This oft-repeated description of boundless opportunity for success and accomplishment may be as old as the sky itself, yet is apt for this organization and publication.
The future of Authentic Texas is through the stratosphere, and all of the Heritage Trail Regions are set for takeoff as travelers make their plans to visit.
This edition highlights the history of aviation in Texas.
Aviation would not be where it is without Texas. Dating back to the military’s use of several locations around the state at the onset of the Great War, or to the lunar landing overseen at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Texas and Texans were on the forefront of all things that fly.
In this edition, Authentic Texas’s Yonderings will introduce you to a member of the Ninety-Nines, a female pilots’ organization founded in 1929 with 99 women pilots and still active today, and the Stanzel Museum for Model Aircraft in Schulenberg, which brings out the engineer in all of us.
Readers will enjoy our Texas icon, the honorary Air Force of Texas, the Commemorative Air Force. You’ll have a chance to appreciate a World War II airshow and reenactment event in Dallas, and perhaps be sufficiently intrigued to go, yourself. As for our Authentic Place of this issue, chances are you’ve been there if you’ve ever taken a flight on Southwest Airlines: it’s the historic Love Field. But the airport’s unique history may surprise you.
The Sky Is the Limit
Although not every feature in a given edition follows the issue’s main theme, we had more than enough stories this time around to fill the magazine’s pages. In each issue, our Authentic Person embodies the state’s heritage. Dorothy Ann Smith Lucas represents Texas as well as the Greatest Generation. A member of the U.S. Army’s Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASP) during World War II, she was one of eleven hundred females tasked with non-combat flying services during wartime. Authentic Texas takes you there, as she reflects on her years of service more than seventy years ago.
Trail Drives—brief travel features with a common thread—will take you on the road to West Texas WWII air museums, and civilian airshows held in your local Heritage Trail Region. (Don’t know which region you’re in, or traveling to? Consult the detailed map at www. TexasTimeTravel.com.)
I would like to offer my congratulations and welcome aboard to our new publishing team, partners, and CEO. With big dreams come big change—and Authentic Texas is up to the challenge.
We’re excited about this publication and hope it sends you flying out this spring to visit and learn about Texas aviation!
Randall Kinzie
LLC manager, Texas Mountain Trail Region; hotelier, Fort Davis, Texas
Texas Heritage Trail Regions
The Texas Heritage Trails program is based on 10 scenic driving trails created in 1968 by Gov. John Connally and the Texas Highway Department (now the Texas Department of Transportation) as a tool for visitors to explore the Lone Star State. The trails were established in conjunction with HemisFair, an international expo that commemorated the 250th anniversary of the founding of San Antonio.
In 1997, the State Legislature charged the Texas Historical Commission with creating a statewide heritage tourism program. The THC responded with a program based on local, regional and state partnerships, centered on the 10 driving trails. Today, each trail region is a nonprofit organization governed by a regional board of directors that supports educational and preservation efforts and facilitates community development through heritage tourism.
FEATURES
34
WASP Dorothy Ann Smith Lucas blazed a high trail over Texas during World War II—and in 2010 was one of 300 living WASP to be presented with the Congressional Gold Medal
Trace the history of Dallas’s Love Field from the fallen airman for whom it was named to becoming the hub of Southwest’s LUV and one of the busiest airports in the world
Three influential decision makers brought the T-6 Texan Trainer aircraft to life in the Lone Star State, where more than 10,000 were manufactured during World War II
DOROTHY ANN SMITH LUCAS, page
CONTRIBUTORS
MEET SOME OF THE CONTENT CREATORS whose works appear in the Spring 2020 Authentic Texas. And if you have comments about the stories in this issue— or suggestions for a destination or theme you’d like to see in the future—email us at authentictexas@gmail.com. —The Editors
Former frequent flier ERIC MILLER always looks for interesting things to do in airport terminals.
GANSON earned the Ph.D. in history from the University of Texas at Austin in 1994. She specializes in two fields of study, Latin American history and aviation history, at Florida Atlanta University.
BOB MCCULLOUGH lives near Camp Verde and frequently contributes to regional and national magazines. He’s also communications director for Morgan’s Wonderland in San Antonio, the world’s first theme park designed with special-needs individuals of all ages in mind.
ANDREA BAREFIELD is executive director of the Texas Brazos Trail Region, and serves as Mayor Pro Tem, District 1, for the City of Waco.
LORETA FULTON is a freelance writer in Abilene.
BILL MORRIS is director of the Fort Worth Aviation Museum.
BRENDA KIZZIAR serves on the boards of the Ward County Historical Commission and the Texas Pecos Trail Region. As a former teacher and now librarian, she has a passion for West Texas history, especially when it is close to home.
Dallas resident BRUCE A. BLEAKLEY, a retired Air Force pilot and former director of aero-themed museums in San Diego and Dallas, has written four books about the history of aviation in North Texas.
MIKE CARLISLE is secretary of the Texas Tropical Trail Region, with an avid interest in ships, planes, trains, and automobiles.
Cover Illustration by ERIC CASH, a Dallas based Commercial Artist. Known for many styles, Cash has worked in the design/illustration industry for over 30 years, having success with many styles and genres, with work ranging from book covers to editorials to portraits. In addition to his commercial work, he has paintings in homes and galleries across the country. He is represented by ThoseThreeReps.com
PUBLISHER
Margaret Hoogstra
Director@AuthenticTexas.com
ADVERTISING
Jim Stone
Sales@AuthenticTexas.com
MANAGING EDITOR
Barbara Brannon
Editor@AuthenticTexas.com
DESIGN DIRECTOR
Troy Myatt
SENIOR ART DIRECTOR
Steven Lyons
CONTRIBUTORS
Bruce A. Bleakley, Tim Chandler, Susan Floyd, Loretta Fulton, Barbara Ganson, Rob Hodges, Brenda Kissko, Brenda Kizziar, Bob McCullough, Eric Miller, Bill Morris, Andy Rhodes, H. A. Tuck, Jr.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Texas Brazos Trail Region
Coleman Hampton, LLC Manager
Andrea Barefield, Executive Director
Texas Forts Trail Region
Jeff Salmon, LLC Manager
Tammie Virden, Executive Director
Texas Lakes Trail Region
Patty Bushart, LLC Manager
Jill Campbell Jordan, Executive Director
Texas Mountain Trail Region
Randall Kinzie, LLC Manager
Wendy Little, Executive Director
Texas Pecos Trail Region
Bill Simon, LLC Manager
Melissa Hagins, Executive Director
Texas Plains Trail Region
Allison Kendrick, Executive Director
Texas Tropical Trail Region
Mike Carlisle, LLC Manager
Nancy Deviney, Executive Director
Texas Heritage Trails LLC 3702 Loop 322 Abilene, TX 79602 AuthenticTexas.com (325) 660-6774 Texas Heritage Trails LLC is owned and operated by seven nonprofit heritage trails organizations.
BRENDA KISSKO is a native Texan who writes about nature, travel, and our relationship with land. BrendaKissko.com.
BARBARA
DEPARTMENTS
LOCAL LIFE LEGACY
A survey of Lone Star flight at 30,000 feet, plus a few close-up flyovers
The Commemorative Air Force’s Ties to
Born in the hamlet of Fluvanna, she’s been honored with the renaming of her native county’s airport terminal
All Bessie Coleman’s brother had to do was tell her, “You can’t”
The Stanzel brothers of Shulenberg made models that really flew
Terrell’s School
for
How
Take a trip back in time touring the West Texas World War II Museums
From vintage warbirds to the newest technology, aviation spectacles thrill fans of all ages
Get in and go, or just enjoy the glow
You may have flown through AMA, DAL, HOU, or SAT—and never appreciated their backstories
Gilligan or Corrigan, you can’t really go wrong here
Granny and Nan started dishing them up in Andrews in 1969
The 1894 courthouse in Karnes City, southeast of San Antonio, has garnered awards for its 2018 restoration
A world-class sailplane pilot flies the “dry line”
The “Flying Schoolmarm” of San Antonio taught the guys how to fly
Back in business after Hurricane Harvey, the legendary Port A outfit helps teach others the craft
Easter eve 2020 will mark seven continuous decades of this community performance
In 1985, veteran Main Street booster Anice Read brought downtowns back to the center of community vitality
AVIATION
IN TEXAS
Courage, Perseverance, and Innovation
by Barbara Ganson
The year 2020 represents 110 years of powered flight in the Lone Star State.
Over the past century, Texas has grown to become a world leader in the aerospace industry. The state’s complex and profound history of aviation, intertwined as it is with those of other regions and nations, involves every facet of air and space flight. It’s a story Dr. Barbara Ganson has related in detail in Texas Takes Wing: A Century of Flight in the Lone Star State (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2014). Here, we’ve asked her to touch on a few high spots, to give our readers a framework for understanding more about the destinations and personalities described in this issue.
Follow along as we meet inventors, pilots, manufacturers, instructors, business leaders, and other visionaries of civilian and military aviation.
Texans Pioneered new technologies and revolutionized air travel. Texans established several of the country’s major airports, airlines, manufactured and designed extraordinary aircraft, raced across America, circumnavigated the world, traveled in space, and even walked on the moon. Texas has far more fixed-based operators (FBOs)— airport aeronautical services—than nearly any other state in the union and is the site of six major international airports, Austin-Bergstrom (KAUS), Dallas/Fort Worth (KDFW), Dallas Love Field (KDAL), George Bush Houston Intercontinental (KIAH), Houston Hobby (KHOU), and San Antonio International (KSAT).
Texas is also the home of more major U.S. airlines than any other state in the country. Texas has also been pivotal in military training, in aircraft manufacturing during wartime, and in defending national interests in peacetime, as well as in providing services for the agricultural industry and commercial, military, and general aviation. Bell Textron and American Eurocopter helicopters, built in Texas, have been perfected to perform search and rescue work, provide emergency medical transport services, control the nation’s borders, carry out military operations, serve the offshore petroleum industry, and deploy after natural disasters. The Air Tractor, built in Olney, Texas, is used throughout the world in agricultural aviation and has demonstrated success in fighting forest fires.
FLYING TAKES OFF IN TEXAS
On February 18, 1910, a crowd of some 3,500 aviation enthusiasts gathered at Aviation Camp in South Houston to observe French flyer Louis Paulhan. Onlookers cheered after he flew a Farman biplane for several minutes near the city. In the absence of documentation of flights by other aviators, Paulhan is credit with performing the first heavier-than-air powered flight in Texas.
“TEACH YOURSELF TO FLY”
As aviation gripped the public’s imagination across the country, the state of Texas became a primary center of military aviation training in the United States.
While teaching himself to maneuver the Wright flyer at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Lt. Benjamin D. Foulois made improvements in airplane safety and design. Originally from Connecticut, Foulois was sent to Fort Myer, Virginia, in 1909 to master the U. S. Army’s newly acquired Wright flyer. The lieutenant logged fifty-four minutes of training time with Wilbur Wright while there, but the plane was damaged before he could complete his solo flight.
The Army decided to transfer Foulois, the plane, and a group of mechanics to San Antonio. “Your orders are simple, Lieutenant,” General James Allen told Foulois. “You are to evaluate the airplane. Just take plenty of spare parts—and teach yourself to fly.”
On March 2, 1910, Foulois completed his first solo flight in the Wright flyer at Fort Sam, marking the first
military flight in Texas. He kept a logbook, or record, of his flights, noting his successes, failures, and improvements as he carried out his mission. “Much of my time at San Antonio’s storied Fort Sam Houston that spring was spent writing to Orville Wright, asking him how to execute basic maneuvers, how to avoid basic disasters-in short, how to fly an airplane. As far as I know, I am the only pilot in history who learned to fly by correspondence,” he wrote.
TEXANS JOIN THE WORLD WAR I AIR WAR
Even prior to America’s entry into the Great War in 1917, Texas aviators volunteered to fly for France as part of the Lafayette Escadrille,. while others, like the Stinson family, took on the responsibility of military flight training at home in San Antonio. After attending the West Texas Military Academy, Edgar Tobin (1896–1954) joined the Army Air Service during World War I. He first served with the 94th Aero Squadron with Eddie Rickenbacker and then the 103rd. He earned ace status after shooting down five aircraft and one observation balloon and was awarded the French Croix de Guerre and the Distinguished Flying Cross.
After the war, Tobin served as an assistant in charge of Kelly Field, San Antonio. He then established Tobin Aerial Surveys, which became the largest aerial mapping firm in the world.
AERIAL PERFORMERS OVER TEXAS SKIES
In the aftermath of World War I, pilots risked their lives introducing the airplane across America as aerial performers. Texan Ormer Locklear (1891–1920) thrilled crowds by creating a national craze of wing walking and performing daredevil stunts, including midair transfers from one plane to another. Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman (1892–1926), who grew up in cotton fields in northeast Texas, became one of the most famous barnstormers in the country. She was the first native Texas woman to earn a pilot’s license—
and the first licensed pilot of color in the world.
