It was named for U.S. Army Air Corps Lieutenant Cyrus Bettis following his fatal accident on Jack's Mountain near Bellefonte, Pennsylvania in 1926.
Initially a grass strip in a meadow established by local investors Barr Peat, Clifford A.
Changing hands several times, it was operated by the Pittsburgh-McKeesport Airport Corporation.
During World War II PIA operated under government contracts, delivering training for the military.
Sold to Westinghouse in January 1949, the field was closed and redeveloped, becoming the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory.