Dr. John Donald Hull, affectionately known as “Doc”, founder of Hull Airport, now Sugar Land Municipal Airport, passed away on January 11, 1997.
His love for aviation began in Nashville, Georgia, where he learned to fly at the age of eleven. At age sixteen he ferried WWII fighter aircraft for the war effort.
In 1949, he received his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, where he met his wife, Virginia “Jenny” Taylor.
Doc and Jenny moved to Houston in 1949. He completed a teaching fellowship at the University of Texas Dental School in 1950. As an oral surgeon, his practice included providing trauma care at Houston area hospitals and developing the dental program for the Texas Department of Corrections (TDC), Southern Region. He arranged for donations of dental equipment and instruments for TDC while training inmates to be surgical assistants. He spent countless evenings and weekends commuting across Southeast Texas to provide dental care at prison units. Doc donated his services for several years until TDC included dental care in their budget. He continued an eighteen year affiliation with TDC while concurrently serving The Army Dental Corps and Army Reserve, where he attained the rank of Colonel.
During the early years of his dental practice Doc operated aircraft out of South Houston Airport and Sam Houston Airport until the development of Houston forced their closings. It was then that he decided to build an airport that he vowed would never close. One day in 1952 he landed his biplane in a cow pasture near Sugar Land. With a loan from a friend he purchased the property, borrowed a motor grader, and personally built the first runway. To advertise the opening of Hull Field, he offered a prize for the first airplane to land. To further develop the airport, he founded “Hull Aviation”, a fixed base operation that included aircraft sales, refueling, maintenance, a paint shop, and a school of aviation. In addition to managing the business, he was a flight instructor, a Federal Aviation flight examiner, and a licensed aircraft mechanic and inspector. Doc’s oral surgery practice played a major role in supporting the growth of Hull Field.
In his maintenance facility, Doc and his mechanics restored WWII aircraft. His vintage aircraft interest took him to Central America, where he acquired six P-51 Mustang WWII fighter planes from the Guatemalan Air Force and licensed them for civilian use in the United States. Other restoration projects included a Bell P-39, a British Spitfire, and a rare Bell P-63 King Cobra for the Confederate Air Force. Doc was an ardent supporter of the Confederate Air Force (C.A.F.) during its formative years, providing aircraft maintenance support and piloting various aircraft in C.A.F. air shows.
In the late 1970’s Doc traded land with TDC and expanded his runway to 4400 feet. In 1982, after years of negotiations with the State of Texas, he purchased land from TDC and constructed new terminal and hangar facilities. He completed his airport expansion in 1986 with construction of an 8000 ft runway and instrument landing system.
Doc gave his time and financial support to many community organizations. His support of the community extended to law enforcement. He was named Citizen of the Year by the Fort Bend 100 Club. He was a co-founder of the Fort Bend Economic Development Council. His airport expansion in the 1980’s was the deciding factor for many corporations to locate their facilities in Fort Bend County.
Doc sold his airport to the city of Sugar Land and retired in 1990. He continued to spend his afternoons at the airport flying his vintage biplane and visiting with his friends and fellow aviators. Doc loved his airport.
Doctor John Donald Hull is survived by daughters Leilani Gail Hull, Mary Donna Hull, son John Donald Hull, Jr., cousin Marguerite Ostermann Quagliano, and nephews Ronald Colby and Donald Colby.
An inscription on a gift from Colonel Dwight Glen reads, ”To Colonel Don Hull, Aviator and Gentleman of the First Order and One of the Last ‘Good Old Boys’ of the Great State of Texas.”
Don Hull will be missed by many. He has left a great legacy for Texas aviation–not only because of the airport he built and nurtured, but for his love of aviation.