RACERS AND RECORD SETTERS
Across the nation during the interwar period, pilots captured the public’s attention by setting altitude, endurance, distance, and speed records. Thousands of people showed up at local airports simply to watch aviators take off and land. Aviation helped define how people thought and perceived themselves; the entire state, country, and the world began to look to the sky as the future.
Eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes (1905–1976) stands out as one of most important figures in the history of aviation during the twentieth century. Along with fellow Texan Wiley Post, Hughes set key records during the 1930s, as well as made notable contributions to development projects during
World War II, and to the avionics industry in the postwar era.
In 1933 Hughes had his engineers design a number of notable aircraft, including the H-1 Racer, the most meticulously built aircraft of its time, with its flawlessly smooth surfaces and innovative streamlined design. In 1935 Hughes set a landplane world speed record of 352 miles per hour in this plane, breaking the established record by a margin of 38 miles per hour. In 1937 he piloted the H-1 on a record-breaking transcontinental flight in seven hours and 28 minutes in an average of 327.1 miles per hour—a record that stood until 1946.
In July 1938, Hughes and his crew set a new record by flying a Lockheed 14 near the top of the world in three days, 19 hours. In New York City upon his return, Hughes received a hero’s welcome with a ticker-tape parade down
FIRST MILITARY FLIGHT was taken by Army Lt. Benjamin D. Foulois when he boarded the Signal Corps Aeroplane No. 1 and circled Fort Sam Houston’s MacArthur Parade Field in 1910. | Joint Base San Antonio
Broadway. Tens of thousands of fans showed up to greet him in Chicago and his native city of Houston.
TEXANS CONTRIBUTE TO ALLIED VICTORY IN WORLD WAR II
After the first World War, military airplanes were transformed from minor war machines to serious tactical instruments such as the B-24 Liberator and the B-17 Flying Fortress. World War I airplanes could damage a military camp, a house, or several buildings—but military craft of the mid-1930s could sink ships or annihilate entire cities. Airplanes became a threat that could determine the outcome of a global war. Texas served as a major training ground, not only for pilots in the U.S. Army Air Corps, but foreign cadets even before the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor.
DR. DORA STROTHER MCKEOWN, WASP 43-W-3 AND BELL ENGINEER
Dora Jean Dougherty Strother McKeown (1920–2013) was one of only two Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) selected by Col. Paul Tibbets— the Air Force commander who would later pilot the Enola Gay—to demonstrate the B-29 Superfortress. Born in 1920 in St. Paul, Minnesota, Dora Jean Dougherty grew up in Long Island, New York, and Winnetka, Illinois. She learned to fly in the Civilian Training Pilot Program in 1940 and in 1943 graduated in the third class of the WASP.
First assigned to the Air Transport Command at Dallas, Love Field, then to Camp Davis, North Carolina, she flew the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver on tow-target missions. Women pilots were used to encourage male military pilots to fly this large, intimidating bomber, under the
assumption that if a woman could fly this airplane, anyone could. Dougherty was checked out as pilot-in-command on a total of 23 different airplanes. She earned an airline transport rating with instrument and flight instructor ratings. Among many other accomplishments, Dougherty earned the PhD in aviation education from New York University in 1955 and set two world helicopter records in 1961.
LT. COL. WALTER L. MCCREARY, TUSKEGEE AIRMAN AND GERMAN POW
Black American pilots in Texas fought stereotypes and dealt with the challenges of diversity to help win the right to fly military aircraft during World War II. In July 1941, the Army Air Corps began to train a number of native Texan pilots and mechanics at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, in a program called the Tuskegee Experiment. Walter L. McCreary (1918–2015) was among the one thousand pilots who fought for his country, risking his life for freedom, at a time when African Americans lived under segregation and Jim Crow laws.
Born March 4, 1918, in San Antonio, McCreary was raised by his grandparents. He enrolled in Tuskegee, majoring in business administration and graduating in 1940.
In 1941 McCreary entered the Civilian Pilot Training Program. He soloed in a Piper J-3 Cub in late 1941, flew a Waco biplane, and earned his pilot’s license as a civilian. His military flight training as a cadet in the Tuskegee program began in August 1942. After nine months of training, he earned his military wings in March 1943 as a second lieutenant in the Tuskegee class of 43-C. He then did some operational training at Selfridge Field, Detroit, Michigan.
In January 1944 McCreary was sent to Italy, where he became part of the 100th fighter group and flew the P-39, P-47, and P-51. McCreary flew eightynine missions over France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Rumania, Greece,
WASP PILOT DORA
JEAN DOUGHERTY, third from left, lines up in front of B-29
“Ladybird.” | U.S. Air Force
WALTER L. McCREARY, center, in the cockpit, served as a pilot in the 332nd Fighter Group in World War II. | Courtesy of McCreary Family
Hungary, Rumania, and Yugoslavia. Although he flew some strafing missions in which he shot up Axis airplanes on the ground, McCreary mainly did his assigned job, flying escort to protect the bombers.
On October 14, 1944, McCreary was flying on his eighty-ninth mission, over Lake Balaton in Budapest, when he was shot down. After parachuting safely to the ground, he was turned over to the Germans, who put him on a train to Budapest. Contrary to expec -
Antonio will always be remembered for the distinction of being the first American to walk in space.
Born November 14, 1930, White earned a bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Military Academy and a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Michigan. Lieutenant White became a test pilot for the U.S. Air Force and in 1962 was selected as pilot for Gemini IV, a four-day earth-orbit mission.
Project Gemini served as the proving
tations, while in the U.S. blacks served in segregated units, the Germans held McCreary along with white officers in the Luftwaffe’s prisoner of war camp designated for airmen. McCreary would spend the rest of his wartime duty at Stalag Luft III along with some 10,000 British and American officers.
After the war, McCreary returned to San Antonio, working at Brooks and Kelly Fields in San Antonio in the top-secret U.S. Air Force Security Services and eventually retiring from the Air Force in 1963 as a lieutenant colonel.
A TEXAN WALKS IN SPACE
Nearly two dozen native Texans have joined the ranks of American astronauts since the dawn of the space age. Among them, Edward H. White II of San
ground for new technologies and developing the necessary skills for astronauts to walk on the lunar surface. During Gemini IV, the first space flight directed by Mission Control in Houston, White was tethered to the space capsule by a twenty-five-foot long “umbilical cord.” He performed his extravehicular activity (EVA) during the third revolution of the Gemini IV spacecraft, which orbited the earth 62 times.
White was later selected as command pilot for the Apollo I program. On January 27, 1967, a fire on the ground at the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, took the lives of the three Apollo I astronauts, Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Roger B. Chaffee, and White, who was just 36 years old. This tragic loss put the space program back at least two years and in jeopardy. Yet engineers at NASA
and other personnel persevered, sending the first men to the moon on July 20, 1969, within the time frame originally set by President John F. Kennedy.
TEXAS’S FUTURE OF FLIGHT
Visionaries in Texas aviation continue to look toward the future. Tomorrow’s airplanes will be more automated, carry more passengers and cargo, and travel the earth faster using newer green technology, particularly new composite materials, which will make the aircraft far more fuel efficient. New green technologies might also solve problems of the sonic boom, unacceptable greenhouse emissions, high operating costs, and noise.
According to state statistics from the Office of the Governor, aerospace and aviation directly employs over 130,000 Texas workers at 1,300 establishments. The state is home to fifteen active military bases, with more than 170,000 military personnel.
NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center is the hub for the world’s operations in outer space. And here on earth, Texas has 26 commercial airports serving 22 cities and a robust civil aviation culture.
SpaceX’s Brownsville facility is expected to create 300 jobs, pump $85 million in capital investment into the local economy, and serve as the nation’s first commercial rocket launch facility. Elsewhere in the state, one of the world’s largest helicopter repair facilities is located in Corpus Christi, while the cities of Waco, Amarillo, El Paso, Wichita Falls, McAllen, and Harlingen support manufacturing facilities for Fortune 500 aerospace companies.
Many aviators, aviation enthusiasts, and air travelers alike will continue to turn their heads toward the sky in hopes for greater convenience, comfort, entertainment, and with the expectation that perhaps more affordable space travel will become possible in the near future. If innovations of the past decades serve as a guide, the horizon of space flight for common humankind might be far closer to what we can imagine.
Astronaut Edward White II, pilot of the Gemini IV four-day
Earth-orbital mission, floats in the zero gravity of space outside the Gemini IV spacecraft. | Courtesy NASA
LOCAL
Features city lights yonder texas icon 34 28 22 18
Founded by Lloyd Nolen in Mercedes, Texas, the Commemorative Air Force has branched out to units around the globe
Bessie Coleman’s international fame began in Atlanta, Texas
Midland’s Army Air Field Museum showcases civil and military aviation
Distinctively Texan: The WASP program, Love Field, and the AT-6 Texan Trainer
Stories of the Sky
The Commemorative Air Force, The State Air Force of Texas
by Brenda Kissko
It’s one thing to read history in a book. It’s another to watch it play out before our eyes. Thousands of people from across the globe are preserving airplanes in order to protect our stories.
The Commemorative Air Force (CAF), founded in Texas and now headquartered in Dallas, acquires, restores, and conserves a collection of combat aircraft to safeguard the heritage of American military aviation. In 1989, the CAF became the official air force of Texas, and today comprises one of the largest private collections of flight-worthy historic aircraft in the world. The 174 aircraft currently in its fleet—known as the “CAF Ghost Squadron”—fly in air shows and events across the country to educate the public about the men and women who have flown and fought for America’s freedom. Around half of the CAF’s aircraft are located in the Lone Star State, further evidence that Texans care about preserving their history.
“We maintain this collection because we believe that they are a way to tell a story after our World War II veterans are all gone,” says Leah Block, vice president of marketing for the CAF. “They are magnificent examples of the American spirit—from the ingenuity of the engineering, to the need for everyone to come together to build the aircraft, to the brave soldiers who fought for freedom.”
The CAF was founded by Lloyd Nolen
in Mercedes, Texas. Nolen developed a love for flying at an early age. He soloed his first flight at age 16, in 1939. The following year he received his private pilot’s license. He badly wanted to join the U.S. Army Air Corps as a flight cadet but was turned away due to his poor eyesight. Instead, he became a flight instructor, training hundreds of WWII pilots. After the war, Nolen moved to the Rio Grande Valley, where he could fly planes as a crop duster year-round.
In 1957, Nolen pooled resources with a group of local ex-service pilots to purchase a P-51 Mustang—“Red Nose,” as they called it. This plane became the first in CAF’s collection and officially launched the organization. Their collection began to grow, and when they realized that the majority of the nearly 300,000 aircraft that America had produced for World War II had been destroyed, they set out on a mission to curate a complete collection of combat aircraft that could be flown together to tell the story of the war. Nolen passed away in 1991, but his legacy lives on, as do the many planes preserved by the CAF.
That initial small group has grown to 12,000 members spread across all 50 states in the U.S. as well as 28 foreign countries. Around a quarter of the CAF members live in Texas, more than any other state. Anyone interested in supporting the CAF’s mission is welcomed to
Museum, hangar with aircraft, events, and flight experiences
Lancaster: DFW Wing (972) 227-9119 / dfwwing.com Hangar with aircraft and flight experiences
Midland: High Sky Wing (432) 235-7007 / highskywing.org
Museum, hangar with aircraft, events, and flight experiences
San Antonio: Tex Hill Wing (803) 363-2121 / texhillwing.org Events and flight experiences
San Marcos: Central Texas Wing (512) 396-1943 / centraltexaswing.org / Museum, hangar with aircraft, events, and flight experiences. Home to “That’s All, Brother,” the C-47 that was the lead aircraft on the D-Day invasion
West Texas Wing sb2chelldiver.com
Photos Courtesy of the Commemorative Air Force
become a member.
The headquarters of the organization moved from Mercedes to Harlingen in 1968, to Midland in 1991, and then to Dallas in 2015. The CAF was originally called the Confederate Air Force, but in 2002 the members voted to change the name to Commemorative Air Force.
CAF members have formed “units” across the globe, grouping together to network with others interested in the cause and caring for the vintage aircraft operated by the organization. There are currently eighteen units in Texas, fifteen of which host events or have museums that are open for the public to visit. Major CAF air shows in Texas include CAF Wings Over Houston (October), CAF Wings Over Dallas (October), CAF AIRSHO in Midland (September), Corsicana Airsho (September), and the Bluebonnet Airshow in Burnet (September). Several CAF aircraft give rides to the public through the organization’s Living History Flight Experience program throughout the year.
CAF volunteer Elaine Webb serves as curator and education officer for the DFW Wing and historian for the WASP Squadron. She developed an interest in airplanes at age 5, when a crop duster landed in her family’s cotton field to refill his hopper. She later became acquainted with the CAF while visiting her parents in Harlingen in 1981.
