Stephanie Burt Williams

In June of 1919, two Army officers from what was then Camp Bragg, at Fayetteville, landed their Curtiss biplane on an alfalfa field outside Winston-Salem. They were scouting for pilots and potential airfields, and the rich, rolling land of central North Carolina seemed ideal. At that time, few people in Winston-Salem had ever seen an airplane, much less traveled in one.

That brief visit by Sherman and Saunders, the two pilots, prompted local government officials to buy land and build a sizable, well-appointed airfield near the Old Kernsville Road, between the east side of the city and the village of Kernsville. It was named Maynard Field.

Tom Davis, a Winston-Salem native, had loved aviation from that day in June of 1919, and he pursued it for the rest of his life. He had an amateur pilot’s license before he received his high school diploma, having accumulated 25 hours of flying time. In Arizona, he earned a commercial pilot’s license before making his way back to his Hometown at the age of 21.

At the same time, Lewin S. McGinnis founded Camel City Flying Service, which functioned as the fixed-base operator at what was then Miller Municipal Airport in Winston-Salem (eventually Smith Reynolds Airport). McGinnis had financial support from Dick Reynolds, who in 1927 had founded Reynolds Airways.

When Davis returned to Winston-Salem, he joined up with these two gentlemen. Davis provided the tone, pace and character of the fledgling company and continued to do so for almost 50 years. These three men created the base of what became a bustling industry in the triad area of North Carolina. Piedmont Aviation was formed.

The staff bonded like a family and made customer service a priority. Tom Davis bought control of the company in 1940 and began acquiring key staff while handling leadership rivals and personnel reassignments. But commercial flight was still a dream.