A. B. McMullen: The “Flying Farmer” who transformed Florida’s aviation landscape
Former barnstormer becomes the State’s first Director of Aviation
Long overdue recognition is given to Florida airport planner
In December 2004, Col. Alexis B. McMullen was posthumously inducted into the Florida Aviation Hall of Fame. It was long overdue recognition for the architect of an airport building campaign that, in the 1930s, transformed Florida’s aviation landscape.
During the Great Depression, federal relief programs were used to build roads and bridges across the country. In Florida, they were also used to build airports. By an Act of the 1933 Florida legislature, a Division of Aviation was created under the State Roads Department and McMullen was appointed to direct it.
But that’s not where McMullen’s story in Florida began.
Flew with Mabel Cody
After training as a pilot in the military during World War I, like so many other aviators of his day, when the war ended McMullen toured as a barnstormer. In the early 1920’s in Florida, he became associated with Mabel Cody’s Flying Circus, where he billed himself as “The Flying Farmer,” a nod to his Iowa roots. He also worked in aerial photography and filming.
Helps develop Tampa’s Drew Field
In 1925, he established the McMullen Aircraft Corporation, headquartered in Tampa, with branch offices in Jacksonville, Gainesville, and Atlanta. Over the next few years, he operated flying‑school systems in two states and built several airports, including overseeing the planning and construction of Drew Field—today known as Tampa International Airport. His presence at Drew Field, where he operated one of his flying schools and was the local representative for Travelair aircraft, was so significant that locals are reported to have called it “McMullen Airport.” Facilities occupied there included a two-story corrugated steel hangar with space for the McMullen Aircraft offices and a lunchroom. An open shed served as a shop where the company built two airplanes.
Sadly, a string of setbacks derailed the effort to become an aircraft manufacturer. A mysterious hangar fire destroyed every plane the company owned, including its two prototypes, and the family lost its savings when a Tampa bank failed amid the broader economic crash of 1929.
At left: Tampa Times, April 13, 1929
Airport expansion program becomes a model for the country
After being appointed Florida’ first Director of Aviation in 1933, McMullen went to work fast.
Using New Deal programs like the CWA and FERA, he embarked on a statewide campaign. More than 120 airports were built or improved within the first three years of the operation, creating a model aviation system for the state that was admired nationwide. Standardized fields, rooftop navigation markers, and roadside signs made flying safer and more practical than ever before.
As one aviation historian put it, he “went around with a bunch of guys with bulldozers and tents—and eventually every Tom, Dick and Harry had an airport.” It was a system that was eventually to be adopted and incorporated by Navy Seabees during World War II.
Illustrious career mirrors the arc of Twentieth Century aviation
McMullen’s success led to national roles in Washington and beyond. He was appointed chair of the Interdepartmental Air Traffic Control Board, whose members represented the Army, Navy, Civil Aeronautics Board, and Civil Aeronautics Administration, and which supervised the use of airports and airspace throughout the United States and its possessions. During the Second World War, he initially commanded the operation of the 36th Street Army Air Base in Miami before being transferred overseas to Cazes air base in Casablanca, where he ran the Air Transport Command’s North African “Hub”—overseeing operations to Europe, Russia, Middle and Far East — a critical component of the Allied war effort. He was awarded the Legion of Merit for his service.
After retiring from the U.S. Air Force in 1947 with the rank of colonel, McMullen continued to influence aviation as a national leader, including more than two decades serving as the executive vice president, secretary and manager of the National Association of State Aviation Officials until his second retirement in 1970.
From a self-styled “Flying Farmer” to the architect of a statewide airport network—and later a commander of global wartime air operations—McMullen’s career traced the arc of aviation itself in the first half of the twentieth century.