“The aircraft of WWII tell a remark-
able story of enterprise, dedication, and patriotism,” Webb says. “The achievements of yesterday—as well as the sacrifices—can inspire us today and remind us that we do amazing things when we all work together for a common goal.”
For more information, CAF events and museums in Texas, visit commemorativeairforce.org.
Edith W. McKanna, Scurry County’s Pioneer Aviator
Snyder’s Air Terminal Renamed in 2019
by Loretta Fulton
Suddenly, the name Edith Whatley McKanna is big news again.
It was decades ago when McKanna, who grew up in the Scurry County community of Fluvanna, became the first woman in Texas to get a pilot’s license and to own her own plane. Her name was big again when she became a member of the Ninety-Nines, an organization of women pilots that formed in 1929 with Amelia Earhart as the first president. And, following service with
the Civil Air Patrol during World War II, McKanna again made a name for herself when she returned to Scurry County and organized the Imperial Oil Company. A 1949 Time magazine article referred to her as the “Lady in the Oil Patch.”
Now, McKanna’s name is news again, this time permanently. In October, the general aviation terminal at Winston Field in Snyder, seat of Scurry County, was renamed for McKanna. It became only the second air terminal in the Lone Star State to bear the name of a
DON’T MISS
Snyder Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center
2302 Ave. R Snyder, TX 79549 (325) 573-3558
info@snyderchamber.org snyderchamber.org
Scurry County Museum 6200 College Avenue (on the campus of Western Texas College) Snyder, TX 79549
Open 2–5 pm
Wednesday–Friday or by appointment (325) 573-6107 scurrycountymuseum.org
Winston Field
Edith W. McKanna Terminal
2757 Round Rock Ave. Snyder, TX 79549 (325) 573-1122
Open to the public; Snyder’s airport handles approximately 90 general aviation flights per month.
SNYDER
woman—after Barbara Jordan Terminal at Austin’s Bergstrom International Airport, named for the pathbreaking Congresswoman.
The same month, Snyder renamed its long-running White Buffalo Days festival “Edith W. McKanna Celebration.”
“Hopefully, her legacy holds on and becomes alive again,” said Kirsta Koennecke, first assistant in the Scurry County Auditor’s Office, who suggested honoring McKanna. “It’s kind of a buried piece of history nobody knows about.”
But now McKanna’s name will be affixed to the airport terminal in permanent lettering, said Scurry County Judge Dan Hicks, who participated in the October ceremony. Not only will the new signage honor McKanna, it might spark renewed interest in her history.
McKanna was born July 19, 1899, in McLennan County and moved with her family as a child to Scurry County. She died March 26, 1986, and is buried in the Fluvanna Cemetery.
Drew Bullard, chair of the Scurry
County Historical Commission and a lifetime resident of the county, recalled hearing McKanna’s name when he was growing up and later visiting McKanna’s ranch house when she would host an open house.
“She was just a person I knew,” Bullard said, not realizing her historical significance until later.
McKanna was heavily involved in the community, serving on the historical commission and numerous boards, including the board of the Scurry County Museum, where she now is featured in a section on the county’s oil history.
“One of the images of her is in front of her plane,” said Nicole DeGuzman, the museum’s executive director.
Interviews with “Scurryly Speaking,” a collection of newsletters about Scurry County history, tell of McKanna’s first flight in 1929 and then her decision to learn to fly herself. In time she logged over 3,000 flying hours, staying active as a pilot until 1968. She recalled in those interviews the hazards and excite -
ment of the nation’s early days of flying.
“We flew from dead reckoning from a road map in the days before navigation,” she told the interviewers.
McKanna was educated at Columbia University and was a member of Ikebana International, which promotes the Japanese art of flower arranging. McKanna paid for a Japanese garden in front of the county museum in tribute to that art form.
Coincidentally, McKanna isn’t the only West Texan in the Ninety-Nines organization for women pilots. Vera Dawn Walker, also a member, is buried in Cope Cemetery in Taylor County south of Abilene. Walker also was a pilot in the original National Women’s Air Derby in 1929. The race, featuring all women pilots, was dubbed the Powder Puff Derby by pundit Will Rogers; it’s a tradition that continues in the modern era as the Air Race Classic, a 2,400mile, four-day annual event. Though the race has never yet made a stop at Snyder’s airfield, perhaps now it will.
FEMALE FLIER In a day when the press referred to any woman pilot as “aviatrix,” airplane pilot Edith Whatley (later McKanna) of Fluvanna, Texas, signed up as a charter member of the ’99s organization of pioneering female fliers. She owner her own car and airplane. Above, top: During World War II, Whatley served in the Civil Air Patrol. Right: In her “Sunday best,” Whatley visited one of her Imperial Oil Company oil rigs. | Courtesy Scurry County Museum
The Spirit of “Queen Bess”
In Atlanta, Texas, Residents Follow Hometown Heroine’s Flight Path
by Andrea J. Barefield
You can almost hear the buzz of the propeller when you walk into the Atlanta Historical Museum in Atlanta, Texas, is the city that was the birthplace of the first female African American aviator, Bessie Coleman.
From the military-style uniform she would wear in her famous flights, to the scale model of her Curtiss Jenny bi-wing airplane, the Atlanta Historical Museum
helps you soar into the life of Bessie Coleman.
Coleman, who would become known to her many fans as “Queen Bess” or “Bessie the Brave,” was born January 26, 1892, to Susan and George Coleman and was the tenth of thirteen children. Raised from humble beginnings, she worked and saved to attend what is now known as Langston University in Oklahoma. Running out of funds, at the age of 23, however, Coleman moved
COLEMAN, piloted a Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny” in her custom-designed flying suit, circa 1924. | Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, photo NASM92-13721.
to Chicago in 1915 with one of her brothers. Working as a manicurist in a barbershop, but captivated by the derring-do of pilots in the Great War, Coleman desperately wanted to do more with her life. Her brother, John, returning home from Europe after the war and tempted her spirit with a stinging statement.
John had witnessed French women doing something that Bessie would, he said—fly!
That was all it took, along with some financial backing from the Chicago business community. By 1919, Bessie Coleman was headed to France to learn how to fly. There were no aviation schools in the United States that would accept a woman of color, so Coleman earned her pilot’s license after only ten months with the Caudron Frères flying school—the first black person to earn an international pilot’s license.
Over the next two years she pursued advanced training in France and Germany, and in September 1922, Coleman was the first African American woman in America to make a public flight.
Armed with her pilot’s license, Coleman’s dreamed of owning a plane and founding her own flight school. She held lectures and performed air tricks to raise money. Her hair-raising tricks and stunts like barnstorming, figure eights, and loop-the-loops wowed audiences from coast to coast, including back home in Texas.
It was in Texas that Coleman finally made a deal for her own plane, a Curtiss JN-4 with an OX-5 engine, at Dallas’ Love Field. Coleman performed for Texas audiences in placed as varied as San Antonio, Richmond, Waxahachie (where she had grown up), Wharton, and, according to a website dedicated to her legacy, many unrecorded small towns, most with racially segregated venues.
Refusing to perform for crowds that had segregated gate entrances, Coleman had the clout to demand a
PUTTING HER STAMP ON
AVIATION In 1995, when the U.S. Postal Service issued its 32-cent commemorative first class stamp honoring Bessie Coleman, it reintroduced a black-and-white engraved style reminiscent of earlier printing techniques. | U.S. Postal Service
SNAPPED IN BERLIN, GERMANY
Coleman with a “Pathé” cameraman following a flight over the ex-Kaiser’s palace. The views which were taken were widely distributed through ‘“Pathé News Reel”. Courtesy Atlanta Historical Museum
single entrance gate for all patrons. She became famous for standing up for her beliefs.
At the young age of 34, Queen Bess was tragically killed in an accident during an aerial show rehearsal in 1926. Only after her death did Coleman receive the attention she deserved, honored by the U.S. Postal Service in 1995 with a posthumous stamp commemorating her “singular accomplishment in becoming the world’s first African American pilot and, by definition, an American Legend.”
Though Bessie Coleman spent only a few months in her birthplace of Atlanta, her legacy lives on there and even to this day has sparked the desire to fly in many.
Entering the city’s Hall-Miller Municipal Airport via Bessie Coleman Drive, you might just run into the chief of police, the chamber of commerce communications director, and other pilots and pilots in training who also have the desire to aim high in the sky as Queen Bess did a century ago.
Fly by Wire
The Stanzel Model Aircraft Museum Features Toys That Really Fly
Along U.S. Highway 77 through Schulenburg, Texas, an old-fashioned biplane appears to soar above the red roof of the Stanzel Model Aircraft Museum, followed by a white vapor trail. Yellow wings contrasting against blue sky, it appears convincingly real—until you observe that it’s not moving.
Like the over thirty scale models found inside the Stanzel Model Aircraft Museum, it presents a facsimile in faithful detail.
Capturing the fascinating world of hobby modeling, the Stanzel Model
Aircraft Museum is actually three museums within one complex. The main museum, the Factory Wing museum, and the restored historic home of Victor and Joe Stanzel’s grandparents make up the facility. The buildings are adjacent and interconnected for walking tours throughout all three.
The main museum features interactive exhibits and static displays covering not only the model airplanes—from early solid versions to later, powered planes that actually flew—but more than thirty different patented designs for amusement rides and game machines. It focuses on the fruitful seventy-year
SCHULENBURG
Story and photographs by Mike Carlisle
FACTORY WING Built in 1935, the factory wing of the Stanzel Model Aircraft Museum, highlighted by a wooden wing skeleton hanging over the quarter-scale model of the “G Ride” centrifugal amusement ride, includes a detailed timeline of model aircraft.
partnership between brothers Victor and Joseph (Joe) Stanzel that resulted in the Victor Stanzel Company.
The Factory Wing museum is the original 30’x60’ Stanzel factory building, where visitors today can follow a detailed timeline and experience the actual nuts-and-bolts of kit production from drafting to finished product. Relocated to the complex in 2005, the museum houses numerous hand-built machines custom-designed by Joe to meet specific needs of manufacturing.
The historic home of Franz and Rozina Stanzel is restored and furnished as it appeared in the 1800s. The house and entire museum complex is located on part of the family’s original 100 acres that dates back to 1873, when the couple arrived from Austria. Victor and Joe moved to town at an early age after their father died, but spent time helping their uncle on the family farm. Working on the farm instilled discipline and a strong work ethic, but cadets flying overhead from the nearby airbase in San Antonio sparked Victor’s interest.
In 1926, as a teenager, Victor Stanzel started learning complex design, engineering, and manufacturing concepts from science and aeronautical engineering magazines. From his extensive reading he learned about the growing popularity of true-scale models. In his bedroom he started carving 20-inch solid scaled aircraft from balsa, eventually selling them in San Antonio to the same fliers who’d first captivated his attention.
Because the solid planes took too long to make, Victor moved to building kits of planes that took less time to manufacture and could actually fly. Intrigued with designing sophisticated controls, he eventually came up with a design to control the airplane with a single wire!
Unlike Joe, who finished high school, Victor studied a wide variety of correspondence courses, from drafting and tool making to machine shop management. When Joe joined Victor, they complemented each other’s strengths to create quality products for an evolv-
ing customer base, attracting younger kids with simpler, ready-to-fly planes complete with electric motors as well as the sophisticated gasoline engine kits tackled by more seasoned modelers.
Victor tended to overbuild, never worrying about excess inventory because he felt it more important to continue making kits that kept employees working and avoided layoffs. Ted Stanzel, the brothers’ nephew and eventual company president, maintained that same business philosophy despite low sales until raw resources were gone and the company was forced to close in 2001. Museum director Lucy Stanzel explains there are still kits available, as well as full-sized posters of designs and schematics. Recognized for their dedication to the model airplane industry, both brothers were inducted into the Academy of Model Aeronautics Hall of Fame in 1986.
Though the brothers originally envisioned a museum as early as 1986, neither lived to see construction.
Following Victor’s death in 1996, the Stanzel Family Foundation hired architects to build and finally open the main museum in March of 1999. The museum exhibits the model aircraft legacy for generations to come, reflecting the hard work and dedication of the family and factory employees.
Visitors can stop by and walk through the museum themselves, or book a guided tour. Besides the knowledgeable and friendly docents, Lucy Stanzel, as the wife of Robert (Bob) Stanzel, Ted’s brother, is a wealth of knowledge about the exhibits of all three museums as well.
Lucy says museum designers told them to charge admission for legitimacy, but she explained, “It’s not about making money here at the museum; it’s about education, especially educating young people. We are especially thankful for support from the Foundation to help us keep our focus on that.”
