Local Authors Take Pittsburgh Through 100 Years of Aviation History

Pittsburgh International Airport is on the cusp of aviation history.

The new PIT is now 80 percent complete and set to open later this year. Unlike the current airport, the new PIT is designed for Pittsburgh origin and destination passengers, including features and services that match the needs of a growing and modernizing community. Pittsburgh travelers can expect improvements to the arrivals and departures levels, outdoor terraces, an updated baggage system and a connector bridge linking the revamped airside and new landside terminals.

The new PIT airport is the latest chapter in a remarkable history based on the vision of aviation leaders past and present who built the foundation that made the airport transformation possible. Pittsburgh’s aviation legacy spans over 100 years and four different airports, each revolutionizing to meet the ever-changing needs of an industry and a community.

Local authors Brian Butko and Sue Morris take a deep dive into that history in their new book, “Bettis: Where Pittsburgh Aviation Took Off,” which was published in December 2024 in collaboration with the Heinz History Center.

Morris, a life-long history buff and first-time book author, has been captivated by Pittsburgh’s relationship with aviation. She regularly contributes to the Heinz History Center’s blog.

Butko is the director of publications at the History Center and has published independent work on the history of Pittsburgh’s famous attractions.

They trace PIT’s modernization to humble beginnings. The first airport in the region was nothing but a field in the middle of West Mifflin. Bettis Field – previously known as Pittsburgh-McKeesport Airport until it was dedicated to Lt. Cyrus Bettis in 1926 – marked the start of what was going to be nearly 100 years of constant innovation, transformation and revolutionary decision-making – all of which are continuing today.

Blue Sky News sat down with the Butko and Morris to learn about the inspiration behind the book and their perspective on PIT’s new terminal and its place in aviation history.

Editor’s note: The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: What inspired you to write this book?

Butko: I grew up in West Mifflin, still live here, and the old timers would talk about when the Bettis [Atomic Power Laboratory] used to be an airport. So that always fascinated me. I always thought about writing a book, and Sue has a wonderful blog and had been doing some stories on local women pilots. We connected and decided Bettis would be the perfect avenue for a book.

Morris: I’ve always been fascinated by periods when things were really changing. And I think when you look back in time, you recognize that aviation, the dawn of the aviation era, was just such a game changer for everything.

There’s so much going on with aviation right now locally with the new terminal project. And we both see this direct through-line from this little airport in West Mifflin to literally 100 years later and what’s going on at the airport now. This was just a perfect time to dive into the story of how it all began.

Q: Pittsburgh is home to so many aviation firsts. As history buffs and experts in Pittsburgh aviation, what does it mean to you that Pittsburgh could be home to more aviation firsts in the future?

Morris: I think it is absolutely exciting. There’s just this through-line from our little airport that could, as I like to think about it, to this beautiful terminal project that is just so revolutionary in how it’s going to be moving people through and that whole experience.

Butko: Well, to show how quickly it changed, in 1925, Bettis was still a cow pasture, a farm field. In 1930, there was airmail, passenger airlines and Clifford Ball had been involved from the start. Then Allegheny County Airport opens a couple of years later and he’s involved there. Then Greater PIT opens in the ‘50s and he’s the manager there.

So, within his lifetime, he’s a car dealer, goes to a farm field, and he’s basically at the site that the big airports are today managing the airport. And then, of course, that terminal was surpassed and now the new one, doing that all within our lifetimes. So that’s a pretty amazing change that I’m not sure people appreciate how quickly the Airport Authority has had to keep up with those changing times.

Q: There are several pages in your book on the different women that made their names in aviation. Why was it important to you to spend such a big part of the book focused on them?

Butko: It’s important to tell stories of people who get forgotten. These pilots, men and women, were the NFL stars of their day, of the late twenties, early thirties. For me, it’s important to save those stories.

Morris: We love our stories in the city, we love our history, but we often tend to tell the same stories over and over again. They’re fun, they’re great stories, but we both are attracted to the stories that haven’t gotten told. And we wanted to explore the lives of these people that have kind of gotten looked over.

I think it’s important to tell those stories, too, because, you know, girls still need to have role models. They still need to see that they can do these things.

Q: I want to jump into talking about the Allegheny County Airport (AGC). What would you say about AGC and how that airport helped establish Pittsburgh’s prominent role in aviation?

Morris: It deserves a book of its own, right?

Butko: At the time, and even as 1930 was dawning and Bettis was growing, leaders could already tell that it just could not keep up with how quickly aviation was growing. They looked at all those hundreds of sites and chose going a mile away. It was so much larger, and the passenger traffic quickly escalated.

A couple of years earlier, it was the cutting-edge field in the area. So AGC really captured that area, and I think the architecture captured the imagination. And then sure enough, what was it, 1936, they were basically doubling the size of the already. It’s a really impressive resource that we have in this area that I think people tend to overlook because, of course, they all fly out of Pittsburgh International.

Q: Here we are in 2024 and there’s going to be another new airport. What does it mean to you both that the airport is still working to serve the needs of this fast-paced industry and is still transforming?

Morris: Brian and I did a tour of the new terminal, and the phrase “future proofing” jumped out at me. I absolutely love it. I found myself thinking as we were walking through, if only our guys from back in the 1920s and 1930s could see this, could see the way people were thinking about aviation again. I think they’d just be thrilled.

Butko: It’s that same idea all over again. A better city. You get the typical complaints of, well, why do we need it? When they finally get there and realize that, you know, there are 25 years’ worth of rethinking how things can be better, not to mention, as we learned, the whole idea of how it’s changed from a point of transfer to a point of departure. And now it will better serve that.

I think once people get there, they’ll say, “Oh now I get it.”

“Bettis: Where Pittsburgh Aviation Took Off” is now available at the Heinz History Center for $19.95.