Greater Southwest International Airport

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Greater Southwest International Airport
AMSL
568 ft / 173 m
Coordinates32°49′53″N 097°02′57″W / 32.83139°N 97.04917°W / 32.83139; -97.04917
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
17/35 8,460 2,579 Concrete
13/31 6,400 1,951 Concrete

Greater Southwest International Airport (

Amon Carter
Boulevard, which follows the old north-south runway.

Early history

As far back as 1927 the cities of Fort Worth and

Dallas had proposed a regional airport that would serve the entire metropolitan area. Initial plans did not come to fruition, and after World War II, Fort Worth decided to move the primary airline traffic from Meacham Field to a new facility, Amon Carter Field. Fort Worth annexed a finger of land to the east, extending the city limits to encompass the new site.[1]

Trans-Texas Airways operated from the airport, which had three paved runways and an elaborate terminal (with gold-plated murals). The airport never reached capacity and saw its traffic dwindle while traffic at Love Field
in Dallas continued to grow.

The April 1957 OAG lists 97 scheduled departures a day Tuesday to Thursday, more than half to nearby Dallas Love Field. American Airlines had 30, Braniff 22, Trans-Texas 19, Continental 13, Delta 7 and Central 6.

On December 20, 1959, jet service began with American Airlines

Clovis, NM.[2]

In 1960, the airport was renamed Greater Southwest International Airport (GSW) in a failed attempt to attract passengers.

Fort Worth
purchased the airport.

In 1961, American Airlines was operating an eastbound multi-stop transcontinental flight with a Boeing 707 jetliner on a Los Angeles - Fort Worth - New Orleans -

Columbus, OH - New York City Idlewild Airport.[7]

Passenger service during the mid and late 1960s

Several airlines were continuing to serve Greater Southwest International Airport during the mid 1960s including

Eastern Airlines, and Trans-Texas Airways
. According to the Official Airline Guide of May 1, 1964, all seven air carriers were operating flights to Dallas Love Field with a combined total of 22 flights per day each way.

American Airlines was operating

El Paso - Los Angeles and an eastbound flight routing of Los Angeles - El Paso - Fort Worth - Oklahoma City.[8][9]

Braniff International also flew nonstop service between GSW and

Corpus Christi, TX.[10][11]

Central Airlines, which was based in Fort Worth, was operating four departures per day from the airport in May of 1964 but by the summer of 1967, just one daily flight was flown with a

Convair 580 turboprop.[13]

Continental Airlines with nonstop

Douglas DC-9-10 jet service into the airport with one flight each way on a Dallas Love Field - Fort Worth - Midland/Odessa - El Paso routing.[14]

Delta was serving the airport during the mid 1960s with a

Shreveport - Dallas Love Field - Fort Worth with this service then changing flight numbers at the airport and making the short hop back to Love Field.[15][16]

Eastern Airlines with direct, no change of plane

Tampa and Orlando via a first stop at Dallas Love Field.[17][18][19][20]

Trans-Texas Airways (TTa) was operating three daily departures from GSW in 1966 with nonstop service to

Convair 240 and Douglas DC-3 aircraft.[21]

Decline and closure

In 1964 the

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (originally named Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Airport).[25]

While airline traffic continued to increase at Dallas Love Field, the number of flights slumped at GSW.[26] American Airlines, the last remaining air carrier, ceased operations at GSW at the end of 1968. Following the opening of DFW in 1974, GSW was permanently closed. The land once utilized by the airfield has since been repurposed.

Training flight operations

Following the cessation of all scheduled air carrier service in the late 1960s, the airfield continued to be used for airline training flights. On May 30, 1972, Delta Air Lines Flight 9570 crashed at Greater Southwest International Airport while performing "touch and go" training landings and take offs.[27] The federal National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that wake turbulence from another training flight, an American Airlines DC-10 widebody jetliner, had caused the Delta DC-9-14 twin jet to lose control as it neared touchdown. As this was a training flight, only four people were on board Flight 9570: three crew and an FAA operations inspector. All were killed.[28][29]

Redevelopment following closure

Following the closure of the airport, Runway 17/35 became Amon Carter Boulevard for several years before it was torn up and replaced with an actual street. As of 2022 a small section of the taxiway and run-up area of Runway 18 still exists on the north side of State Highway 183. American Airlines expanded its headquarters to new buildings on the airport site during the 1980s and 1990s (the airline's former hangar had remained in use as a reservations center for several years before it was demolished). The airport's IATA airport code, GSW, is still in use by the American Airlines Flight Academy, which sits across State Highway 360 from the airport site.

