From 1923, when it was known as the Glendale Airport, to the
World War II era, when the military took it over, Grand Central Air Terminal was the main commercial airport serving Southern California and the ancestral home of what became Convair (General Dynamics) and
Hughes Aircraft. The first scheduled transcontinental passenger service was flown out of Grand Central by Charles
Lindbergh, with
Amelia Earhart among the passengers. Grand Central had the first paved runway west of the Rocky Mountains, and was a terminal for Pickwick, TWA, American, and
Pan Am's Mexican subsidiary. After Pearl Harbor, commercial operations ceased and the Army Air Corps turned Grand Central into a training center and a key element in the air defenses for Los Angeles when a Japanese invasion seemed imminent.
Background Information
World War II was fought between the Allies and the Axis powers between 1939 and 1945. Howard Hughes was born into wealth which he increased greatly through investments in aviation and entertainment, before buying much of Las Vegas and dying there as a recluse. Charles A. Lindbergh flew the Spirit of St. Louis on the first solo transatlantic flight from Long Island to Paris. Amelia Earhart was a pioneer of American aviation who set records and achieved world fame before disappearing on a flight over the Pacific Ocean. Pan American Airlines pioneered international aviation with flights from the United States to South America and across the Pacific.