The Legacy of Oliver 'Lafe' Parks
On September 25, 1927, Oliver “Lafe” Parks took to the air for a joyride in his land swallow.
Parks quickly lost control of the aircraft and crashed near where St. Louis Lambert International Airport stands today. He landed near a Jesuit seminary, sustaining a broken back, leg and jaw and losing an eye. Through months of recovery, he reflected on the need for instruction for all aviators. Parks emerged from the experience with a new resolve — he would keep the next generation of pilots safe. That same year, he founded the Parks Air College, which became America’s first federally certified school of aviation.
Prospective pilots flocked to learn from him and, unbeknownst to Parks, hundreds more would soon follow. The World War II era transformed Parks Air College into a valuable training ground. The College began training one out of every 10 U.S. Army Air Corps pilots, plus thousands of aircraft mechanics. As wartime faded to normalcy, Parks realized that knowing how to fly was not enough. His students needed a comprehensive academic experience.
In 1946, he officially donated his aviation school to Saint Louis University — honoring the Jesuit help he received after his crash. The University helped expand his work, adding new programs, such as aircraft maintenance management, avionics engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering and civil engineering.
Today, the Oliver L. Parks Department of Aviation Science resides on SLU’s campus in McDonnell Douglas Hall. With each new class that takes to the skies, faculty and staff honor the memory of Oliver Parks through personable yet cutting-edge instruction.