Logan Field | |||||||||||||||||||
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 A September 1938 aerial view of Logan Field (courtesy of the National Archives, photo # 18-LMU-V1-850G). | |||||||||||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||||||||||
| Serves | Baltimore, Maryland | ||||||||||||||||||
| Built | 1920 | ||||||||||||||||||
| In use | 1920–1945 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 39°14′57″N076°31′10″W / 39.24917°N 76.51944°W /39.24917; -76.51944 (Logan Field) | ||||||||||||||||||
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  Logan Field Logan Field, Baltimore Show map of Baltimore Logan Field Logan Field (Maryland) Show map of Maryland Logan Field Logan Field (the United States) Show map of the United States | |||||||||||||||||||
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Logan Field, also known asDundalk Flying Field, is a former airport located in the town of Dundalk,Maryland, northeast of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, nearBaltimore.
Although Logan Field was originally named the Dundalk Flying Field, it was almost immediately renamed. On July 5, 1920, Army Lt. Patrick H. Logan was fatally injured after his aircraft, aWorld War I vintage FrenchNieuport 28 nicknamed the "Red Devil," crashed at the field's inaugural air show.[1] In response to the tragedy, the airfield was renamed in Logan's honor during the closing ceremonies of the air show during which he died.
Logan Field consisted of three landing strips of turf-and-cinder construction: a 3,000-foot runway and two 2,000-foot runways. The field had a number of smallclapboard buildings to handle passengers and mail, as well as simple hangar facilities, including military facilities for the Maryland National Guard's104th Observation Squadron.
Opened in 1920, Logan Field was a 100-acre tract located at the intersection of Dundalk Avenue and Belclare Road in southeastBaltimore County. It lay on the Patapsco Neck peninsula, which jutted out into theChesapeake Bay between thePatapsco River on the south andBack River on the north. The airport lay near small suburban communities that would later grow extensively after theSecond World War (1941–1945), includingDundalk,Essex, andMiddle River. Closer to Baltimore were the neighborhoods ofHighlandtown andCanton, which bordered closely on the new airport and future harbor port facilities.
Beginning in 1921, Logan Field was the home base of the Maryland National Guard's newly organized aerial unit, the 104th Observation Squadron, just after the first experiences of combat aviation inWorld War I (1917–1918).
The field expanded facilities in 1929 with lighting for night operations.[2] By the 1930s, Logan Field boasted regular commercial flights between Baltimore and Washington, New York, Atlantic City, and Miami. It also hosted regular air meets and was visited by such aviation luminaries asCharles Lindbergh,Amelia Earhart andDouglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan.[1]
DuringWorld War II, Logan Field, along with the newly constructed adjacentBaltimore Municipal Airport, was controlled by the military. In 1943, Logan was closed to air traffic and converted into aprisoner-of-war camp forAxis soldiers, mainly Germans and a few Italians.[1] It was one of several hundred such camps housing German POWs, who provided labor at farms in the area.
Logan Field was not reopened after World War II. Instead, civil aviation moved to the newer, more modern and expansive facilities at the Baltimore Municipal Airport, which had been constructed adjacent to Logan Field beginning in 1929, and featured a 1930sArt Deco-style passenger terminal. The terminal served the patrons ofPan-American Airways' "Flying Clipper" service — featuring the newBoeing Company "flying boats" — which offered routes across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, although with several stages and stops.
Within a few years of the end of the war, the land that had once been Logan Field was transformed into the residential neighborhood of Logan Village. Today, with the exception of a historical marker at the Logan Village shopping center, there is no evidence of Logan Field's existence.