Looking Back: History of Midway Airport, Travel and Aviation

David Kent, author of Images of Aviation: Midway Airport, presents a look back at the history of travel, specifically at how aviation captured the world's imagination and changed the way we travel. 

About the book, Images of Aviation: Midway Airport The story of Midway Airport is the story of Chicago aviation from the dawn of powered flight and before. It is the story of the birth of modern civilian passenger travel by air, and tales of daring men who designed and flew some of the fastest, most famous aircraft. It is about the growth of an industry against all odds, backed by the U.S. government and the city of Chicago. It is about the development of technologies which propelled a fledgling sport into a globe-girdling system of world airlines and safe air travel to places previously only dreamed of.

About the author David Kent was born into a Hinsdale, Illinois aviation family at a time when general and commercial aviation was flourishing, and nearby Midway Airport was still the world’s busiest airport. He learned to fly at Midway Airport when it was served largely by General Aviation, earning a private pilot license in 1978, an instrument rating in 1981 and studying for a commercial license in 1982. He later worked professionally in aviation sales and as technical consultant at an aerospace firm, where he met several of the people he would later write about in his book, Midway Airport. In 2001, Kent proposed and participated in a Chicago television documentary about the airport, and in 2004 he helped found the Midway Historians: a group dedicated to sharing and preserving Midway Airport and Chicago Aviation history in stories, photographs, audio, video and live presentations.