13 thoughts on “Portland International Airport, circa 1962”
That must be the end of 82nd in the upper left corner coming in at an angle, but what street would it have run along the south side of the airport? Did Alderwood run straight through at some point?
I’d love to see some photos from the inside of PDX in 1962!
igor: I think that’s a runway along the south edge of the airport. 82nd is probably to the left, out of frame. The angled street in the upper left is probably one of the streets in the national guard base. The buildings in upper right are now cargo flight services
Igor what you are seeing is not the end of 82nd, but is the Portland US Air Force Base. In the 60’s. A neighbor was a Air Force fighter pilot flying the F-102 which are seen in the upper right portion of the photo. The pilots son and I were only a year apart in age and we often went to the airbase with his father and got up close with the planes and choppers, and I recall we visited the officers club.
Anyone recognize the airline tail insignia? There appears to be three different ones. I think the angled slash with the text through it is United but I can’t find the rest. I see only one jet (707 or DC-8).
I suspect the jet is from Continental Airlines which served Portland at that time.
mb—-Oregonlive on Nov. 20, 2018 has a story that will give you a look inside the early airport terminal. Google “Holiday travel flashback: How Portland International airport..”
Here’s a 3D look at PDX today from the same perspective (might want to copy and open in a separate tab so you can compare):
Directly above PDX Terminal in the VP pic, you can literally see the crews constructing the huge cement pad in upper-center that is there today. With that as a reference, I believe the road in question is Chin St, through the center of the Air National Guard Base Exchange, one road east of the entrance road Hampshire Blvd. Chin St. sparked my interest, so I started looking for clues about its origin and the other streets’ names that are uniquely within the base. I noticed that all the north-south streets in the base (except Hampshire Blvd) start with “C”. Oddly, the east-west streets seem to be Irish surnames, except Johnson.
If anyone knows if there’s a reason for these patterns, on this base or military bases in general (pun intended), I’d be curious to know! I’m hoping “Chin”, like all the street names, were distinguished American veterans or people significant to the base or Oregon.
Also, assuming the date is correct, I’m guessing this is mid summer, just a few months shy of the our big famous wind storm–no sign of any damage or debris piles.
Boy I wish that picture showed a little more of the North side.
I flew out of PDX to ORD in Chicago during the summer of 1964 on a United flight that took off at 11 PM. The plane was divided into 3 sections-First Class-Standard and Coach. I was the only passenger in Standard, so the stewardess moved me to First Class which only had one couple who slept all the way. I stayed 2 weeks in Chicago before my return flight.
page 2 of the linked efiles folder has several more shots for context
…and for those of you bored with all of the “what type of car is that” comments, wait until people start digging through those pics and trying to identify planes! boy howdy portland had some interesting flying machines parked on the margins.
Vintage Portland 
That must be the end of 82nd in the upper left corner coming in at an angle, but what street would it have run along the south side of the airport? Did Alderwood run straight through at some point?
I’d love to see some photos from the inside of PDX in 1962!
Here’s an attempt to provide a link to a 2D aerial view off Google Maps:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Portland+International+Airport/@45.5981975,-122.5908885,1151a,35y,180h,39.08t/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x5495a0aa74dc20d1:0x5bda7693380e5c3d!8m2!3d45.5897694!4d-122.5950942?hl=en&authuser=0
igor: I think that’s a runway along the south edge of the airport. 82nd is probably to the left, out of frame. The angled street in the upper left is probably one of the streets in the national guard base. The buildings in upper right are now cargo flight services
Igor what you are seeing is not the end of 82nd, but is the Portland US Air Force Base. In the 60’s. A neighbor was a Air Force fighter pilot flying the F-102 which are seen in the upper right portion of the photo. The pilots son and I were only a year apart in age and we often went to the airbase with his father and got up close with the planes and choppers, and I recall we visited the officers club.
Anyone recognize the airline tail insignia? There appears to be three different ones. I think the angled slash with the text through it is United but I can’t find the rest. I see only one jet (707 or DC-8).
I suspect the jet is from Continental Airlines which served Portland at that time.
mb—-Oregonlive on Nov. 20, 2018 has a story that will give you a look inside the early airport terminal. Google “Holiday travel flashback: How Portland International airport..”
Here’s a 3D look at PDX today from the same perspective (might want to copy and open in a separate tab so you can compare):
https://goo.gl/maps/yFjkvNcHgWj6VtgG6
Directly above PDX Terminal in the VP pic, you can literally see the crews constructing the huge cement pad in upper-center that is there today. With that as a reference, I believe the road in question is Chin St, through the center of the Air National Guard Base Exchange, one road east of the entrance road Hampshire Blvd. Chin St. sparked my interest, so I started looking for clues about its origin and the other streets’ names that are uniquely within the base. I noticed that all the north-south streets in the base (except Hampshire Blvd) start with “C”. Oddly, the east-west streets seem to be Irish surnames, except Johnson.
If anyone knows if there’s a reason for these patterns, on this base or military bases in general (pun intended), I’d be curious to know! I’m hoping “Chin”, like all the street names, were distinguished American veterans or people significant to the base or Oregon.
Also, assuming the date is correct, I’m guessing this is mid summer, just a few months shy of the our big famous wind storm–no sign of any damage or debris piles.
Boy I wish that picture showed a little more of the North side.
I flew out of PDX to ORD in Chicago during the summer of 1964 on a United flight that took off at 11 PM. The plane was divided into 3 sections-First Class-Standard and Coach. I was the only passenger in Standard, so the stewardess moved me to First Class which only had one couple who slept all the way. I stayed 2 weeks in Chicago before my return flight.
page 2 of the linked efiles folder has several more shots for context
…and for those of you bored with all of the “what type of car is that” comments, wait until people start digging through those pics and trying to identify planes! boy howdy portland had some interesting flying machines parked on the margins.