International Air Races, Lambert Field - October 1923
(photo: George J. Herwing Collection; "City of Flight: The History of Aviation In St. Louis" by James J. Horgan)
The U.S. Navy's huge zeppelin ZR-1 (Shenandoah) dwarfed everything else at Lambert Field during the 1923 International Air Races. The road running from left to right across the picture leads to the small towns of Bridgeton (to the right) and Anglum (to the left).
The beginning of Lambert Field...
In June of 1920, a group called the
Missouri Aeronautical Society leased a 160 acre cornfield from Mrs. Mary
Jane Weldon, on which they planned to develope a new airport to serve the
St. Louis area. The new field was located 11 miles northwest of downtown
St. Louis. The members of the Missouri Aeronautical Society consisted
of Major Albert Bond Lambert, Bill and Frank Robertson, and the Flying Club
of St. Louis. Major Lambert was the actual leasee, paying Mrs. Weldon
$2,000 for the first year of a five year lease. The new field was
named the St. Louis Flying Field, and Major Lambert offered free use of
the field to anyone who wanted to fly.
In 1923 Major Lambert turned the field over to the St. Louis Aeronautic Corporation, a group organized to host that year's NAA-sanctioned International Air Races. The group spent a lot of money building new hangars and making improvements to the field. When the races were held on October 1-2-3, 1923, among those in attendance as spectators were a 21 year old barnstormer named Charles Lindbergh and his friend Bud Gurney. It was their first visit to the airfield that would shortly become a big part of their aviation lives. The day after the races ended, on October 4, 1923, the field was renamed Lambert-St. Louis Flying Field, to honor the man who's vision and generosity had made the field and the air races successful.
In 1925, when his five year lease ended, Major Lambert bought the flying field from Mrs. Weldon for $68,352. Even as the sole owner, Major Lambert always welcomed and encouraged the use of the field by aviators of all kinds.
