According to local old-timers, a flying field was set up prior to 1913 in a farmer's pasture about a mile south of Blacksburg between the old Christiansburg Road and the Huckleberry railroad tracks.

During the last week of July 1929, the engineers of the Virginia Highway Department started work on the VPI Airport, located about 1.5 miles from the campus. College engineering personnel had surveyed the field, which was wide enough to afford runways in four directions.

By the end of 1929, the Virginia Highway Department was putting finishing touches on the construction of the new VPI Airport. The runways were large enough to accommodate what were considered to be large aircraft of that day. Already two aviation companies were negotiating to secure concessions to conduct flying instruction at the field and to operate charter-flying service there.

The Virginia Tech Airport officially opened in 1931, with the hangar built in 1940. Just prior to World War II, greater attention was afforded to the development of the Airport when the value of training University cadets at a pre-flight training facility was recognized. The Airport’s existence has changed from training cadets to mainly serving the community and corporate jets.

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