Grand Forks, North Dakota has a rich aviation history. After the Wright Brothers historic first flight in North Carolina in 1903, the entire country became caught up with aviation fever. The Wright Brothers soon formed a school that taught pilots to fly their airplanes. In 1910, Grand Forks leaders contracted one of the Wright Brothers’ pilots, Archibald Hoxsey, to fly at the Grand Forks summer fair. Hoxsey’s arrival and flights at the 1910 Grand Forks Fair were milestones for the area. Hoxsey’s flights were the first in North Dakota, and they garnered headlines in the local newspaper for four straight days and brought huge audiences to the fair. The next year, in 1911, Thomas McGoey made his first flights and became the first native North Dakotan to pilot an airplane. Flying really boomed after World War I, when pilots and airplanes from the war came back to the States. Finally, a series of air tours reinforced the dependability of airplanes for commercial air travel and delivering the mail. Many towns across the United States scrambled to develop airfields to handle the booming air industry. Grand Forks, which had always considered itself a leader in the region, was no exception.
Early Events in Grand Forks Aviation History
- 1903 Wright Brothers
- 1910 Grand Forks Fair
- 1911 Grand Forks Fair
- 1911 McGoey Flights
- 1912 Grand Forks Fair
- 1919 Flying Circus
- 1919 Grand Forks Fair
- 1921 Larsen Stop
- 1925 Air Mail Tour
- 1926 Ford Air Tour
- 1927 Lindbergh Tour
- 1928 First Cargo Delivery
- 1928 Holman Visit
- 1928 Grand Forks Municipal Airport
- 1928 Legion Convention
- 1928 Saint Paul to Winnipeg Air Tour
- 1929 First Commercial Air Service
- 1929 Second Commercial Air Service
- 1929 Saint Paul to Winnipeg Air Tour
- 1930 Army Flight
- 1930 Ford Air Tour
- 1930 Grand Forks Airport Fire
- 1931 First Air Mail Service
- 1939 Start of Weather Observations