On this day in 2008, the historical marker commemorating Maynard Field was unveiled on the Kernersville Road.
Winston-Salem’s first airfield was named for Belvin Maynard, when it opened in 1919. Belvin W. Maynard was a North Carolina aviator who was also a Baptist minister. Maynard attended divinity school at Wake Forest College (in Wake Forest, N. C.), and was nicknamed the “flying parson. ”
Maynard won the first transcontinental air derby, flying from New York to San Francisco in record time. Maynard’s airplane was named “Hello Frisco,” and he often traveled with his mechanic and his German shepherd, Trixie.
The field originally consisted of 35 acres of stumps, bushes and rocks, all of which had to be cleared. The longest runway was 1,890 feet running southwest to northeast.
Maynard attended the dedication in 1919, and was the first pilot to land at the new field, named in his honor. As he flew in for the ceremonies, he performed acrobatic maneuvers for the crowd in the same de Haviland Four he flew to San Francisco.
Maynard Field was designated as the midway stop for planes going from New York to New Orleans. It was used as an airfield exclusively until 1927, when a new airport was built for the city.
Maynard was killed during a test flight in 1922.
Today, there is a housing development where the airfield once existed, and there is a Maynard Drive in the development.
Photo courtesy of Forsyth County Public Library Photograph Collection.
