Who is Dale Mabry?

When I lived in Detroit, I grew infatuated with it’s history. It started when I was driving on the John C. Lodge Freeway, a decaying vein pumping workers back into the heart of the decaying city, and back out when the last bell rings. After finding out it was named after a prolific mayor of Detroit’s golden era, I began researching a lot of street and building names to see the origins of Woodward, Greektown and other areas.

This same infatuation stuck with me when I moved to Las Vegas, and then New Orleans. When I moved to Lakeland, I had no interest in the history. It just seemed like a place that didn’t matter, and thus the history didn’t matter. But Tampa is different.

While the rich history of Ybor is what drew me to move here, the road names are again a point of historic interest. So I ask the question. Who is Dale Mabry and why does he get a road?

Interestingly enough, he was an airship pilot and captain in the United States Army. Captain Mabry died piloting the Army airship Roma, a dirigible he was testing, when it crashed in Norfolk, Virginia on February 21, 1922. The event marked the greatest disaster in American aeronautics up to that time.

Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa, Florida is named for him. It was initially constructed to connect MacDill Air Force Base with Drew Field Municipal Airport. It is a major roadway through Hillsborough County. Landmarks on his road include Hillsborough Community College, Raymond James Stadium, and George M. Steinbrenner Field.[1]

Dale Mabry Municipal Airport in Tallahassee, Florida, that city’s first airport, is also named after him. The original Tallahassee Airport location was on Dale Mabry Field, a WWII Army Aircorps flight training facility. There is a Dale Mabry Elementary school named after him in Tampa, Fl.

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