Believing the city’s success was linked to its transportation system, Dallas leaders made early efforts to secure a future in aviation. Oak Cliff resident Frank McCarroll made his first flight in 1903, and in 1910 he and the Dallas Chamber of Commerce organized a state fair air show that attracted thousands of viewers. In 1917, during World War I, the city secured an agreement with the War Department to provide a military flying school for the army to lease. The Army Signal Corps named the field Love Field in honor of Lt. Moss Lee Love (1879-1913), an army aviation fatality. A festival there marked the war’s end in 1918, and the army decommissioned the flying school in 1920. The city of Dallas then leased space to pilots, and in 1922 the Curtiss Flying School and Curtiss Aeroplane Co. opened there. In 1923, the army returned to provide weather and radio service to pilots. The airport attracted U.S. air mail route service in the mid-1920s, and those air mail carriers were the first national air service companies, many of which developed into the major air carriers of the late 20th century. Over the years, notable pilots including Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart stopped there. During World War II, the 5th Ferrying Group based operations there, along with a contingent of the Women Air Force Service Pilots and a large Lockheed modification center. As the airfield developed, so did aircraft technology and services, and major carriers established offices at its facilities. In 1973, a larger airport opened and most air traffic moved there, bringing it close to closure. Today it has grown into a significant facility and one of the busiest commercial and general aviation airports in the United States, serving passengers, corporate clients, and maintenance business while remaining an important reminder of Dallas’s early aviation efforts.