Schulenburg Chamber of Commerce
618 N. Main St. Schulenburg, TX 78956 1-866-504-5294 or (979) 743-4514 schulenburg chamber.org
Stanzel Model Aircraft Museum
311 Baumgarten St. Schulenburg, TX 78956 museum@ stanzelmuseum.org
Open Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 10:30 am–4:30 pm (979) 743-6559 stanzelmuseum.org
Schulenburg Historical Museum
631 N. Main St. Schulenburg, TX 78956
Open Friday–Saturday 10:00 am–2:00 pm; other times by appointment (979) 743-2403 schulenburghistorical museum.com
For Further Reading Biographies of Victor Stanzel and Joseph Stanzel, contributed by Ted Stanzel, may be found online in the regularly updated resources of the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) at modelaircraft.org.
Defying Gravity:
The Complete Story of Victor and Joseph (Joe) Stanzel, by Ted Stanzel and Elaine Thomas, is forthcoming in fall 2020.
SCALING THE HEIGHTS The scale model of the Boeing P-12-E appearing to fly in front of the Stanzel Model Aircraft Museum complex draws plenty of attention along Highway 77.
DON’T MISS
Skies Unite Across the Sea
Terrell’s School Was First for British Fliers
by Barbara Brannon
We’re the Boys of No. 1 BFTS,
To our country’s call we bravely answered “yes”; Crossing oceans at our peril, we have landed here in Terrell, And how Texas first affects us we will leave you all to guess.
In May 1940, its military aviation forces caught short against Germany’s powerful Luftwaffe, Britain found its own adverse weather, small land area, and fear of invasion problematic for training at home.
Winston Churchill sought help from Commonwealth allies to make training bases available, but the best option, as it turned out, was across the Atlantic in England’s former colony, the United States. Under the Lend-Lease Program
LAKES TRAIL REGION
TERRELL
MISS
FLIGHT LINE More than 2,000 Royal Air Force pilots, plus 200 American pilots, trained in Terrell during World War II. Courtesy No. 1 British Flying Training School Museum
authorized by the U.S. Congress in March 1941, the first site selected was the Kaufman County Airfield in Terrell, Texas, east of Dallas.
To forestall political fallout in the still-neutral U.S., the Brits would be required to enter inconspicuously in civilian garb, by way of Canada, and would be prohibited from participating in any live bombing or gunnery practice. But Terrell welcomed the students for the next four years, forging friendships and eventually training alongside American aviation cadets after the U.S. entered the war.
This little known-story of United States and Royal Air Force cooperation during World War II is interpreted today in the No. 1 British Training Flying School Museum in Terrell, where the first and largest of six U.S. schools was established.
Most of the early British students had never been in an airplane—or even driven an automobile—before arriving in Texas to learn to fly. Their training comprised ground school (meteorology, navigation, engine mechanics, armament), experience in early simulators, and flight time in all hours and weathers. Nineteen would die in flying accidents while in Terrell, and are buried there. Nonetheless more than 2,000 Royal Air Force and American Army Air Force pilots would earn their wings over North Texas between 1941 and 1945. Terrell’s citizens welcomed the student pilots
to their community, and many lifelong bonds were begun.
The museum’s collection includes hundreds of historical items: log books, training materials, WWII memorabilia, and uniforms. Its archives contain the most extensive record of the No. 1 British Flying Training School anywhere. The museum held a grand reopening in spring 2017 after a major remodel, and hosts a Big Band Hangar Dance and Dinner annually.
The training school closed following the return of peace in 1945, but not before some talented lyricist closed his rousing ballad with this final verse and refrain to the right.
Find the full song in Tom Killebrew’s
The Royal Air Force in Texas: Training British Pilots in Terrell during World War II (2003), pp. 168–69.
For though we’re now in clover it will very soon be over,
We shall see the Cliffs of Dover and be clearing up the mess;
But when we’ve finished off the war and seen it through
We shall think of Terrell, Texas, and of you;
And though sea and sky may hide you they never can divide you
From the boys of No. 1 BFTS
Oh yes!
The British Boys of No. 1 BFTS
Preserving our aviation heritage at the Fort Worth Aviation Museum
by Bill Morris
Ever since the first airplane flight in Fort Worth, Texas, on January 12, 1911, aviation has left its mark on the city’s landscape. Consider just a few milestones.
During World War I, six of the twenty-eight aviation flying fields built during that war were in North Texas; they turned out thousands of pilots and ground support personnel for the U.S. Army Air Service. In 1925, Fort Worth’s municipal airport, Meacham Field, ushered in the birth of airmail and the commercial aviation industry we now
take for granted. Today they city is the corporate headquarters for American Airlines. In 1949, the U.S. Air Force conducted the first nonstop flight around the world—Fort Worth to Fort Worth. Since 1941, over 68,000 aircraft have been built in Fort Worth, with an economic impact in today’s dollars of over $1 trillion.
The Fort Worth Aviation Museum, located on four acres at the south end of historic Meacham Airport, focuses on documenting and preserving the Fort Worth and North Texas aviation history
LAKES TRAIL REGION
FORT WORTH
DON’T MISS
TOP GUN Perhaps the most widely recognized Navy fighter, thanks to its starring role in Top Gun, the F-14 Tomcat served as an advanced interceptor and air superiority fighter. |
Courtesy Fort Worth Aviation Museum
An F-111E Aardvark (above) is just one of the museum’s assets. Perhaps a field trip (right) will encourage a future career in the aviation field or pursuit of a pilot’s license. |
Courtesy Fort Worth Aviation Museum
and showcasing the many factors that converted the region from farming and ranching into one of the leading aviation centers in the United States.
The museum includes displays and exhibits covering aspects of our aviation heritage and features twenty-six aircraft, many with ties to North Texas. They are the most touchable aircraft on display at any museum in Texas, providing great photo opportunities for our visitors. Last year, over 10,000 people toured the museum.
The museum’s outreach programs also offer opportunities to take our story to other venues and events throughout the year. Our trailer-mounted Bell OH-58 “Kiowa for Kids” helicopter has been a hands-on experience to over 40,000 people annually at various public events; although a major storm in June 2019 severely damaged the aircraft, the museum is now working to replace the OH-58 to carry on this much-admired exhibit.
In partnership with the annual Bell Alliance Airshow, the Fort Worth Aviation Museum manages the Lockheed Martin “Discovery Zone,” a 7,000-square-foot aviation exhibition and learning center offering visitors a first-hand experience in various aspects of aviation. This year, more than 50,000 visitors went through the Discovery Zone during the two-day airshow at Alliance Airport.
On a lighter, more festive note, the museum hosts its annual “Hops and Props” on the third Saturday in April, and features aircraft fly-ins, aircraft and helicopter rides, and a chance to tour the museum, as well as other aviation exhibits, demonstrations, and activities for the whole family (the Props). The event also presents craft breweries offering an opportunity for the adults to sample their various beers in a commemorative pilsner glass (the Hops). A live band and caterers also provide the music and food.
SKY-HIGH NSPIRATION
Blue Skies over the Tall City
How Midland Became a Magnet for Military Aviation
by H. A. Tuck, Jr.
Midland, Texas, in the center of oil country in the Permian Basin, has a long history with aviation in the Lone Star State. Sunny skies, flat terrain, and good weather made for excellent conditions during the infancy of flight, and continued to attract experimenters. Though today the city is a key center for commercial flights (and aspirations for space!) as well as general aviation, especially for the petroleum industry, its earlier role as a hub for military aviation is preserved in a museum founded in 2016 alongside the busy airport.
As early as 1911–12, less than a decade after the Wright Brothers’ historic flight, Midland was a landing spot for an early, and successful effort to fly across the United States.
Two Midlanders who witnessed that early aviator, Blacksmith John Pliska and Gray Coggin, a mechanic and chauffeur, decided they, too, could build an airplane.
DON’T MISS
Visit Midland VisitMidland.com
Midland Army Air Field Museum
9600 Wright Dr. Midland, TX 79706 (432) 254-6182
Hours: Saturdays 10 am–3 pm; by appointment for special groups
Several of the High Sky Wing aircraft offer rides, depending upon availability of pilots and operational status of the planes; call for an appointment. highskywing.org
THE KANSAN Nicknamed for the location of the aircraft plant where it was manufactured (Wichita, Kansas), this 1942 Beechcraft AT-11 Kansan bombardier is a favorite backdrop for group photos at the Midland Army Air Force Museum. | Courtesy H. A. Tuck, Jr.
Their craft flew several times before design flaws took their toll, and eventually the plane was hoisted into the rafters of a local blacksmith shop. It was later restored by local aviation enthusiasts and put on display at Midland’s commercial airport—and today soars, as if in mid-flight, above the publicly accessible baggage area of the Midland International Air and Space Port.
Midland’s first accommodation for aircraft was to install beacons along U.S. Highway 80, originally established in 1916 as the Bankhead Highway, the nation’s first all-weather coast-to-coast highway.
A local aviation enthusiast, Samuel Addison Sloan, leased 220 acres from cattleman Clarence Scharbauer and began a commercial flight center. Following Sloan’s death, the City of Midland bought the facilities and began operating Midland Airport.
When World war II broke out in Europe in 1939, the fledgling United States Army Air Corps began looking for suitable training sites. The following year Midland city officials agreed
to turn their new airport over to the military. Construction quickly started for what would be called Midland Army Air Field. It was charged with teaching young men to become trained bombardiers.
The first class of cadets began training on February 6, 1942. Their training was intensive and fast-paced, covering principles of flight, meteorology, navigation, and radio systems. Once they got past all the basic ground courses, their real training was in twin-engine aircraft: a version of the prewar Beechcraft with distinctive twin tails and fitted with a clear plastic nose cone, bomb-bay openings, and two bomb racks.
Practice targets were placed widely around Midland and the neighboring cities of Big Spring and San Angelo. A story in the Midland Reporter-Telegram in mid-1942 notified local residents that, effective immediately, bombardier flight training missions to the bomb targets would be taking place seven days a week, twenty-one hours a day. Flights would take place in segments so cadets could experience both day and
night missions. These training flights took place at 10,000 feet altitude with the bomb targets a third the size of the expected enemy targets. Painted rocks and flimsy wooden structures simulated targets sought by Allied bombers flying at 30,000 feet or higher. Simulated targets included railroads, ships, munitions factories, dams, refineries, and even Toyko Harbor!
By mid-1945, when Midland Army Air Field and other bases like it had graduated more than enough bombardiers, training was cut back. But by then MAAF had become the largest bombardier training base in the United States, graduating more than 8,000 cadets in three years.
Midland Army Air Field ceased operations soon after the war, and the facility was turned back to the City of Midland for civilian service while air bases in San Angelo and Big Spring continued operations. (Only San Angelo’s Goodfellow Air Force Base still operates today, but with a different mission.)
The Commemorative Air Force (CAF, originally Confederate Air Force), created in Texas in 1953, launched a mission to collect one of each type of aircraft operated during World War II. The High Sky Wing of the CAF, based at Midland International Airport, was organized in 1991. It is currently assigned six aircraft by the CAF, which it restores, maintains, and flies frequently.
One of the AT-11 Kansans originally assigned to Big Spring and then Midland Army Air Field was acquired by the Midland Army Air Field Foundation and is operated by the High Sky Wing.
Today, these High Sky Wing aircraft, along with several privately-owned “warbirds,” are based at the High Sky Wing hangar at the Midland International Air and Space Port. The unit also boasts a distinctive collection of restored aircraft, including a number of Vietnam-era aircraft, an F-14 Tomcat that survived aerial combat, a British Fairy Swordfish, a Russian Polykarpof, and a MIG-15, representing a fascinating segment of the world’s aviation history.
REAL TRAINING
Bombardier cadets at the Midland Army Airfield trained in the aircrew trainer version of the Beechcraft 18 (Twin Beech) designated AT-11 Kansan. Over 90% of all USAAF bombardiers and navigators trained in the AT-11. | Courtesy Midland Army Air Field Museum and H. A Tuck, Jr.
AUTHENTIC PERSON
BLAZING
THE HIGH TRAIL OVER TEXAS
By Bob McCullough
DOROTHY ANN SMITH LUCAS, WOMEN AIRFORCE SERVICE PILOT
As the crisis of World War II swept the nation, Dorothy Ann Smith Lucas—affectionately known as Dottie—and 1,102 other Women Airforce Service Pilots(WASP) of the Greatest Generation— didn’t realize they would serve as trailblazers for women in aviation.
Photograph provided by Dorothy Ann Smith Lucas
oday, at age 97, Dottie Lucas modestly dismisses what the WASP did to open cockpits and space shuttles for women. “It was a very patriotic time,” says Lucas, who had two brothers in the military, one of them an Army Air Forces navigator and the other in the Navy. “I just wanted to do something to help the war effort.”
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, qualified male pilots were desperately needed for combat roles, yet tasks like ferrying newly assembled planes to military bases still had to be accomplished. Twenty-eight already licensed civilian women pilots led by Nancy Love stepped up to fill this need and became the nation’s first female flying unit—the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron. This outfit ultimately merged with the Women’s Flying Training Detachment established by Jacqueline Cochran on August 20, 1943, to form the WASP.
