Duncan A. McIntyre

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On August 22, 1919, Duncan A. McIntyre stopped in Tulsa, Oklahoma to visit an old army buddy. Originally intending to stay a short while on his way to Spokane, Washington, McIntyre decided that Tulsa was fertile ground for establishing an aviation business. Within just a few years, McIntyre's airport was considered by many early flyers to be one of the finest airports in Oklahoma. Established almost a decade before Tulsa's municipal airport, McIntyre's offered flying lessons, charter services, mechanical services and hosted transient flyers.

1927 was a busy year for McIntyre. The Ford National Reliability Air Tour chose his airport as one of its tour stops, bringing thousands of Tulsans to the airport to see an armada of touring aircraft. Later in 1927, Charles Lindbergh visited Tulsa. Landing at McIntyre's airport, Lindbergh complimented McIntyre on his facility while simultaneously criticizing the city fathers for their failure to establish a city-owned airport. Lindbergh's speech galvanized some of Tulsa's early leaders. Within two years, Tulsa had its own municipal airport.

McIntyre stayed in Tulsa until 1940, when he moved to California to take a job with Lockheed. McIntyre would return to Tulsa on one more occasion, to dedicate the new modern terminal in 1961.