Air

Hale Field, Ford Trimotor, looking southeast.

Plane taking off from Hale Field, Ford Trimotor, looking southeast, 1947.

For Missoula’s first aviation event, pioneer aviator Eugene Ely took off in his Curtiss biplane on June 26, 1911, from the Fort Missoula ballpark and circled the Missoula Valley.  Missoula’s first airport, named Garden City Airport, was located in Hale Field in the southeast corner of town near the present day location of Sentinel High School, Playfair Park, and Splash Montana.
 
Air