More than 25,000 women applied to join the WASP; 1,830 were accepted, and 1,074 earned their wings at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas, before the program ended December 20, 1944. Their flight jackets proudly displayed the WASP mascot, Fifinella, a winged female gremlin wearing goggles and boots that suppos-
edly possessed magical powers. The character emanated from British author Roald Dahl’s The Gremlins and Walt Disney’s creative graphic design.
“One day in early 1943, my friend Margaret told me about an organization that was looking for female pilots,” Lucas recalls. “We learned the age limit was from 21 to 35 years and that you had to have thirty-five flight hours to apply for admission to WASP. You also were required to be of good moral character, complete a personal interview with supervisors, and pass the rigorous Army physical for all military pilots.”
Accumulating the requisite hours of flight time proved to be quite challenging. Lucas worked at the War Department on Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C., during the week, attended George Washington University at night, and took flying lessons on weekends, thanks to a $300 loan from her mother. “I decided on my own that I wanted to learn to fly,” Lucas says. “Margaret and I had to drive fifty miles to Frederick, Maryland, to take flying
lessons, which were very expensive. We had to make that long drive because no planes were permitted to fly within a fifty-mile radius of the Capitol.”
Lucas qualified for admission to the WASP program, but Margaret dropped out at the last minute. Suddenly, Lucas found herself at Avenger Field in windswept Sweetwater, far different surroundings than her native Norfolk, Virginia, and work environment in D.C. “It was my first time in Texas, a very different experience but very interesting for me,” she remembers. “But I always enjoyed meeting new people and going to new places. It was pretty amazing.”
Avenger Field, established in 1940 to train pilots under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Lend-Lease Program, initially functioned as a training location for British and Canadian pilots aspiring to serve in the Royal Air Force. When the WASP program moved there in May 1943, Avenger became the only allfemale flight training base in U.S. military history. There, in the high and wide-open Texas skies, WASP recruits
LAUNCH Dorothy Ann Smith began private pilot training in Maryland in 1943. Photograph provided by Dorothy Ann Smith Lucas
learned to fly the Army way.
Lucas and other WASP recruits spent thirty weeks in training. They put in 210 hours of flight training and 393 hours of ground school, covering topics like navigation, aircraft mechanics, meteorology, first aid, Morse code, and military conduct. She trained in the PT-17 Stearman biplane, the BT-13 Valiant, and the PT-19 Fairchild.
Tragedy struck the day before Lucas was scheduled to make her first solo flight. She received word that her brother in the Army Air Forces had been killed in a plane crash in England, and in that moment of grief, she had second thoughts about continuing her WASP training. But her WASP sisters gave her support and encouragement that led to a successful solo and made her “even more determined to become a WASP.”
After graduation with WASP Class 1944-W-7 in September, Lucas was assigned to the gunnery squadron at Moore Field in Mission, Texas. There, her primary duty was to tow targets for male flying cadets.
“Our tow ships were AT-6 Texan advanced two-seat trainers,” Lucas explains. “There was a young enlisted man in the back seat operating the cable.
SUITED UP Smith, at far right, with WASP colleagues at Avenger Field in Sweetwater (below, top); upon graduation (center left) and flight training (center right) and (bottom) with flight commander Mr. Poole, left, and Mr. Robertson, right. Photos provided by Dorothy Ann Smith Lucas.
MISSION, TX Smith at Moore Airfield Office taking care of paperwork before taking to the air towing targets. Photograph provided by Dorothy Ann Smith Lucas.
“WHAT’S BETTER THAN FLYING THE AT-6?”
landing I ever made, but you know what? He married me anyway!”
After World War II, Lucas’s husband continued an Air Force career that took the family—including children Jana, Helen, Melanie, Tom, and Marnie—to bases in Germany, the Philippines, and various locales across the U.S. After military service ended, the Lucases settled in Austin and ultimately moved to San Antonio, where Dottie now lives.
The trailblazing accomplishments of Lucas and other WASPs continue to elicit praise from a grateful nation at the National WASP World War II Museum at Avenger Field on Sweetwater’s western outskirts. The move to establish the museum took off in 2002, and on Memorial Day 2005, the museum held its grand opening with 29 WASP alumnae in attendance. They placed their handprints in cement and etched their signatures.
On the end of the cable was a large flag, the target. The cadets undergoing gunnery training made passes at the target from their planes. After these sessions, I flew to the auxiliary airfield not far from Moore Field, where I slowed the plane. The young man in back released the target and reeled the cable back up into the plane. I then landed so he could jump out, retrieve the flag, and put it in the back seat. We then took off for the main airfield, and that was the end of a gunnery session, about an hour and a half in all.”
Lucas, who never feared flying, didn’t encounter any stray bullets, but on one occasion smoke filled her cock-
pit. She radioed the control tower, which advised her either to land or bail out. She opted to land, but recalls with a grin, “I think the plane was still taxiing when I jumped out.” (In all probability, the smoke resulted from a minor engine-oil leak.)
While towing targets at Moore Field, she met and dated a young instructor pilot, Captain A. T. Lucas. “One day I was preparing to land at the auxiliary airfield when I saw his plane on the ground,” she says. “He was watching his cadets shoot takeoffs and landings. I really wanted to make a smooth landing, but I leveled off too high and bounced in. Was my face red! That was the worst
The thirty-five-acre museum complex includes old runways, taxiways, and two hangars—the new No. 1, a replica of the original main hangar, and Hangar No. 2, built in 1929 as part of Sweetwater Municipal Airport and used by WASP in 1943–44. The WASP barracks, administration building, classrooms, and control tower burned in 1951. In May 2017, the Hangar No. 1 replica opened in time to host the annual WASP Homecoming on the Saturday before Memorial Day. A spacious Memorial Plaza connects the two hangars, looking out onto the airfield where the ashes of thirteen of the program’s former pilots have been spread.
“The museum has numerous exhibits, including four of the five planes used in WASP training,” says Carol C.
GOING TEXAN Smith turns a propeller (left) and boards the renowned AT-6 Texan at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, April 1944. Photograph provided by Dorothy Ann Smith Lucas
—DOROTHY ANN SMITH LUCAS
Cain, associate director. “The WASP handprints exhibit is a very emotional one; you actually put your hand into theirs. But it’s not the actual artifacts and exhibits that exemplify the museum. It’s the character traits of those women aviation pioneers—service, courage, dedication, loyalty, patriotism and sacrifice—that make the museum so very exceptional.”
Cain estimates approximately 500 people a month take time to visit and learn about these phenomenal female pilots. Meanwhile, planning continues for an ambitious, climate-controlled expansion of Hangar No. 1 that will include educational areas, a re-creation of the control tower, interactive exhibits, and additional display space for WASP artifacts. The museum archives, which already contain 35,000 items, welcome additional WASP memorabilia, artifacts, and stories. Special events throughout the year spotlight individual pilots as well as feature conversations with notables in aviation.
The museum’s ongoing mission is to give WASP credit that’s long overdue and to preserve their legacy. Their accomplishments are truly impressive. For example, at one time or another, a WASP flew all 77 types of planes in the Army Air Forces inventory. They delivered 12,000 aircraft from factories to operational units. They logged duty at 126 air bases across the country. They flew more than 66 million miles. They freed up hundreds of male pilots for combat. And much of what they did was paid for out of pocket.
“Because the WASP were paid under Civil Service and not part of the military, they received no military benefits or insurance,” Cain says. “They had to pay their way to Avenger Field, and their way home when the program was deactivated. The thirty-eight who were killed in service to their country could have no American flag on their coffin and could not be buried in military cemeteries, and their families could place no Gold Star in their windows.”
But persistent pressure on lawmakers resulted in changes. In 1977,
WASP were accorded military status, and in 2002, the Army granted WASP military funeral honors. Seven years later, President Barak Obama signed legislation that led to presentation of the Congressional Gold Medal to WASP in March 2010. This lofty honor is awarded to persons “who have performed an achievement that has an impact on American history and culture that is likely to be recognized as a major achievement in the recipient’s field long after the achievement.”
“In addition to being an elite corps from the standpoint of skills, ability and experience, the WASP were guinea pigs,” Cain contends. “No program like this had ever been tried before. The future of women in military aviation hung on how the women performed professionally and conducted themselves morally and socially.”
Lucas agrees. “Not only did WASP prove that women could fly military aircraft as well as their male counterparts,” she says, “but they also established a firm foundation for women in aviation.”
Determined to do their part to help win World War II, volunteer female pilots from across America flocked to Sweetwater and blazed a trail high up in Texas skies for thousands upon thousands of women who would follow.
FINALLY Dorothy Ann Smith Lucas was among the 300 living WASP who were presented with the Congressional Gold Medal in March 2010.
Pictured with Dottie is her military escort for the occasion, MSGT Mitchell.
Photograph provided by Dorothy Ann Smith Lucas
AUTHENTIC PLACE
FROM COTTON FIELD TO LOVE FIELD
DALLAS’S RENOWNED AIRPORT IS RICH WITH HISTORY
STORY BY BRUCE A. BLEAKLEY
he aviators, airplanes, and airlines of Dallas’s Love Field have endowed it with one of the richest histories of any airport in the nation. Not only has it been the headquarters of two major commercial air carriers, it is also the site where the 36th president—himself a native Texan— was sworn in.
At the outset of the twentieth century, Dallas was fortunate in having a chamber of commerce that early on believed in the potential of aviation, engaging aviators to give exhibition flights at Fair Park as early as 1910.
WINGS DURING WARTIME
With America’s entry into World War I in 1917, the chamber successfully petitioned the army to establish a flight training base in Dallas. The organization purchased 670 acres of mostly cotton fields on the south shore of Bachman Lake and leased them back to the army. Construction progressed rapidly, and on October 19, 1917, the new flying field was officially dedicated in honor of Lt. Moss Lee Love, continuing an Army tradition of naming new airfields for its aviators who had perished in the line of duty. Lieutenant Love, who died in a training accident in 1913, was never known to have visited Dallas, but his name was next on the list of fallen aviators to honor.
During Love Field’s time as a flight training base, 449 pilots earned their wings as Army Air Service Aviators there. Only twelve airmen died in training accidents during that time, a remarkably low number considering the nature of early flight training.
AFTER THE ARMY
After the war, the hope that Love Field would continue as an active army base went unrealized, as the military terminated flight operations in early 1919. The Dallas Chamber of Commerce found itself with an extensive infrastructure of hangars, streets, office buildings, and other facilities. Forming a Love Field Industrial District, they leased a
portion of the property back to the city for a municipal airport. Gradually the vacated army hangars and other facilities filled with businesses offering airplane rides, flying lessons, fuel, maintenance, and other aviation services. Many of these operations were run by former army aviators, using or selling surplus army aircraft.
In 1926, the U.S. Post Office began phasing out its operation of the nation’s air mail, awarding contracts to private carriers that would soon form the basis of the nation’s commercial airline system. Consequently, the first commercial aviation flight in Dallas—and in the state of Texas—began on the morning of May 12 of that year as a Curtiss “Carrier Pigeon” piloted by Herb Kindred of National Air Transport (a predecessor of United Airlines) took off on the first flight of Contract Air Mail Route 3 from Love Field to Chicago, with intermediate stops.
LUCKY LINDY LANDS AT LOVE
The following year thousands of North Texans turned out on September 27 to welcome Charles Lindbergh as he
flew his famous Spirit of St. Louis into Love Field as part of a 48-state tour following his electrifying New Yorkto-Paris solo flight. The city of Dallas included among the festivities a ceremony formally dedicating Love Field as the city’s municipal airport.
In a speech at the Adolphus Hotel that night, Lindbergh praised Love Field as an outstanding airport and urged supporting its growth in order to “keep Dallas and Texas on the air map of the United States.” Previously, city leaders had been discussing buying the airport from the Love Field Company, but Lindbergh’s remarks may have prompted them into action. In any case, the Dallas City Commission on March 30, 1928 voted to approve the purchase of Love Field for $325,000.
PASSENGER AIRLINES ON THE RISE
By this time Love was earning a reputation as one of America’s best airports. With public interest in air travel on the rise, new hangar and passenger terminal facilities were built in 1929 to accommodate newly established air carriers that had begun offering passenger service.
LOVE & WAR
(Above) Love Field Aviation Camp, Dallas, May 30, 1918. Courtesy of Library of Congress.
(Left) Brig. Gen. W. B. Cochran, commanding officer of Camp Bowie, and Major Albert L. Sneed, commanding officer of Love Field, by Curtiss JN-6HG-1, at “Flyin’ Frolic” event, Love Field, November 12–13, 1918. Courtesy of Library of Congress.
Through the 1930s, three of these grew steadily through expansion, mergers, and consolidations to become the trio of major airlines serving Love Field by the end of the decade—American, Delta, and Braniff.
