Famous names

A: You are correct. There are many others, such as DMW in Westminster, Maryland, today named for its long-time owner and manager, and the man who taught me to fly—Jack Buford Poage. Here are 10 others:

• LaGuardia Airport (LGA), New York: Fiorello Henry LaGuardia, mayor of New York City during World War II.
• John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), New York: Formerly Idlewild Airport (IDL), it was renamed in tribute to the U.S. president after his assassination.
• Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), Washington, D.C.: Named for John Foster Dulles, U.S. Secretary of State 1953 to 1959.
• John Glenn Columbus International Airport (CMH), Columbus, Ohio: Named for John Herschel Glenn, original Mercury Seven astronaut and U.S. senator from Ohio.
• Zamperini Field (TOA), Torrance, California: Named for Louis Silvie Zamperini, U.S. Olympian, B–24 bombardier, and POW during World War II.
• Minneapolis-St. Paul/Wold-Chamberlain Airport (MSP): Named for Ernest Groves Wold and Cyrus Foss Chamberlain, Minnesota pilots who died in the Great War. Dedicated in 1923, to this day the name still honors these two fallen sons.
• Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD), Chicago, Illinois: Once Orchard Field, hence ORD, then O’Hare for Edward Henry O’Hare, U.S. naval aviator, and the U.S. Navy’s first fighter ace of World War II.
• Charlotte/Douglas International Airport (CLT), Charlotte, North Carolina: Named for Benjamin Elbert Douglas, mayor of Charlotte from 1935 to 1941 who administered the construction of the airport.
• Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Atlanta, Georgia: Having at least five different names in its history, the airport today is named for William Berry Hartsfield and Maynard Holbrook Jackson, two former mayors.
• St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL), St. Louis, Missouri: Named for Albert Bond Lambert, U.S. Olympic silver medalist, student of Orville Wright, and financer of Charles A. Lindbergh’s New York to Paris flight.

Craig Brown is a senior aviation technical specialist in the AOPA Pilot Information Center.

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