Post by Glider Rider on Feb 8, 2007 11:19:26 GMT -5
In 1929, Jimmie Wedell and Harry Williams formed the Wedell-Williams Air Service. A landing field was cleared on Calumet Plantation, land that had been part of the Williams sugar fields near Patterson. Eventually, the air service expanded until the field was home base for a flight school, aerial photography, amphibian service, and aerial transportation.
An image of the airport circa 1933. Located three miles west of the city of Patterson, LA, the airport is polygonal and covers 90 acres with a sod surface. The entire field is good sod, all available for use. It has the standard 100’ circle and “PATTERSON” painted on the hangar roof.
Harry Williams continued to develop the airport through the 1930s, constructing an additional hangar, improving the field’s drainage, and installing lights for night operations. At one point, Williams was the owner of the largest privately owned fleet of aircraft in the world, with forty-two planes.
Following the deaths of Jimmie Wedell (1935) and Harry Williams (1936) the home of the Wedell-Williams Air Service (note the name still visible on the hangar in this photograph) begins a transformation into what is now the Harry P. Williams Airport.
These pictures are circa 1941
Bill
