Dulles International Airport opened in 1962 as the first airport designed exclusively for the jet age. Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen’s terminal is one of the great works of mid-century American architecture. These posts trace the history of Dulles, from its controversial location in the Virginia countryside to its place in DC’s aviation story.
The full history of Dulles Airport: when it was built, why it’s named Dulles, the Concorde arrival, the Unabomber, and the Virginia farmland it replaced.
A collection of vintage Pan Am advertisements from The Washington Post archives, spanning the 1960s through the 1980s, from their daily Dulles-to-London 707 service to the airline’s final years.
On June 4, 1970, a Phoenix bread truck driver hijacked a TWA jet to Dulles and demanded $100 million from the Supreme Court over a $471.78 IRS dispute.
Take a trip back in time to the elegant and romantic Dulles Airport of the 1960s. Explore the mobile lounges and control tower in photos taken by Balthazar Korab.
This is a video of the dedication ceremony for Dulles Airport in 1962. It was the first airport built exclusively for jets, and 27 miles outside of D.C., was also a really long drive from the city center.
The airport was dedicated by President Kennedy and former President Eisenhower, a $110 million federal project, largely driven during the latter’s administration. Near the end of the film, there’s an interesting explanation of the mobile lounges and why they were used. Now, they’re a giant pain, but back then, they were seen as and extremely innovative method of transporting passengers from the terminal directly to the aircraft.
Did you know that Dulles Airport was the first airport in the world build for jet aircraft? This photo shows passengers boarding an Eastern Airlines’ Douglas DC-8
Dulles International Airport is one of only two federally owned airports in the country (National Airport being the other). Some find it to be an ugly monstrosity. Others find it to be an architectural masterpiece — I am firmly in this camp — however, many functionality compromises were made in the name of aesthetics.
Eero Saarinen, the notable Finnish architect, known for his sweeping designs, was responsible for the design, but unfortunately died a year before John F. Kennedy presided over the opening on November 17th, 1962. Saarinen was an architectural badass (call him the Sprinkle of architects), designing the TWA terminal at JFK and the St. Louis Arch. Maybe you’re familiar with these?
So, my post last week about Concorde‘s first arrival at Dulles (and first in the U.S.) piqued my interest in digging up some archival footage of the airport.
The footage I found is archival film of Dulles Airport that I came across while trolling YouTube. It was a professionally produced marketing film from 1962, the year Dulles opened. The music is awesome and so 60s. I feel like the Pink Panther will show up at any minute.
Everything else must fall before an airport can arise. Five hundred eighty demolished buildings, twelve hundred acres of uprooted woods, 11,500,000 yards of excavated earth, dissolved into 31,00 feet of concrete runways.
It’s amusing that the narrator mentions how modern and integral the people movers were, surmising that they would be critical to airports all over the world. At the time, Dulles certainly was innovative — it was the first airport constructed exclusively for jets.
Dulles Airport in 1966
The only airport in the world, ready today, for the supersonic age of tomorrow.
It’s hard to believe the film when they state that a deplaning passenger would on their way after, exiting the airport, only 9 minutes and 57 seconds? Feels more like 59 minutes and 57 seconds today. I only fly out of Dulles if I’m going to California or Tokyo.
Take me to DCA any day. And that’s National … not the actor dude that was the 40th President of the United States.
Washington Dulles International Airport (Wikipedia)