As airline service increased through the 1930s, the need for more modern passenger facilities was met by a new, $400,000 two-story terminal building at Lemmon Avenue on the airport’s east side, dedicated in October 1940.
A MILITARY MAGNET ONCE AGAIN
With the onset of World War II, Love Field experienced a significant expansion in infrastructure and traffic volume as it became the home of two new tenants. The Lockheed Aircraft Corporation established a major aircraft repair and modification facility, and the Fifth Ferrying Group of the Air Transport Command (ATC) established a base at Love Field that would become the largest ATC base in the country.
Among the pilots of ATC’s Fifth Ferrying Group was a squadron of the now-famous Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP (see Authentic Person Dorothy Ann Smith Lucas, page 34). These remarkable women, trained at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, flew every type of army aircraft, delivering them to fields all over the nation and flying other non-combat missions such as cargo, target towing, and maintenance test flights. The squadron at Love Field was the largest contingent of WASP in the nation.
Even amidst the strain and uncertainty of war, civilian passenger operations continued, though on a limited basis. In 1942, American Airlines would be the first to offer international service from Love Field, with DC-3 flights to Mexico City and Monterrey. The same year, Tom Braniff moved his air carrier’s headquarters to Love Field after having brought his maintenance operation to the airport in 1934.
Activity at Love Field remained robust after the war, fueled mainly by an extraordinary postwar public demand for air travel. The wartime expansion of infrastructure helped to support this
demand, but the not-yet-ten-year-old Lemmon Avenue terminal was strained to its limits, with wings added to the north and east to increase the number of gates from five to thirteen. A postwar airport master plan envisioned a new, larger terminal building at the north end of an extension of Cedar Springs Road (now Herb Kelleher Way) at the center of the airport grounds. Construction began in 1955, and the facility opened for operations in January 1958.
FATEFUL TIMES FOR LOVE FIELD
For capital improvements at Love Field, 1958 was a banner year. As the new terminal opened, American Airlines built a million-dollar hangar, Delta Air Lines built its first maintenance hangar outside of Atlanta, and Braniff International Airways dedicated its extensive new Operations and Maintenance Base at 7701 Lemmon Avenue. (The complex is currently being
PRESIDENTIAL PRESENCE
repurposed and has been deemed eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.)
But the airport’s most notable day would occur five years later, on a date it would share with one of the darkest events in American history. On November 22, 1963, after President John F. Kennedy was fatally shot in downtown Dallas, Texan Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the 36th president. He thus became the first, and so far, only, president to be sworn in aboard an airplane (Air Force One), by a female justice (Sarah T. Hughes, herself a Texan), and in the state of Texas.
A LITTLE LUV FOR AIR TRAVELERS
In the fall of 1966, one of Love Field’s most influential associations had its start—in a San Antonio club.
Sipping doses of bourbon, Rollin King and his attorney, Herb Kelleher, were planning the creation of a low-
President and Mrs. Kennedy walking through a crowd of journalists toward people gathered at the fence line at Love Field on the morning of November 22, 1963.
| Courtesy of The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealy Plaza, Texas History Portal.
WRIGHT STUFF
(Below) Southwest Airlines Boeing 737; Southwest Airlines has operated Boeing 737 jetliner models almost exclusively since its establishment at its Love Field headquarters in 1971.
fare airline with a business model of flying to large cities solely within the borders of Texas—specifically, Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston. On March 15, 1967, Kelleher filed to establish what he called the “Air Southwest Company,” and almost a year later the Texas Aeronautical Commission voted to approve the new airline’s operating certificate. By staying within the boundaries of Texas, Southwest steered clear of dealings with the federal government’s Civil Aeronautics Board.
But the legal battles began the very next day. Three air carriers—Braniff, Continental, and Trans-Texas—filed suit to stop the new airline, arguing that the named cities were already sufficiently served, by them. The plaintiffs were initially successful, but Southwest prevailed eventually through a reversal by the Texas Supreme Court.
In 1971, Kelleher and King established headquarters at Love Field for their renamed Southwest Airlines. The no-frills commuter airline drew inspiration from the name of its base, with love-inspired logo, marketing campaigns, on-board refreshments, and even its stock-ticker designation, LUV.
COMPETITION IN THE CITY
By 1973, Love Field had grown to be the tenth busiest airport in the world (yes, the world ) with 6.6 million enplaned passengers. But the following year its long legacy would be significantly affected by the opening of a newcomer, the Dallas-Fort Worth Regional (now International) Airport.
Love Field’s passenger count dropped sharply as the major air carriers moved their operations to DFW in accordance with a 1969 agreement. Southwest kept its operations at Love, arguing that they were not bound by that agreement since they had not been operating at the time—a position that predictably drew further legal challenges. The result of a series of lengthy and complex court actions was that airline operations could continue at Love—for the time being.
With the opening of DFW, Love Field was at a critical juncture, and there was even talk of closing it altogether. In a nearly empty terminal building, the iconic Texas Ranger statue stood watch over a mostly deserted lobby area, and for a time the space was even occupied by an ice rink and other amusements. Where commercial flight traffic
shrank, general aviation—private and corporate operations—began to take up the slack, and soon Love Field became the nation’s largest general aviation facility. As the 1970s gave way to the 1980s, the terminal lobby’s polished terrazzo floor began to click with the heels of an ever-increasing number of Southwest Airlines passengers.
SOUTHWEST AND THE WRIGHT AMENDMENT
In 1979, under the provisions of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, Southwest applied to begin service for the first time from Love Field outside the boundaries of Texas (into New Orleans). Major players opposed the move, but Southwest once again prevailed in the courts and with federal agencies in its bid to expand its route structure.
Southwest’s expansion caused some apprehension in both Dallas and Fort Worth about the potential drain on DFW Airport’s revenue. House Majority Leader Jim Wright (D-Fort Worth), concerned about protecting the two cities’ significant investment in their international airport, attached a provision to a piece of transportation legislation that would limit the scope of commercial flights. The main provision of the “Wright Amendment” was that Southwest (or any airline) could operate nonstop flights from Love Field only to destinations within Texas and its four bordering states (a few states were added later through additional legislation).
However, in 2004, Southwest abandoned its long-time position of “passionate neutrality” toward the Wright Amendment and began actively campaigning for its repeal—a move opposed by American Airlines, DFW International Airport, and the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth. At the quiet but firm suggestion of then-senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, the five parties worked out a compromise in 2006 that immediately eliminated some of the Wright Amendment restrictions. The prohibition against non stop flights would expire in October 2014.
(Above) Southwest Airlines promoted low fares from Love Field starting in 1967.
Photo courtesy UNT Libraries, The Portal to Texas History
(Right) 1973 American Airlines Boeing 747 Astroliner at Love Field. Photo courtesy UNT Libraries, The Portal to Texas History
737 Photo from Alptrum, iStock.
MODERN LOVE
Spurred by the prospect of the Wright Amendment’s repeal, the airport in 2009 began the Love Field Modernization Program (LFMP), a public/private partnership between the City of Dallas and Southwest Airlines, that involved major improvements to the field’s operational infrastructure as well as tenant and passenger facilities. These included an extensive upgrade to the 1958 terminal building, and completely rebuilt baggage claim and ticketing wings. The LFMP also included provisions for extensive additions to the public art installations at the airport.
Since restrictions on nonstop flights expired, Love Field’s passenger traffic has shot up dramatically. In 2015, the first full year of unrestricted nonstop flights, the airport’s passenger count rocketed past 1973’s 6.6 million to an all-time high of over 7.2 million, and in 2018 more than 8 million passengers boarded at Love.
Love Field progresses into its second century of operations as one of the nation’s most convenient and modern airports, as validated by various awards, including “number one in customer satis-
faction” from J.D. Power and Associates in 2015. The addition of a new parking garage in 2018 raises the airport’s available parking capacity to well over 11,000 spaces, and a series of planned longterm projects promises an even better airport operation for the future.
ART AND ARTIFACT
Visitors interested in viewing icons of Love Field’s long and varied history have several options. The airport’s twenty-three public art installations are located in its buildings, parking structures, and on the airport grounds; a complete illustrated list is at www. dallas-lovefield.com/passenger-services/ art-program/public-art/permanent-artwork.
At the south end of a grassy median between Parking Garages B and C and accessible to the public is the Danny Bruce Flag Plaza, with a six-foot tall obelisk from 1921 honoring Lieutenant Love and the twelve other aviator victims of World War I. Three Texas state historical markers about the airport are there also.
On Lemmon Avenue at Love Field’s southeast corner, the Frontiers of Flight
Visit Dallas VisitDallas.com
Dallas Love Field
8008 Herb Kelleher Way Dallas, TX 75235
Code: DAL (214) 670-6080
Located at Airfield Drive and Texan Trail at the northwest corner of the airport is an official viewing area called Founders’ Plaza.
Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas Love Field Airport
Real-life Texas Rangers welcomed sculptor Waldine Tauch’s iconic 1960 eight-foot “Texas Ranger of Today” statue back to Love Field, where it had stood watch since 1961 except for a two-year hiatus from 2011 to 2013.
Museum displays historical flight gear of the same type worn by Lieutenant Love, as well as many original artifacts from the airport’s history. Hanging from the ceiling in the main exhibit gallery is a perfectly restored Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny” that records show was in service at Love Field in 1918.
And if you’re fortunate enough for your travels to take you into the terminal itself with a little time to spare, a large observation window at the northeast corner of the mezzanine level looks out on the area where Air Force One was parked on that historic day, November 22, 1963. A nearby plaque guides the visitor’s view to the right spot.
AUTHENTIC THING
AND THE MEN WHO MADE THE PLANE THAT TRAINED THE FLYERS THAT WON THE WAR
BY JEFF SALMON
he Texan. Say that brief name to any aircraft historian, and they’ll know immediately what you mean: the North American Advanced Trainer Number Six. According to Larry Davis, the aircraft’s premier historian and author of T-6 Texan in Action: “It is a rare airshow in the United States that does not have at least one T-6 on display.”
More AT-6 (Advanced Trainer) Texans were built than any other trainer aircraft during World War II—nearly 13,000 of them just in the Lone Star State, at North American Aviation’s “Dallas Plant” located in Grand Prairie, Texas, between March 1941 and August 1945. That’s 83% of all T-6 planes and their variants ever manufactured.
Sure, the nickname was a natural on account of the plane’s primary manu-
facturing location. But it was also closely tied to two key Texans, a businessman and an aircraft engineer, who together brought production to their adopted state and created a military aviation legend.
JESSE HOLMAN JONES was born in Tennessee in 1874 into a farming and lumber family. His mother died when he was six and his father, William Jones, moved him, his siblings, and his aunt in 1883 to Dallas, a city that had just secured telephone and electrical service. In Texas, William helped his brother Martin Tilton Jones run the M. T. Jones Lumber Company in nearby Terrell. Jesse was enrolled at the age of ten in Dallas public schools. He didn’t stay long, but eventually returned to Dallas as a young adult and took a job with the M. T. Jones lumberyard at Main and St. Paul streets. He worked his way up to
being the general manager of the company by 1898, when his uncle died, leaving him in charge of his entire estate.
With such extensive capital, Jones found opportunity to expand into sawmills and factories in Houston and Orange. Further acquisitions broadened his empire through much of the Southwest, and in 1906 he turned his business interests toward construction and real estate development.
Jones drove many of the largest construction projects in Houston during this period and also brokered major real estate developments in Dallas and Fort Worth. Expanding into the banking and newspaper industries, he became sole owner and publisher of the Houston Chronicle in 1926.
In a growing civic role, Jones became more actively involved in state and national politics and was responsible for bringing the 1928 Democratic National
Convention to Houston, the first national party convention by either party to be held in the South since the Civil War. His prominence in the Democratic party paved the way for his eventual appointment as U.S. Secretary of Commerce, at a crucial juncture in the nation’s history.
IN 1932 PRESIDENT HERBERT HOOVER had created the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), a new government agency to combat the Great Depression. On the recommendation of the U.S. Speaker of the House, John Nance Garner of Texas, President Hoover appointed to its board Houston real estate developer Jesse Holman Jones. A year later, new president Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Jones chairman of this influential agency, a position he held until his elevation to Secretary of Commerce in 1940. A subsidiary of the RFC, the Defense Plant Corporation
(DPC), also known as Plancor, founded in August of that year, provided the necessary funding for plant expansions— and most important for Texas, selected sites for construction.
It was not just luck or coincidence that the Dallas-based North American Aviation was awarded clearance and funding for the Plancor-25 aviation manufacturing facility.
JOHN LELAND “LEE” ATWOOD, born in 1904, had moved to Texas from Kentucky as a young boy when his father, the Reverend Dr. Elmer Bugg Atwood, a Baptist preacher, took a job in Yoakum, Texas, between San Antonio and Houston.
Dr. Atwood moved his family from pulpit to pulpit in Texas and New Mexico before accepting the presidency of Wayland Baptist College in Plainview in 1918. Lee began his college educa-
For more than 35 years John Leland “Lee” Atwood worked as chief engineer/executive at North American Aviation, where he oversaw the Apollo program in addition to designing military aircraft. Courtesy of San Diego Air and Space Museum
The Plancor-25 Factory produced more AT-6 aircraft than any other factory during World War II. Courtesy of Rockwell International Archives
BEING APPOINTED Jesse Holman Jones was sworn in as Secretary of Commerce in 1940. Courtesy of the Houston Endowment
SPACE ROOTS
TEXAS READY (Left)
I fortunately had a small car, which I drove back to Dayton, and went to work.”
There, Atwood stood out among his peers. He quickly learned the most current advancements in aircraft engineering and manufacturing. His team’s primary job was to evaluate the technical performance of contractors in the airplane industry. Taking his chances in a burgeoning industry, Atwood left the Dayton job for posts in Kansas and California that failed back-to-back.
But just when the Depression changed the fortunes of so many Americans for the worse, Lee Atwood’s luck was about to pull out of a nosedive. One of his industry friends, Fred Herman, got him on as a draftsman designer at Douglas Aircraft in Santa Monica in early 1930. Soon his good work caught the attention of chief engineer James H. “Dutch” Kindleberger.
AIRCRAFT PRODUCED AT DALLAS PLANCOR-25
AT-6 TEXANS
12,967
P-51 MUSTANGS
tion there but completed his degree at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, where Dr. Atwood had gone to teach in 1924.
“I tried to specialize in physics and mathematics,” recalled Lee Atwood in a 1989 oral history recording for the National Air and Space Museum. “I was able for-tunately to learn something more useful when I went to the University of Texas at Austin and studied engineering.”
Graduating from UT in 1928, Atwood sat for the civil service examination, hoping to find a construction job in Texas. But his excellent test scores caught the attention of the personnel director at the Army Air Corps Materiel Center in Dayton, Ohio, who immediately offered him a job as an aeronautical engineer in that pioneering aviation city. “I accepted the job at Wright Field,” said Atwood, “having just been married, and
When Kindleberger left Douglas in 1934 for the presidency of Los Angeles–based North American Aviation, he brought along Atwood as chief engineer. It was “a big promotion for me,” wrote Atwood, “although North American wasn’t very much at the time. It was sort of the remnants of several organizations. It did have some money.”
With Kindleberger as president and Atwood as chief engineer, North American started to compete for military contracts. “We wanted to become a viable engineering and manufacturing company. And the only way we could see to do it was getting the Army and Navy work. The trainer business was the first thing we found we could handle.”
“The first plane was the Basic Trainer Nine. It became, after a series of evolutions and increased power, the AT-6 eventually. We opened the planes up so they were easier to work on. Our assembly time was much much lower than our competitors.” With an innovative construction technique that involved making structures in halves, adding mechanical systems, and then closing them up like a clamshell, North American came in 20% below industry average in labor costs.
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B-24 LIBERATORS
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VISIT ADDISON visitaddison.com
CAVANAUGH FLIGHT MUSEUM
AT-6 Flight Experience $345 (add aerobatics for $50)
FLIGHT SCHOOL Forward student cockpit on the T-6 Texan (designated the “Harvard” in the British Commonwealth) at the South African Air Force Museum.
IN 1939 CONSOLIDATED AIRCRAFT Corporation, the primary builder of B-24 Liberators, had been looking to expand its operations from California to a central state. The firm was being courted heavily by both Dallas and Fort Worth.
Dallas, with lobbying from Mayor Woodall Rogers, proposed a property to Consolidated just southwest of the city, near Mountain Creek Lake in Grand Prairie, as having great potential for its aircraft factory. But Consolidated lacked funding, and when it had to back out, another firm stood in the wings: North American Aviation, whose vice president and chief engineer had been raised and educated in Texas.
With Atwood’s business connections in Texas and Kindleberger’s influence in Washington, the only thing standing in the way of the new factory was
a decision from the Defense Plant Corporation. That decision lay with RFC chair Jesse Holman Jones, who was just weeks away from becoming Secretary of Commerce.
On August 23, 1940, North American Aviation signed the contracts to build Plancor-25 adjacent to Hensley Field in Grand Prairie. As one of the largest construction projects of the entire war, the factory broke ground on September 28 and by March 30, 1941, the first AT-6 Texan rolled off the assembly line at the new factory.
North American took out an ad in Life Magazine that year to tout its ramp-up as “The Dallas Story: From Plain to Planes in 120 Days.” Squadrons soar overhead as a cattle-driving cowboy on horseback reins in his mount in amazement.
DALLAS LIFE
North American Aviation, Inc., ran a fullpage advertisement in Life to tout its Plancor-25 facility. Courtesy of Rockwell International archive
The Dallas factory grew to be the most productive in the nation during World War II, producing a total of 18,784 planes. The factory became the region’s largest single employer, with over 32,000 employees.
THE T-6 BECAME THE WORKHORSE of combat aviation training. During the war, pilots would start out in a primary trainer such as a Boeing PT-17 Stearman at 220 horsepower, then move on to a basic trainer like the BT-13 at 450 horsepower. The final phase of pilot training would be at least 75 hours in the AT-6 with 600 horsepower and retractable landing gear. This training turned out to be a key strategic advantage for the U.S. in winning the air war.
Immediately upon Japan’s surrender in 1945, the Dallas plant was shut down and the workers dismissed. They had done their part to help win the war. Their experience and newly acquired skills, however, would fuel the economic vitality of Dallas for decades to come.
The T-6 Texan help set its namesake state on a track to become one of the world’s biggest economies.
It’s still soaring over Dallas skies, too. Restored T-6es, including fully maintained airworthy craft, can be found in aviation museums around the state and seen in airshows. A little north of its home base, at the Cavanaugh Flight Museum in Addison, civilian visitors may experience the T-6 for themselves, taking a ride in this wartime legend.
Junction’s Lovers Leap becomes the hill of Calvary for a 70th year
Taking a Trip Back in Time
Touring the West Texas World War II Museums
by Brenda Kizziar
In flat, arid West Texas, the land seems to go on forever, and to the traveler the destination might always seem just out of reach. But seventy-five years ago, in a world at war, that desert landscape was just what the American military required for training, logistics, and bases of operations. While it’s hard today to grasp what life and work were like on those military bases, today seven World War II museums of West Texas provide fascinating glimpses into the past—a trip back in time for visitors.
The Rattlesnake Bomber Base Museum of Ward County—so named for the diamondback rattler common to the area—was originally located in tiny Pyote but is now relocated to the larger city of Monahans. Home to thousands of men of the Army Air Base as well as the 19th Bombardier Group responsible
BOMBER BASE The Rattlesnake Bomber Base was decommissioned in 1960. | Courtesy Rattlesnake Bomber Base Museum
for training on B-17 planes, the base was closed in the 1960s. The museum proudly displays photos, artifacts and uniforms that honor the soldiers who trained there.
Fifty miles east is the Midland Army Airfield Museum, on the site of the privately owned Sloan Field, that boasted a flying school in 1927 but was renamed Midland Army Airfield when pressed into military duty in 1942. MAF welcomed its first cadets for precision bombardier training using the Norden Bombsight, a game-changer in the accuracy of Allied missions. A few planes displayed are the Beech C-45, the T-28 Trojan, and a Japanese aircraft replica.
Pyote’s base was not the only one to train bombardiers, as Hangar 25 in Big Spring also prepared soldiers for this job. Set in this authentic hangar are World War II memorabilia from Webb Air Force Base—including a restored B-52 cockpit that visitors may climb into. Established in 1942, the base was set up to train over 10,000 bomber pilots and crew. Today, Hangar 25 promotes a Veteran of the Month to share the stories
of their training and service.
If your interest lies with the women of World War II, then the National WASP World War II Museum in Sweetwater should pique your curiosity. The Women Airforce Service Pilots program was developed to train female pilots who already had licenses to fly planes on support missions such as target banner practice and aircraft delivery. Over 1,100 female pilots stepped up to answer the call, freeing male pilots for combat duty. Sweetwater’s own Avenger Field was home and training site to the only all-female training base in the United States.
The 12th Armored Division Memorial Museum of Abilene was home to the Hellcats, nicknamed for their fearsome fighting and responsible for the capture of over 70,000 German soldiers. The Hellcats’ efforts were significant in liberating Nazi death camps. Among these soldiers was Staff Sergeant Edward A. Carter, Jr., awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for such heroics. The 12th Armored Division was activated in September 1942, training
soldiers in tanks, field artillery, and motorized infantry battalion. Today, this museum is dedicated to the education and preservation of this great unit’s rich history.
Lending insight into the Air Force’s Glider Pilots Program is the Silent Wings Museum of Lubbock, where pilots trained at the South Plains Army Airfield. Beginning in 1941, these soldiers’ mission was to deliver military equipment into combat zones without detection. Some of the bravest pilots of their time were enrolled in the glider program—not only were they not allotted personal parachutes, the gliders were not equipped with motors. This museum has made it their mission to give voice to the Silent Wings.
At the Texas Air & Space Museum of Amarillo, located between Rick Husband International Airport and a major Bell Helicopter facility, the motto is “Aviators of the past remem-
bered, aviators of the future inspired.” This museum tells the story of Amarillo Army Airfield, featuring artifacts from the 1942 maintenance training on B-17 aircraft, specifically the Flying Fortress. Student soldiers were trained in a 76-day course with class sessions around the clock in hydraulic systems, electric systems, and aircraft engines. As training ended, the base closed in 1946; today, the large hangar provides indoor display space for numerous restored aircraft and a magnificent view of the flight line.
Each of the West Texas World War II Museums has its own unique style in retelling the stories of the era and displays distinctive artifacts that span different communities of the Texas Heritage Trail Regions from the Permian Basin to the Panhandle. But all work together to weave the inspiring story of World War II and its impact on the West Texas way of life.
12th Armored Division Museum
1289 N. 2nd St., Abilene, TX 79601 (325) 677-6515 | HOURS TuesdaySaturday 10 am–5 pm | ADMISSION $5 adults; $4 seniors, military, students; $2 children 7–12 (6 and under free); WW II veterans free
6202 N. Interstate 27, Lubbock, TX 79403 | (806) 775-3049 | HOURS Tuesday–Saturday 10 am–5 pm, Sunday 1–5 pm | Admission: $8 seniors; $6 youth 7–17; $5 with student ID; active military and children free
Texas Air & Space Museum
10001 American Dr. Amarillo, TX 79111 (806) 335-9159 | HOURS Monday–Saturday 10 am–4 pm | No admission fee; donations accepted
PLENTY OF SPACE FOR AIR & SPACE
Amarillo’s Texas Air & Space Museum has room for a Douglas DC-3. This one, N34, delivered to the museum in February 2014, is one of three moveable items (the others being San Francisco’s famed cable car, and New Orleans’ streetcars) named to the National Register of Historic Places. | Courtesy Richard Warner
If the prospect of seeing any of these aeronautical feats gets your blood pumping, then boy, have we got a roster of Texas-sized events for you.
Airshows have had a long run in Texas, whose skies and horizons have lured pilots since the dawn of modern aviation. Not long after a crowd of Houstonians paid a dollar each to witness French flier Louis Paulhan’s flight on February 19, 1910, according to photographic preservationist Story
John Sloane III, Moisants International Aviators of France brought a touring group to Houston January 27–30, 1911. Local aviators put together their own event in November of that year.
Soon, the world would become embroiled in a war that tested their growing knowledge of powered flight, and acrobats and barnstorming pilots traveled the U.S. showing off newly acquired skills and improved flying machines.
Today, aviation fans have opportunities across the continent to witness elite military units such as the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels, the U.S. Air Force’s Thunderbirds, and the Canadian Forces Snowbirds demonstrate maneuvers. They can see vintage warbirds, state-of-the-art rotorcraft, gliders, and other distinctive craft from past and present. They can meet pilots, see exhibitions of planes and gear on the ground, buy merch, take photos, bond with likeminded souls.
Texas’s climate accommodates airshows year round, so we’ll get you started with a roster of events from every heritage trail region. For more, visit calendars at airshowstuff.com or milavia.net.
And to enhance your experience, especially if you’re making a first outing, airshow aficionado Rob Wubbenhorst of Houston provides some useful tips at www.fighterpilotpodcast. com/musing/how-to-enjoy-an-airshow
Fiesta
of Flight Air and Space Expo
March 14, 2020
Laughlin AFB, Del Rio laughlin.af.mil/Fiesta-of-Flight-2020
Headlined by U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds demonstration team
An exciting aerobatic air show and fun for the whole family
Wings Over South Texas Air Show
April 4–5, 2020
NAS Kingsville, 554 McCain St #214 Kingsville, TX 78363 wingsoversouthtexas.com
An action-packed show, with free admission and parking on base, featuring the U.S. Navy Blue Angels. VIP tickets go on sale March 9.
