Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport

T he Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport, a public airport located east of downtown Amarillo, in Potter and Randall Counties, Texas, has a rich and storied aviation history. The first recorded landing of an aircraft in Amarillo occurred on April 27, 1918, when two Army Signal Corps planes, commanded by a Lt. R. Gray, landed in a pasture off of Polk St., refueled, and took off again. The following year, pilot-mechanics Fred W. Hinds and Jack Hiller, flew W.K. Whipple to the same pasture. Whipple met with Porter Whaley, the head of Amarillo’s Board of City Development, about starting an aviation company. The result was the Panhandle Air Service and Transportation Co., which began operations on Jan. 1, 1920, based at Bivins Field in southwest Amarillo, Poised for growth and efficiency