lake has again taken the leadership in aviation and is the first city in the west to have an official air-highway sign. It has been painted on the rood of the Tabernacle and can be seen for miles before the pilot reaches the center of the city.

"Pilots who have flows over nearly all the large cities of the United States declare it the most practical sign they have seen. The marker was painted through the courtesy of the First Presidency and the Presiding Bishopric of the Church. . . .

"As it is now, the sign is easily seen and clearly legible within a radius of ten miles and in the language of one Boeing Air Transport pilot who flied over the building daily, 'You'd have to be blind to miss it.'"

The sign apparently remained in place until the late 1940s.

In February 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt canceled the government's airmail contracts and returned delivery of the mail to the Army Air Corps. It was a short-lived experiment, mostly proving how inadequate this new arm of the military was.

Those in the know began pushing for an independent corps, and in 1935, as a step in that direction, Congress directed Secretary of War George H. Dern (former governor of Utah) to determine the location of permanent Air Corps stations and depots in strategic areas of the United States.

Once again, Utah's geography came into play, and after a bit of political maneuvering, a site was selected seven miles south of Ogden and 25 miles north of Salt Lake City for a base. The War Department named the site Hill Field, in honor of Major Ployer P. Hill, who was killed on Oct. 30, 1935, while testing the original model of the B-17 Flying Fortress in Ohio.

Lt. Col. Morris Berman was assigned as Hill's first commanding officer on Nov. 7, 1940, the date celebrated as the base's activation date. During World War II, Hill served as a maintenance and supply base, with round-the-clock operations.

In 1947, the Army Air Corps became the United States Air Force, and in 1948, Hill Field was redesignated as Hill Air Force Base. Over the next 25 years or so, Hill grew to be one of the largest bases in the Air Force and Utah's largest employer. By 1965, some 17,000 military and civilian personnel were assigned to the base, which had a payroll of $107.4 million.