Morrison Field
Morrison Field was a military air base and civilian airfield located in West Palm Beach, Florida, that played a significant role in both the early development of aviation in Palm Beach County and the United States war effort during World War II. Opened in 1936 and named in honor of Grace K. Morrison, a county airfield pioneer who contributed to the early planning and organizing of local aviation infrastructure, the field evolved from a modest civilian facility into a fully operational military staging base. Today, the site is recognized as Palm Beach International Airport (PBI), one of the region's primary commercial aviation hubs, making Morrison Field a direct ancestor of modern air travel in South Florida.
Origins and Naming
Morrison Field was established in 1936, marking the beginning of organized aviation infrastructure in the West Palm Beach area.[1] The field was named for Miss Grace K. Morrison, a figure credited with early planning and organizing efforts that helped bring a formal airfield to Palm Beach County.[2] The dedication of the field in her honor reflected a recognition of her contributions at a time when civilian aviation was still a relatively young industry in the United States.
Grace K. Morrison's involvement in the development of regional aviation represented a broader national trend in the 1920s and 1930s, during which local advocates and civic boosters worked to attract airports and airfields to their communities. The decision to name the facility after her upon its opening in 1936 distinguished Morrison Field as a site tied not only to military and commercial purposes, but also to the civic history of Palm Beach County.[3]
World War II Military Operations
The outbreak of World War II transformed Morrison Field from a regional civilian airfield into a significant military installation. As the United States expanded its armed forces and air capabilities in the early 1940s, Morrison Field was repurposed as an Air Corps staging base, used to prepare aircraft and personnel for deployment.[4] The base became home to fighter planes and medium bombers, and by the summer of 1941, the field was actively hosting aircraft and conducting daily military training.
Contemporary reporting from July 1941 noted that Morrison Field had ten P-35 aircraft, three P-40s, and three medium bombers stationed at the base, and that daily classes in Morse code were being conducted for personnel.[5] These details paint a picture of a base in active operational development, training airmen in both aircraft operation and the communication skills essential to wartime coordination.
The P-35, manufactured by Seversky Aircraft, was a single-seat fighter that had been in service since the late 1930s, while the P-40 — produced by Curtiss-Wright — was among the most widely deployed American fighter aircraft of the early war period. The presence of both aircraft types at Morrison Field in mid-1941 reflects the transitional nature of American military aviation at that moment, as older aircraft were still being operated alongside newer models in training and staging capacities.
Beyond aircraft operations, Morrison Field served as a site of technological innovation. Lester Orcutt, who would later become known for developing a low-level bombsight, designed the instrument while stationed at the Air Corps staging base at Morrison Field in Florida. Orcutt, who later organized and commanded operations as a retired colonel, thus ties the field to a notable chapter in the history of American aerial weapons development during the war.[6]
Notable Wartime Incidents
Like any large military installation, Morrison Field was not immune to the personal dramas and tragedies that accompany wartime service. In July 1941, the base received national attention when Technical Sergeant Joseph W. Peck, 38 years old, was reported missing along with $600 belonging to his air base squadron. The case drew further attention when Peck was subsequently found dead of a pistol shot, bringing an abrupt and tragic end to what had begun as a military financial investigation.[7]
While the incident involving Sergeant Peck was ultimately a personal tragedy rather than a matter of military significance, its coverage in the national press at the time underscores the degree to which Morrison Field had become a recognizable name in American public life by 1941. The base's activities, personnel, and day-to-day events were considered newsworthy to readers across the country.
Wartime Documents and Historical Memory
The wartime history of Morrison Field has been preserved in part through private collections and historical organizations. Documents connected to the base, including World War II promotion papers and related military records, have been shared through historical groups focused on Florida history, providing a window into the administrative and personnel dimensions of the base's operations.[8]
These artifacts serve as primary source material for researchers and historians studying the role that Florida military installations played in the broader context of American mobilization during World War II. Florida's geographic position made it strategically valuable during the conflict, with its proximity to the Caribbean, Central America, and Atlantic shipping lanes giving bases like Morrison Field an outsized logistical importance.
The Museum of Florida History has noted that Morrison Field was dedicated in honor of Grace K. Morrison, reinforcing the connection between the field's civilian origins and its wartime identity.[9] This institutional recognition reflects the importance that Florida historical communities have placed on preserving the memory of the field's founding figures alongside its military legacy.
Transition to Palm Beach International Airport
Following the conclusion of World War II, Morrison Field underwent the transition that characterized many American military airfields of the era: conversion to civilian aviation use. The field that had served as a staging base for military aircraft and personnel was gradually transformed into what is now known as Palm Beach International Airport, designated by the IATA code PBI.[10]
This transition was part of a national pattern in which the federal government, having invested heavily in airfield construction and expansion during the war, transferred or repurposed many of those facilities for commercial and general aviation use in the postwar period. In the case of Morrison Field, the infrastructure built up during the military era provided a foundation upon which civilian aviation services could be developed and expanded.
Today, Palm Beach International Airport serves the greater West Palm Beach metropolitan area, connecting the region to domestic and international destinations. The airport's official history acknowledges that PBI began in 1936 as Morrison Field, providing an institutional continuity that links the modern commercial facility directly to its origins as a county airfield named for a local aviation advocate.[11]
Legacy
The legacy of Morrison Field is multifaceted. As a civilian airfield, it represented the ambitions of Palm Beach County residents and officials who sought to participate in the early aviation age and to connect their community to the broader national air transportation network. As a military installation, it contributed to the training, staging, and technological development activities that supported the American war effort in the early years of World War II. As the predecessor to a modern international airport, it established a physical and institutional foundation that continues to serve the region.
The name of Grace K. Morrison, embedded in the field's original designation, connects the site to a broader story about the role of civic advocates — particularly women — in shaping local infrastructure during the interwar period. Her recognition at the time of the field's 1936 opening stands as a historical marker of the contribution that individual advocates made to the development of American aviation outside of the major metropolitan centers.
The wartime activities at the field — including aircraft operations, Morse code training, weapons development, and the daily routines of military personnel — left behind a documentary record that historians continue to examine. The field's history, from its 1936 dedication through its wartime service to its postwar transformation, offers a concentrated example of how a single site can embody multiple layers of American history within a relatively short span of time.
Morrison Field's story is ultimately the story of West Palm Beach itself during a transformative period: a community building its infrastructure, responding to national crisis, and emerging from wartime with new capabilities and a new direction. The airport that stands on that ground today is a direct descendant of that history, carrying forward a legacy that began with a county pioneer and a small airfield on the edge of the Florida coast.