Aggie Brooks
In Feb. 2017, Bob Goode was the focus of an AOPA News & Media article, “Airport Owner: Bob Goode: He Built A Texas Airport And Pilots Came,” written by Phil Scott.
When Bob Goode was growing up in Star, Texas, west of Waco, he was fascinated by airplanes.
“I always chased all the airplanes,” he says. “I don’t know. It was just one of those natural things.”
So years later, it was natural for the Bell Helicopter engineer to have his own plane and build a landing strip and hangar on land he and his wife, Norma, had bought near Davis and Southlake Boulevards. Within weeks, other pilots wanted to hangar their planes there, and after a few years, his project turned into Goode Airport (airport identifier 23F), the only public-use airfield in Southlake.
What began as the private Flying G Airfield first appeared on the 1963 Tarrant County Highway map and had a single N/S grass runway, according to the website Abandoned and Little-Known Airfields. By the 1970s, it had two closely aligned grass runways on an extremely tight parcel of land – the entire property was a mere 500 feet wide.
Bob used his retirement from Bell to pave one runway and build more hangars on the other. In its heyday, Goode Airport housed 150 airplanes, several aviation-related businesses and a flight school. Bob, a certified Airframe, Powerplant and Inspection Authorization mechanic, provided aircraft maintenance and inspections to area pilots.
By the 1990s, Goode Airport included 23 hangars but was falling victim to residential growth and high taxes. “Hey you guys, stop doing houses on these landing and takeoff glide paths,” he told the Southlake city council.
In 1991, Bob’s son Stephen bought 434 acres in Canton. While giving his dad a tour of the property, Bob pointed out, “This is where the runway could go.”
By 1996, Bob had sold most of his Southlake property to Toll Brothers, which developed the Southlake Woods subdivision. Bob and his wife moved to Canton and opened the private Goode Field with their son.
At age 85, Bob earned his sailplane rating and flew gliders until he was 95. Southlake’s Goode Airport was demolished in 2005, and in May 2021, Bob Goode passed away at age 98.
Canton’s Goode Field (airport identifier TX43) remains a private airfield, owned and managed by Stephen, now a retired American Airlines captain.