New Deal Accomplishment: Over 400 new airports & landing fields; over 1,200 new airport buildings


Above: Whenever there are economic downturns the unemployed are demonized. It happened during the Great Depression, the Great Recession (see, e.g., here and here), and it will happen again--like clockwork--during the next economic calamity. People with media megaphones will try to convince us that things would be perfectly fine if "lazy-good-for-nothings" would simply get off the couch and find a job. It is a habitual and gross distortion of reality, and lets the rich and powerful off the hook, no matter what crime, fraud, or mistakes they made that caused or contributed to the problem. Marriner Eccles, a successful banker and the Fed Chairman from 1934-1948, said in 1933: "The present condition [i.e., the Great Depression, unemployment] is not the fault of the unemployed, but that of our business, financial, and political leadership." Further, and as the image above makes clear, there is a grand irony to the demonization of the unemployed; and that is this: the unemployed created much of the transportation infrastructure that their critics and tormentors enjoy today! - roads, bridges, sidewalks, park trails, and airports mainly, but also a good number of tunnels, docks, subways, and railroad track improvements (e.g., grade-crossing removal). These hundreds of thousands of projects also contributed mightily to America's post-war ascent to become the world's leading economic power. Image above from the WPA publication, America Spreads Her Wings (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1937).


Above: A map of airports and landing fields built or improved by relief workers in the New Deal's Civil Works Administration (CWA), Work Division of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), and Works Progress Administration (WPA), 1933-1937. This type of work would continue into the early war years and would contribute to America's victory over the Axis powers. Image from the WPA publication, America Spreads Her Wings (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1937).


Above: These pictographs show how New Deal airport work facilitated economic expansion with greatly increased passenger, mail, and package delivery. Images from the WPA publication, America Spreads Her Wings (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1937).


Above: The WPA's development of the Peter O. Knight Airport in Tampa, Florida gives us a good illustration of the range of New Deal airport work. The description for this photograph, taken around 1937, reads, "WPA work included: Paving runways, grading and sprigging [planting ground cover, like grasses and shrubs]; constructing sea plane ramp; hangar; administration building, paving taxi strips, aprons, roadway to administration building; parking area; muck grass area [sod]; installing lights; fencing; removing old and constructing new runways; pulling and redriving existing bulkheads; constructing seawall and placing fills; filling in existing canal and cutting and relocating canal; demolishing old and constructing new bridge; widening and surfacing streets; moving and resetting curbs; rebuilding catch basins, drainage facilities; sidewalks and handrails." Photo from the National Archives.


Above: A WPA-built hangar in Little Rock, Arkansas. Photo from the National Archives.


Above: Much of the WPA's airport work probably still exists, unseen and taken for granted, such as drainage work. These WPA workers are installing a 30-inch drainage pipe at the Rochester Airport (New York), May 1936. Photo from the National Archives.


Above: The WPA constructed and then expanded West Virginia's Morgantown Airport, 1935-1939. The description for this photograph, taken at the construction site in September 1936, reads, "Huge scraper is at work shaping out one of the runways on the field." For a detailed description of the airport's development, see this letter from Elmer W. Prince, city manager for Morgantown, dated November 17, 1941, linked from Morgantown Airport's website, accessed July 16, 2025. Photo from the National Archives.


Above: Lights installed by WPA at an airport in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 1936. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: "Man's Dream," an artwork by Harry Sternberg (1904-2001), created while he was in the WPA's Federal Art Project, 1938. According to the Wikipedia article for Sternberg, he once said, "In participating in the WPA, I felt that I was part of one of the most vital and important cultural movements in America" (citing: Becker, Heather (2002). Art for the People: The Rediscovery and Preservation of Progressive and WPA-era Murals in Chicago Public Schools, 1904-1943. Chicago, Il: Chronicle Books). Image courtesy of GSA and the Illinois State Museum.


Above: A beautifully-designed administration building at the Albuquerque Airport, New Mexico, built by WPA between 1935 and 1940. Photo from: Federal Works Agency, Work Projects Administration, Report on Progress of the WPA Program, June 30, 1940.


Above: At a small airport in Middleboro, Kentucky, in rural Bell County, WPA workers remove stumps in preparation for landing field extensions, 1936. Photo from the National Archives.


Above: A photo collage of the WPA's most famous airport project, La Guardia. Photo from: Federal Works Agency, Work Projects Administration, Report on Progress of the WPA Program, June 30, 1940.


Above: The New Deal's Public Works Administration (PWA) also funded hundreds of airport projects. The description for this photograph, ca. 1936, reads, "The Administration Building of San Francisco's Municipal Airport. This building was constructed with the aid of PWA funds." Photo from the National Archives.


Above: Young Americans in the New Deal's National Youth Administration (NYA) worked on airports too, and also learned airport & aircraft trades. Article from the San Angelo Standard-Times (San Angelo, Texas), November 21, 1940; image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.


Above: The Triple Cs worked on dozens of landing fields, including this one in Alaska. Article excerpt of from the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, June 28, 1939; image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

A New and Plentiful Deal for Airplanes

CWA: The Civil Works Administration had about 1,400 airport and airway projects (Analysis of Civil Works Program Statistics, p. 27).

FERA: The Work Division of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration had 2,334 projects involving airports and emergency landing fields (The Emergency Work Relief Program of the FERA, p. 44). 

WPA: The Works Progress Administration built 353 new landing fields and had 600 other projects to add to, reconstruct, or improve existing landing fields. It built 1,192 new airport buildings (e.g., hangars and administrative buildings), and had 3,007 other projects to add to, reconstruct, or improve such buildings. The WPA also added numerous taxi strips, aprons, turning circles, drainage systems, flood lights, boundary lights, seaplane ramps, and airway markers and beacons (Final Report on the WPA Program, p. 132). 

PWA: The Public Works Administration had at least 354 projects involving "Airports and related projects" (America Builds, p. 282). 

CCC: The Civilian Conservation Corps constructed 80 new landing fields and performed maintenance on 88 existing fields (Final Report of the Director of the CCC, p. 105).

NYA: The National Youth Administration built or added to 23 landing fields and had 58 other projects to reconstruct or improve landing fields. It built 80 new airport buildings (including hangars) and had 108 projects to reconstruct or improve such buildings. The NYA also built numerous seaplane landing facilities and placed 2,623 airport and airway markers (Final Report of the National Youth Administration, p. 140).

For a number of reasons, the exact number of New Deal airport projects is probably impossible to determine. For example, FERA completed some CWA projects, the WPA completed some FERA projects, and the WPA and PWA sometimes contributed to the same airport (Reagan National Airport is a good example of the latter).

If we leave out CWA, FERA, and PWA airport work, and just add up WPA, CCC, and NYA projects, it will give us a very conservative estimate of the New Deal's total work product. Thus, we can be confident in reporting that the New Deal created over 400 new airports and landing fields, built over 1,200 new airport buildings (e.g., hangars and administrative buildings), and had many thousands of other projects to improve runways, buildings, and other facilities.

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