Old Missoula

Missoula Airport Lighting Contract Let

$53,000 Cost of Job; Meets U. S. Demands

Both Ends of Two Runways to Be Illuminated; Huge Beacon Light to Be Installed Near City.

To Permit Night Airmail Service

One Step in Illumination of the Entire Northern Route, Now Under Way By Federal Government.

Missoula will have one of the first lighted airports in Montana.

Contract was awarded here Tuesday morning to the Barthel Hardware company, through the Westinghouse Electric company for lighting the municipal airport at a cost of $53,000. Work is to start at once and the project is expected to be completed by February 1, when night flying of the mail is scheduled to begin, providing the Northern route is lighted by that time.

Both ends of two runways are to be illuminated. A beacon light will be installed and lights will border the entire field. There also will be obstruction lights and an illuminated wind direction indicator.

Award of the contract was made Tuesday morning by the county through the Missoula County Airport board, composed of H. O. Bell, John L. Campbell, R. J. Hale, Ed Polleys and Wallace Brennan.

To Meet Requirements.

The lighting, when completed, will bring the airport up to compliance with airmail field requirements of the Department of Commerce. Bids for the work were opened Saturday and for three days the board studied the proposals offered. Butte and Helena are having their airports illuminated and Missoula’s, with those of the other two cities, will be the first in the state to meet the Federal requirements.

Throughout the summer engineers for the Department of Commerce were making locations through Montana for beacon lights along the Northern route. The government has appropriated $655,000 for this purpose and the work is being pushed westward from St. Paul. Reports are that installation of the lighting equipment has been completed to Miles City. From there it is speeding westward. Also installation is being made from Lookout, Mont., on to Spokane.

Beacon lights over the Northern route through Missoula are being installed every 10 to 15 miles, and intermediate airports are being established every 50 miles. Direction radio range beacons are being installed every 50 miles.

The Beacon.

The airport beacon at Missoula will have 2,800,000 candle power with double end, one green and one white to indicate that it is an airport beacon. The borders of the field will be completely lighted and runways flood lighted with 3,000-watt floodlights. The lighting system will be handled by remote control from the radio room at the airport, where a switch panel will be installed.

Under the early schedule, it is expected that when night flying starts February 1 the eastbound plane will go through Missoula at 3 a. m. and the westbound mail at 11 p. m. However, the establishment of the additional service is dependent upon the completion of the lighting of the route.

The ships of the Northwest Airline at this time frequently are required to ground here in the evenings because of approaching darkness. Department of Commerce rules prohibit night flying on mail routes where the route is not lighted.

The above article appeared in The Daily Missoulian on December 12, 1934.

A brief history of Airmail can be found at the link below:

https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/airmail.pdf

https://www.newspapers.com/image/352092849