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Company
Flightcraft then and now.
Flightcraft
by Lance Phillips
Chronicles
Innovation is an oft overused and under- achieved term these days. But back in the early days of aviation, lots of Ameri- cans seemed to be running over with it.
In Portland, Oregon, a few business leaders got together in the 1940s and decided to bring solutions to the Pacific Northwest’s transporta- tion challenges, forever cementing their place in aviation history and providing an enduring legacy that continues to this day.
Invention was the name of the game when
Si King and Charlie Miller joined forces to
lead the young aviation startup, Flightcraft,
at Portland’s newly minted super airport, now PDX. King, Flightcraft’s president and manager, continually looked for ways to make moving aircraft, baggage and people around the Flightcraft tarmac easier and safer. While Miller, Flightcraft secretary and treasurer, wanted to carry more in easier ways on every aircraft available. Their colleague and Flightcraft vice president C.D. Weyerhaeuser designed and implemented a hangar opening, a single-span of local wood, strong enough and wide enough to accommodate the long wingspans of the day.
But it’s important to understand how the area got to its current airport configuration. Portland has used two locations over the years for its major commercial airport – Swan Island from 1927 to 1940 and the floodplain of the
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Columbia River since 1940. The second site has seen repeated adjustments of runways and expansions and upgrades of terminal facilities. As of recently, it served millions of passengers with direct flights to almost 100 domestic and double-digit international destinations.
Swan Island was a marshy, undeveloped swampland in the mid-20s. A major dredging project moved the natural island and attached it to the east bank of the river. Construction of the airport by the Port of Portland began in 1926, and Swan Island Municipal Airport opened on September 14, 1927. Charles Lindbergh, who was on a nationwide tour flying The Spirit of St. Louis, took part in the opening ceremonies. The Oregon Journal reported that Lindbergh “landed like a feather with the punctuality of a crack railroad train.”