Beacon Field Airport Runways (Site)

In 1929, Airway Beacon No. 55, a pilot’s navigation aid, was installed on this site owned by W.F.P. Reid. Beacon Field is named for the beacon tower. Under the Civilian Pilot Training Program established in 1938, Ashburn Flying Service trained hundreds of pilots at Beacon Field for military service to support World War II. In 1942, the airport was temporarily closed for security reasons. The Civil Aeronautics Administration Region One Safety Office moved here following the war. Veterans of World War II and the Korean conflict trained under the GI Bill at the Lehman/Reid flying school. Many became commercial pilots. Beacon Field Airport closed 1 October 1959.


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Also see . . .
The History of Beacon Field website. “Initially the airfield was named Groveton Flying Field and was used for recreational flying and U.S. Air Mail pilots. The exact date of airport establishment is not known as W.F.P. Reid owned the pasture land on which a light tower, a beacon for US Air Mail pilots, was installed by the US Government in the late 1920s. The beacon was designated Airway Beacon No. 55 on Mt. Vernon Highway. At elevation of 249 feet, the area commanded one of the highest points in Fairfax County.”


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Here follows an excerpt from the book, “Snake Hill to Spring Bank” which was an oral history project conducted by students at Groveton High School in the mid-1970s. The interviews were transcribed under the direction of their teachers and local historian Edith Moore Sprouse.

From the interview with Kent Crowther:
"The airport was owned by Reid. There was a big white house on it sort of like a mansion. It had a big sun porch, and from that sun porch you could see the river because you were so high. It was built about where the filling station portion of Memco is though it was closer to the road. The Reids had lived there at least two generations and Reid remembered clearly before World War I. They built a road from Alexandria to Fort Humphrey, which is now Fort Belvoir. It was a dirt road about the equivalent of three lanes wide but just mud, and went past Mr. Reid's place where #1 highway is now. Just before World War II, his son became interested in aviation.

He was interested in aviation and so he built him an airport. It was a hill top and it was cleared. During World War II the Navy rented out the airport for pilot trainings, and also the area down in Hybla Valley.

Reid's son came back from the war and started a flying school there. He had hangars and fueling facilities, gasoline, and a small tower that had a beacon light. That's why it's called Beacon Hill. The beacon was on the nautical charts for the ships going up and down the Potomac River. The beacon was timed. They had it timed how long it was white and how long it would show red, so it could be distinguished from others along the river.

Reid leased the airport for a commercial airport after the war. It was approved as a school for the veterans. He had instructed flying for a long time. He flew an awful lot himself.

After Reid died his son closed this airfield and opened up an airfield on the other side of the river. Each morning he would take off and fly to the airport on the other side, and each night he would come back. No landing lights or anything, so he would use Marshall street as a guide.

During the time they were using the airport for pilot training they had a lot of accidents because the people who were learning to fly were not familiar with the airport. When they crossed #1 highway the cement and temperature would create air currents. Very often the planes would misjudge, hit the high power electric lines next to the airport, and flip over. We had one fellow that had just gotten himself a new plane -- he ran out of gas just before he reached the airport and he tried to coast on in. He crashed into the bank and drove the nose back into the cockpit. I don't think the occupants were killed, but it certainly tore the plane to pieces. We had quite a few accidents like that.

They had two runways. One running parallel with #1 highway, the other perpendicular to #1, back where the cemetery is. There was a small plane coming in for a landing parallel to #1 highway. Using this runway they would have to fly right over the school (Groveton Elementary) or right next to the school. The house on the west side was hit by a plane which flew into the second floor and ended up inside the building. Nothing caught fire and luckily no one was up in the bedrooms. There was a lot of commotion about what might've happened because school was in session. But generally speaking, Beacon Hill was a safe airport.

The airport was never torn down. They just stopped using it and started building on to it. First thing was built was the Giant. While the Giant was there Reid was still landing on the strip directly behind the Giant.
Giant was built somewhere around the early 60's."