From Deseret News archives:
Utah aviation timeline
Dec. 17, 1903: Orville and Wilbur Wright fly for the first time at Kitty Hawk, N.C.
Jan. 30, 1910: First airplane flight in Utah, with French barnstormer Louis Paulhan appearing at the Salt Lake Fairgrounds.
Feb. 11-13, 1911: Utah's first air show held at Barrington Aviation Park near Saltair.
Sept. 8, 1920: First airmail arrives in Salt Lake City, having taken off from New Jersey that morning.
August 1920: Salt Lake City purchases Basque Flats for construction of an airport.
Dec. 21, 1920: Airfield dedicated by Gov. Simon Bamberger (with Salt Lake Mayor C. Clarence Neslen and boxer Jack Dempsey in attendance); named Woodward Field, in honor of an airmail pilot who died in a crash on Nov. 7.
March 1921: Utah State Legislature grants county governments authority to establish their own airports.
June 23, 1924: Utah's Russell L. Maughan became the first person to fly across the United States in a dawn-to-dusk flight.
July 13, 1925: Western Air Express (later to become Western Airlines) is incorporated.
Jan. 14, 1926: The first lights are tested at Woodward Field, enabling night flights.
May 23, 1926: The first passenger flight leaves Salt Lake City for Los Angeles, with its first passenger, Ben F. Redman. (That same day, the first passengers arrive in Salt Lake City from Los Angeles on Western Airlines.)
May 21, 1927: Charles Lindbergh flies his Spirit of St. Louis from New York to Paris.
Sept. 3, 1927: Charles Lindbergh visits Salt Lake City.
June 30, 1928: Ogden Airport dedicated. (Logan followed in 1929.)
Sept. 4, 1928: Six Utah passengers and a pilot are killed in a crash near Pocatello.
1930: Woodward Field renamed Salt Lake Municipal Airport.
1937: Utah State Aeronautics Commission created.
Jan. 12, 1940: Ground broken for construction of Army Air Force base, south of Ogden (to be christened Hill Field and opened for operations on Nov. 7).
Nov. 4, 1940: Construction begins on an Army Air Force bombing and gunnery range near Wendover.
December 1944: The 509th Composite Group begins training at Wendover for atomic warfare.
June 16, 1961: Western Airlines begins jet service in Salt Lake City.
1968: Salt Lake Municipal Airport renamed Salt Lake City International Airport.
1982: Western Airlines makes Salt Lake City an operational hub.
1987: Western Airlines merges with Delta Air Lines.
1999: The Federal Aviation Administration opens a new air traffic control tower at Salt Lake City International Airport.
Sources: Deseret Morning News archives, Utah State Historical Society; Hill Field Web site, www.hill.af.mil; Salt Lake International Airport Web site, www.slcairport.com