References

  1. ^ "North Texas' prime engine". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. December 1, 1996. p. E1. Archived from the original on June 8, 2011. Retrieved March 30, 2010.
  2. ^ https://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/co/co59/co59-6.jpg Archived 2023-03-09 at the Wayback Machine [bare URL image file]
  3. ^ Cooper, William (May 10, 1992). "Love Field controversy should now be shelved forever". Dallas Morning News. Archived from the original on June 8, 2011. Retrieved March 30, 2010.
  4. ^ a b https://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/aa/aa61/aa61-13.jpg Archived 2023-03-10 at the Wayback Machine [bare URL image file]
  5. ^ a b https://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/aa/aa61/aa61-16.jpg Archived 2023-03-10 at the Wayback Machine [bare URL image file]
  6. ^ https://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/aa/aa61/aa61-14.jpg Archived 2023-03-10 at the Wayback Machine [bare URL image file]
  7. ^ https://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/aa/aa61/aa61-12.jpg Archived 2023-03-10 at the Wayback Machine [bare URL image file]
  8. ^ "American Airlines timetable effective December 12, 1966". Airline Timetable Images. pp. 24–25. Archived from the original on January 12, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2022.]
  9. ^ "American Airlines timetable effective December 12, 1966". Airline Timetable Images. pp. 34–35. Archived from the original on January 12, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  10. ^ https://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/bn/bn68/bn68-08.jpg Archived 2024-03-05 at the Wayback Machine [bare URL image file]
  11. ^ https://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/bn/bn68/bn68-05.jpg Archived 2024-03-05 at the Wayback Machine [bare URL image file]
  12. ^ https://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/cn2/cn67/cn67-7.jpg Archived 2024-03-05 at the Wayback Machine [bare URL image file]
  13. ^ https://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/fl/fl67/fl67-5.jpg Archived 2022-11-01 at the Wayback Machine [bare URL image file]
  14. ^ "Continental Airlines timetable effective March 1, 1966". Airline Timetable Images. p. 2. Archived from the original on January 26, 2022. Retrieved January 26, 2022.
  15. ^ "Delta Air Lines timetable effective August 1, 1966". Airline Timetable Images. pp. 22–23. Archived from the original on January 12, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  16. ^ "Delta Air Lines timetable effective August 1, 1966". Airline Timetable Images. pp. 28–29. Archived from the original on January 12, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  17. ^ "Braniff International Airways timetable effective July 1, 1968". Airline Timetable Images. pp. 20–21. Archived from the original on January 12, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  18. ^ "Braniff International Airways timetable effective July 1, 1968". Airline Timetable Images. pp. 26–27. Archived from the original on January 12, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  19. ^ "Continental Airlines timetable effective March 1, 1966". Airline Timetable Images. pp. 4–5. Archived from the original on January 26, 2022. Retrieved January 26, 2022.
  20. ^ "Eastern Airlines timetable effective June 13, 1967". Airline Timetable Images. pp. 74–75. Archived from the original on January 12, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  21. ^ https://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/complete/tt66/tt66-05.jpg Archived 2024-03-05 at the Wayback Machine [bare URL image file]
  22. ^ Hornes, George (August 3, 1964). "Airport Dispute Seethes In Texas; Dallas and Fort Worth Fight Takes on New Urgency". The New York Times. p. 44. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved March 30, 2010.
  23. ^ "CAB Asks Fort Worth And Dallas to Pick One Airport to Serve Both". The Wall Street Journal. October 1, 1964. Archived from the original on June 5, 2011. Retrieved March 30, 2010.
  24. ^ "Dallas Love Field: Prepared For Takeoff?". Dallas Morning News. June 7, 1998. Archived from the original on June 8, 2011. Retrieved March 30, 2010. The 1968 bond ordinance included provisions that Fort Worth and Dallas would each close its local airport.
  25. ^ "Two Cities Agree on Site for a Regional Airport". The New York Times. October 24, 1965. p. F13. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved March 30, 2010.
  26. ^ "Braniff to Stay at Fort Worth". The Wall Street Journal. September 9, 1968. Archived from the original on June 5, 2011. Retrieved March 30, 2010.
  27. ^ "Jet flips on landing, 4 die in fiery crash". Wilmington, NC: Star-News. United Press International. May 31, 1972. p. 10. Archived from the original on November 4, 2021. Retrieved March 30, 2010.
  28. ^ "NTSB Aircraft Accident Report" (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board. March 13, 1973. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 22, 2006. Retrieved February 25, 2007.
  29. ISBN 1-875671-11-0
    .

External links

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