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Hoover Field: Before the Pentagon and National Airport

There used to be an airport where the Pentagon stands today. Washington-Hoover Airport operated from 1933 to 1941, replaced by National Airport.
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1072 Thomas Jefferson St. NW
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There was an airport in Arlington before National Airport. It was born as Hoover Field in 1925 and evolved into Washington-Hoover Airport, named for then-Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover (and future president).

Here’s a great old photo of the airport terminal as it looked in 1942. It closed as an airport in 1941, the year that National Airport opened. The photo below shows it shortly before demolition began. The site is now where the Pentagon sits.

Arlington, Virginia, 1942. “Washington-Hoover Airport terminal and Eastern Air Lines sign prior to demolition for construction of the Pentagon.” Nitrate negative by Harold Lang. Source: Shorpy
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