He was known as the "Father of Louisville Aviation", and Bowman Field was named in his honor. His interest in aviation began during WWI and in May 1920 he sublet 50 acres of a site which aviators had been using for several years for takeoffs and landings. There he formed an aviation business, beginning with a Canadian Jenny.
When he died in 1943, the Louisville Courier-Journal noted his accomplishments: "The huge airport bears his name because literally, by the power of persistence and persuasion, he put it there. He saw the importance of Louisville's becoming a spot on the then-trackless air map while many of his fellow citizens still regarded air travel as a whim of experimenters.