LONG AND HARMAN AIRLINES, INC.

ABOUT

On November 27, 1934, Braniff Airways, Incorporated, moved its Operations and Maintenance Base from Oklahoma City Curtiss-Wright Airport to Dallas Love Field. Curtiss-Wright Airport was the original Wiley Post Airport, which operated from 1928 to 1955. At that time the field was closed and replaced by nearby Tulakes Airport, which became the current Wiley Post Airport. Braniff first operated scheduled services from the SW29th Street Airport before moving service to the new Oklahoma City Municipal Airport in 1932, which became known as Will Rogers Airport.

Braniff’s move of its Maintenance and Operations Base to Dallas became a necessity because the carrier had been awarded a north and south Airmail contract, designated as AM-9, on May 7, 1934, which operated from Chicago Midway Airport to Dallas Love Field, with intermediate stops at Kansas City, Missouri; Wichita, Kansas; Ponca City and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. While maintenance would be required at both ends of the route the most logical facility for major and overhaul maintenance was Love Field, which also could serve easily as a central hub if operations were expanded to the south which they were with the merger with Dallas-based Long and Harman Airlines in December 1934.

The Long and Harman merger came with Airmail Route AM-15, which operated from Dallas to Brownsville, Texas, with intermediate stops at Waco, Austin, San Antonio, Houston and Corpus Christi, and from Dallas to Amarillo, Texas, with enroute stops at Ft. Worth and Wichita Falls, Texas. Dallas now became Braniff’s largest base of operations not only from number of flights but also from a maintenance standpoint. The new facility was located on the north side of the airport and on the western end of Love Field Drive and its dual hangars opened south looking over the vast airport. Love Field’s first passenger, the 1927 Love Field Drive Terminal was located next door, which made the transition of airliners from maintenance to scheduled flights even easier.