Through 1926, private aviation was dominated by open cockpit biplanes. Mayer Aircraft had at least four such models – the Laird Swallow, the Travel Air, the Curtiss Oriole, and the Waco 9.
“Miss Pittsburgh”, on display at Pittsburgh International Airport, is a Waco 9. She made the first airmail flight, Pittsburgh to Cleveland, on April 21, 1927, taking off from Mayer Field.
On May 21, 1927, Lindbergh completed the first successful solo flight across the Atlantic in the “Spirit of St. Louis” a high-wing closed cabin Ryan Brougham monoplane and ushered in a new era.
Never one to be far behind “the leading edge”, Mr. Mayer promptly ordered two Broughams. The flight of the first one from San Diego to Pittsburgh in mid-September was widely reported in local newspapers. J. Warren Smith was Mayer’s pilot. Mayer Aircraft also obtained a franchise to sell Ryan planes in this area.
In July “Pop” Cleveland represented Mayer Aircraft by participating in the Third National Air Tour, “an aerial argosy of fifteen ships”. His ship was a Waco 9.
The Mayer family made news with a success and with a tragedy. Ten-year-old “Buzz Mayer, son of Charles Mayer, won a trophy for building a model airplane that achieved the greatest duration of flight, in May. In December his father died as the result of an explosion at Rakuen Lake, one of his several enterprises.
Late in the year the Pittsburgh Press sponsored a contest to see who could predict the length of time a small plane could stay aloft on ten gallons of aviation fuel. Smith chose a Curtiss Oriole for the test and surprised everyone by circling Mayer Field for two hours and fourteen seconds before his engine sputtered to a stop and he glided onto the landing strip.
In 1928 Mayer Field continued to prosper. Mr. Mayer announced a million-dollar project “to manufacture a cabin type monoplane in a factory”. He purchased the 279 acres Lebo Farm and rerouted Chartiers Creek, to enlarge Mayer Field.
An amusing incident was reported in late March. Mr. Mayer, pilot Smith, and passenger E. J. Weber took off from an airstrip in Lima, Ohio, in a Ryan Brougham, “Pride of Pittsburgh”. During the takeoff the tailskid contacted a barbed wire fence and pulled up 800 feet of wire. Three hundred miles later the dangling wire caught on electrical high-tension lines while the plane made its descent into Mayer Field, generating spectacular fireworks.
Mayer Aircraft and the Pittsburgh Press entered a Cessna Redwing in the Transcontinental Air Derby, New York to Los Angeles. Its pilot was Ed Schultz. The entry earned fourth place in Class B and a prize of $1000, averaging over 137 mph while crossing the country.
A Rosenbaum’s ad, on December 5, encouraged shoppers to go to their Men and Boys Department on the Fourth Floor to view Mayer’s plane, “The Fastest Commercial Airplane in the Country”. Advertising in newspapers apparently was effective. A Mayer Aircraft ad reported “We maintain seven planes, to carry parties anywhere there’s air”.
Business remained good at Mayer Aircraft in 1929. Another celebrity flight included Father James Cox, flying to Harrisburg for an ACLU meeting. In June four Pittsburghers were flown to Phoenix to visit relatives, the longest flight originating at Mayer Field up to that time. Their pilot was James Fredericks. A party of twelve was planning to fly to Los Angeles for a Masonic Convention later in the year.
In June Mr. Mayer announced the hiring of a new manager, “Lucky” Jack Merrill, of St. Louis, replacing Smith, who had moved on to greener pastures in the West. The same article reported on consideration of adding two concrete runways, each a half mile long, in the lower field.
Twenty-nine-year-old Mayer pilot Frank Datin was killed in October when he lost control of his plane while performing stunts. Mishaps were frequent in those days; it is remarkable that there weren’t more fatalities.
Mayer Aircraft got some free advertising by an unsolicited endorsement of “Miller’s Fighting Aero Gasoline” when A. D. Miller and Sons included it and a photo of Mr. Mayer and “The Pride of Pittsburgh” in an ad in the Post-Gazette.
Mention of Mayer Field and Mayer Aircraft in local newspapers declined in following years. An article in August, 1930, reported that Jacob W. Lytle had taken over operations of Mayer Field by leasing the field and two airplanes – “a two-place Travel Air biplane and a five-passenger Ryan Brougham” – from Mr. Mayer.
Casper P. Mayer, “the father of Pittsburgh aviation”, died on January 4, 1934, at the age of seventy-seven. Two private planes and three military aircraft flew overhead, escorting his body from his home in Kirwan Heights to St. Agatha’s Church and from there to the cemetery.
By the late 1930s the Piper Cub J-3 had become the primary aircraft at Mayer Field. Summer evenings and weekends the sky over Bridgeville frequently held at least one “Mayer’s Crate”. Originally designed by Gilbert Taylor in Bradford, Pa., the Cub was commercialized and mass produced by William Piper in Lock Haven.
Nearly 20,000 Cubs were manufactured; they served as trainers for thousands of airmen during World War II. With a wingspan of thirty-five feet, a length of twenty-three feet, weighing 765 pounds, and powered by a four cylinder, sixty five horsepower engine, the Cub was aviation’s version of the Ford Model T.
By 1947 the airfield was owned and operated by George Eckert. A fire there destroyed three planes and a hanger in December. In 1954 the airfield was acquired by developers to be the site of Great Southern Shoppers Mart. The thirty-seven-acre site would include one hundred shops, parking for three thousand cars and ten acres of parks and playgrounds.
In addition to spelling the end of aviation in Bridgeville, this development would have a serious impact on the community’s “downtown” commercial district.