The History of Flight in Grand Junction

Walsh’s Curtiss Biplane was too weak to fly over the mountains and into Grand Junction and was brought in by rail. Ads from the Sentinel show many business and banks closing on Aviation Day and special train service was ran on the Interurban (a small train service between Grand Junction and Fruita). The Sentinel also advised that should there be an accident, crowds should not “crash in and pull the aeroplane to pieces for souvenirs. It will interfere with the Curtis’ men and possibly cost a life.” It was also suggested that horses be kept far away as they might be spooked by the noise.

The program consisted of Walsh doing three flights. The first was simply flying high and fast but even that was breath-taking for the crowd. Photographs of aircraft had appeared in both local newspapers before but very few had actually seen man fly. The second flight consisted of Walsh dropping oranges on a newspaper target from 200 feet above. While this seems a little odd, it must be remembered that the military application of aircraft was in its infancy. The idea that an air force would one day be the backbone of a military power was a shocking and new belief. For hundreds of years it had been the navy that was the measure of a country’s strength. Now that bombs could be flown over a target and dropped, the navy seemed less and less important. In fact, some early air shows included setting up mock battleships and destroying them with sandbags. Walsh’s plane suffered some damage on his second flight and a mechanic had to leap onto the plane to help it slow down while landing. After a quick fix, the third flight was underway. A spiral toward the ground was performed and the Sentinel reported it as “breathtaking work and there was a universal sigh of satisfaction when it was still seen that Walsh had not lost control of his vehicle.”

Roughly 5,000 spectators came to watch the event and both newspapers called it a great success. Aviation had come to Grand Junction and the Western Slope. Walsh would only make a few more flights in his life after his show in Grand Junction. On October 3, 1912, Walsh was at an air show in Trenton, New Jersey. Presidential Candidate Woodrow Wilson supposedly turned down the opportunity to ride with Walsh on a flight or was scheduled to fly with Walsh after the show. On his final maneuver, a wire snapped and Walsh’s wing collapsed. It was reported that every bone in his body was broken from the fatal fall.

On October 12, 1914, Grand Junction’s second great air show was held at the fairgrounds. By now, Barnstorming was still very popular but was beginning to lose some of its appeal. Potential patrons began to realize that instead of paying to get into an area to watch an air show, they could simply watch from just outside of the gates and have just as good of a view of the aircraft. To counter this and to get people to keep buying tickets, promoters began to offer car demonstrations that could only be seen from inside of a venue. The team of Beachey and Oldfield would become one of the most famous flying/racing duos.

Barney Oldfield began racing gas powered bicycles and was soon involved in car racing. His daredevil attitude led to him being the first person to drive over 60 miles per hour and his skills on a racetrack were legendary. Lincoln Beachey had established himself an expert pilot after almost getting kicked out of the Curtiss Flying School. He developed a way to pull an aircraft out of a tailspin and was able to use this knowledge to create death-defying displays that most pilots of the day would never dream of attempting. Teamed up, the two were one of the hottest draws in entertainment.

A crowd estimated at 6,500 came to watch Beachey and Oldfield when they came to Grand Junction. Beachey didn’t disappoint with his flying skills. His high-altitude dives allowed him to reach speeds reported at 200 miles per hour and he performed not one, but five loops. Oldfield’s driving broke the state track record by seconds as he managed to get his car to speeds of 70 miles per hour. The highlight of the event came when the two raced each other. Accounts from the time claim that Beachey should have won the race by flying faster than Oldfield but Beachey performed a loop during the race and Oldfield took the lead.

The rest of the 1910s were filled with small air shows all over western Colorado. DeBeque, Rifle, and Montrose would all host air shows and soon dirt strips would pop up in almost every town. Aviation was about to move from spectator entertainment to everyday life.

Through the 1920s, local aviation enthusiasts began to use a dirt and gravel runway on the north end of Grand Junction. On September 29, 1929, the Grand Junction City Council voted to make improvements at the strip including the construction of two hangers and gas and oil facilities. The area was officially dedicated as Grand Junction Municipal Airport on June 14 and 15, 1930. A “great aerial exhibition” was held that included an altitude contest in which two planes raced to reach an altitude of 3,000 feet, a balloon breaking contest where two balloons were released from the ground, and pilots rushed to pop theirs first and several stunt flights by local pilots. At the end of the show, the American Legion conducted a dedication ceremony for the airport.

Eventually, the airport would be named after the editor of The Daily Sentinel, Walter Walker. Walker was key to the airport’s beginning and used his paper to promote the importance of aviation. On September 21, 1935, Walker wrote, “Grand Junction’s need of an improved airport becomes more convincing each day. More and more frequently official visitors to our city are choosing the airplane route and there is no doubt that private business officials are more generally adopting this quicker method of travel to save time…As the industrial and business center of the western slope, our city should be equipped with a landing field to meet every flying need.”

The growth in commercial activity led to the construction of a new terminal building in 1950 to house United and Monarch Airlines. On December 26, 1961, the control tower at Walker Field was completed. On December 16, 1982, a new, state of the art terminal building was opened at Walker Field. The building cost $4 million to build and the total cost of improvements ran near $10 million. The new building including much more space for travelers, air carriers and other aviation related businesses and featured a unique, cost saving solar and heating system.