Thunder Over Cedar Creek Lake Air Show
July 4, 2020
Mabank, TX (Tyler area) tocclairshow.com
Aerial acrobatics are viewable for free from boat, lake shores, and private property
Thunder Over Dalhart
August 14–15, 2020 Dalhart, TX
David Martin Aerobatics; Mike “Spanky” Gallaway, Announcer/Pilot; Mini Jet Airshows
Wings Over Houston Airshow
October 10–11, 2020
Ellington Field, Houston, TX wingsoverhouston.com
Featuring the Canadian Forces Snowbirds in 2020. One of the United States’ top air shows, it showcases vintage World War II aircraft, along with the thrills of modern aviation, and has supported a variety of local and national charities during its 35-year history.
High Sky Wing AIRSHO
September 12–13, 2020
9600 Wright Dr., Midland, TX 79706 airsho.org
In addition to one of the most impressive flying displays of vintage military aircraft anywhere, you’ll also see some of the most popular civilian aerobatic performers.
29th
Annual Bluebonnet Air Show
September 26, 2020
Kate Craddock Field, Burnet Municipal Airport 2302 S. Water St. Burnet, TX 78611 bluebonnetairshow.com
The Highland Lakes Squadron of the Commemorative Air Force also has a museum that will be open to the public at no admission cost during the Airshow.
Dyess
Big Country Air & Space Expo
May 9–10, 2020
Dyess AFB, TX (Abilene) bigcountryairfest.org
The 16-member Blue Angels team headlines this airshow, with three members from Texas: Capt. Eric C. Doyle, League City; Lt. Cmdr. James Haley, Canadian; Cmdr. Matt Kaslik, The Woodlands. They fly F/A Hornets, which can reach speeds just under Mach 2—almost twice the speed of sound or about 1,400 mph.
Bell Fort Worth Alliance Air Show
October 17–18, 2020
Fort Worth, TX allianceairshow.com
One of the biggest annual events in the North Texas region, typically drawing 120,000 spectators; featuring the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and the A-10 Demonstration Team
JB San Antonio Kelly Field Air & Space Show
November 14–15, 2020
Joint Base San Antonio, TX
Featuring the Canadian Forces Snowbirds, the F-22 Raptor Demonstration Team, Flash Fire Jet Trucks, and more
BRAZOS TRAIL
FORTS TRAIL
FOREST TRAIL
HILL COUNTRY TRAIL
INDEPENDENCE TRAIL
INDEPENDENCE TRAIL
LAKES TRAIL PECOS TRAIL
PECOS TRAIL
PLAINS TRAIL
TROPICAL TRAIL
Balloons over Texas
Get in and go, or just enjoy the glow
by Barbara Brannon
UP, UP AND AWAY While hot-air balloon events can be found all across the Lone Star State, the cities of Abilene, Canton, Longview, and Plano go all out and up each year. | iStock/ Getty Images
What lifts the spirit more than the sight of colorful hot-air balloons against a cerulean Texas sky?
Of course it’s possible to appreciate the spectacle from anywhere you might happen to spot a balloon in flight—but festivals and races broaden the experience to include lots more fun, sport, and artistry, and often to support a worthy cause.
A few Texas cities are known for major ballooning events. While Plano, which held its first rally in 1980 with fifty pilots, was proclaimed the Balloon Capital of Texas that same year, Longview claimed the same title starting in 1985. Gregg County (of which Longview is the seat) was named the Balloon Race Capital of Texas by the 83rd Texas Legislature in 2013. Plano opened its Oak Point Park, purpose-built for the balloon festival, in 2003.
How do balloons race, you might wonder, when they have no direct control of flight direction? First off, hot-air balloons are flown by FAA-licensed pilots. Unlike automobiles or aircraft, balloons don’t race to see who reaches a finish line fastest; instead,
competitions like the “Hare and Hound” usually score how close a pilot can get to a pre-determined target, where small weighted markers are dropped. “Competition pilots have become quite skilled in reading the winds aloft and using them to their advantage to get where they want to be,” explains one website. “Competition directors have developed extremely complicated tasks for pilots to accomplish.”
Here’s a bit of background to help you make the most of the spectator experience.
On some of the major festivals’ websites, you can learn about the construction and operation of hot air balloons; history of balloons; and rules for a vari-
ety of competition events. If you’re interested in going up, you might shell out a few hundred dollars for a full flight— and you’ll need to reserve your spot in advance. But many festivals take guests a few feet up in a tethered flight, for a lot less—providing some great photo angles and a taste of being airborne.
Balloon glows, held at dusk when the colorful, translucent envelopes are inflated and brightly lit while gondolas remain on the ground, provide some of the most dramatic photo ops of the festival. Fireworks displays and parachute jumping competitions provide more great camera moments.
Balloon festivals are usually family-friendly, casual, and modestly priced; most events also charge a parking fee. Tickets can often be purchased in advance, allowing guests to bypass the box office and go straight to the admission gate.
Although balloon fests are usually held in large, open park spaces, bringing pets is strongly discouraged (or completely prohibited), as the loud noises from balloon burners can make pets anxious.
As for food, drink, and coolers, the Plano event’s website makes a good point: “We do not prohibit coolers; however, we do strongly discourage people from bringing them. Our mission is to provide nonprofit agencies an opportunity to raise funds and awareness for their programs and services.”
Blankets or lawn chairs are great for viewing balloon launches.
Dress for the season, and don’t forget sunscreen—as well as a compact flashlight for walking around after dark.
And since most of these events bring huge crowds to their cities, it takes a village of volunteers, vendors, and sponsors to pull any festival together. Staff must coordinate fund-raising, logistics, pilot registration, guest relations, photographer and media credentials, and much, much more . . . and keep a keen eye on the weather!
Be sure to thank your favorite pilots and all the other folks who organize these events for fun and sport.
The Balloon Fest started at the Thompson Airfield in 2011, and soon moved onto the First Monday Grounds in Canton. Each year the festival highlights East Texas music with a Battle of the Bands competition on Saturday and the event opens on Friday night each year with live music, balloon glow, and vendors. Family fun activities include pony rides, bounce houses, climbing wall, car show and a 5K glow run on Friday night. Balloons compete in a sanctioned competition by the Balloon Federation of America. Tethered rides (during event) and full balloon rides are available by reservation.
Every summer about fifty balloonists participate in the exciting competition. Other entertainment activities include live concerts, balloon tours, and flights. Balloon glows entertain spectators every night with a great display of color and excitement. Specially shaped balloons that look like Darth Vader, Master Yoda, Tall Steve, Claw’d and Neptuno appear at various locations in Longview. Friday’s competitive flights take place over the City of Longview and parts of Gregg County; Saturday and Sunday’s events take place at the regional airport grounds. Each morning the flight launch and targets are determined based on prevailing winds. The Gregg County Historical
Museum includes a GTBR historical exhibit that illuminates the history of the GBTR.
Central Market Plano Balloon Festival & Run
FRIDAY–SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18–20, 2020
Oak Point Park, 2801 E. Spring Creek Parkway, Plano, Texas planoballoonfest.org
The Official Hot Air Balloon Capital of Texas hosts more than 90,000 attendees during Festival weekend, with ancillary events like Half Marathon, 10K, 5K and 1K road races, a Balloon Glow, entertainment and main stage performances, the Plano Symphony Orchestra Instrument Area, a fly-in competition, and photo opportunities. The major draw for this Balloon Festival will be the forty magnificent, colorful, hot air balloons. Twelve featured Special Shapes have participated in the past:
The New Tweetie, Bimbo Bear, High Kitty, TeAmo, Kermie, Simba, Shamrock, Puddy, Mr. Biddle, Owlbert Eyenstein, Peg Leg Pete the Pirate Parrot, and the always popular High Jack. 26th Annual Big Country Balloon Fest
FRIDAY–SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25–27, 2020
Red Bud Park, 3125 S. 32nd St., Abilene, TX 79605 (325) 795-0995 bigcountryballoonfest.org
This popular event, with food, craft and entertainment booths; children’s area with inflatables; pony rides, train rides, quad jump, and rock wall; performances; and tethered rides, benefits the local Optimist Club to support children in the Big Country.
FOREST TRAIL
LAKES TRAIL
FORTS TRAIL
BALLOONING Enthusiasts flock to the annual Balloon Festival in Plano. Courtesy Visit Plano
Sky Trails
History Takes Flight at Texas’s Commercial Airports
by Eric Miller
While most of Authentic Texas’s “Trail Drives” follow auto routes, this one may best be accomplished by taking to the air. Instead of looking for a friend to ride drag you may want to find a wing man.
Lots of Texas history is linked to aviation, and particularly to airport passenger terminals across the state. So make note if you find yourself with a layover in some of Texas’s commercial passenger airports. (Or take to the skies yourself, if you are one of Texas’ 86,000+ active FAA-licensed pilots.)
The oldest link on the trail is in San Antonio. Stinson Field, now Stinson Municipal Airport, is the second oldest continuously operating airport in the nation and the oldest west of the Mississippi. Founded in 1916 when the Stinson family established their flying school, it became San Antonio’s first municipal air-
REACH FOR THE STARS A bronze in Amarillo’s international airport memorializes the city’s native son, astronaut Rick Husband, who perished along with all of the crew of the shuttle Columbia on February 1, 2003. | Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport
port. Still a general aviation (private aircraft) airport with a beautiful WPA terminal dating from 1935, Stinson is located along the city’s Mission Trail, between Mission San Jose and Mission San Juan Capistrano, just 16 miles from its much larger cousin, San Antonio International Airport. Also, it is home to the Texas Air Museum at Stinson Field. And don’t forget San Antonio’s link to military aviation, starting at Fort Sam Houston in 1910. What a great first stop!
The 1940 Air Terminal Museum in Houston is the beautiful building you see flash by when landing or departing on a scheduled commercial flight at Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport. It’s on the west side of the airport along runway 13R/31L. It’s a beautiful Art Deco building where Braniff Airways and Eastern Airlines passengers landed or departed starting in 1940. With regular operating hours, lots of permanent displays, and a great website to help plan your visit, you may want to schedule a morning or afternoon layover the next time you fly through Houston Hobby. Just step outside to the public transportation area to get a taxi or a ride service for the short ride to the museum.
Amarillo’s Rick Husband
Amarillo International Airport makes the list because of its namesake. Husband was an Amarillo native, an astronaut, and commander of NASA’s STS-107 mission in 2003. The space shuttle Columbia was the crew’s home for sixteen days as they conducted more than eighty experiments. Tragically, Columbia disintegrated on re-entry to Earth’s atmosphere on February 1 as it passed over Husband’s home state. Many pieces of the shuttle were found strewn along its flight path over east Texas. All the crew perished.
Texas Air Museum at Stinson Field
1234 99th St., San Antonio, TX 78214 (210) 977-9885
texasairmuseum.org
Tuesday–Saturday, 9 a.m.–4 p.m.; closed Sunday and Monday (holiday hours subject to change)
Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas Love Field Airport, 6911 Lemmon Ave., Dallas, TX 75209 (214) 350-3600
flightmuseum.com
Monday–Saturday 10 am–5 pm; Sunday 1–5
Find a small display in the main terminal recounting Husband’s life and his career at NASA. It is right next to the main ticket counter. Don’t miss the largerthan-life statue of Husband located in the terminal’s general waiting area with the starry-sky ceiling above his out-stretched arm. Then, turn around to see the Airport Art Project featuring local and regional artists. It’s all in the terminal’s public area—no need to worry about clearing TSA security.
Every Texan who flies probably has changed planes at Dallas’ Love Field at some point in their life; some are there several times a week. It certainly has the legs to be a historic landmark. Founded in 1917 as an army air base and transitioned into the city’s main airfield until the 1970s, it may be best known for a couple of events linked to its past.
Love Field was the location for Air Force One in 1963 when then–vice president Lyndon B. Johnson took the oath of office after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Just ten years later, Love Field was the focus of legal and political battles over the development of the new Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Fledgling Southwest Airlines refused to move to the new airport. Over forty years later, thanks in large part to Southwest, Dallas Love Field is one of the busiest airports in the nation, and Southwest is a major force in the American travel industry. (For a more in-depth history of Love Field, see page 40.)
A state historical marker at the intersection of Herb Kelleher Way and Aviation Place outlines the story. And don’t miss the Frontiers of Flight Museum, located at Love Field.
HOUSTON’S 1940 Art Deco Air Terminal Museum harks back to an earlier era of air travel, while San Antonio’s historic terminal was once home to the Stinson flyng school. | 1940 Air Terminal Museum; City of San Antonio
No Wrong Way to Enjoy Feldman’s
by Eric Miller
Planning a three-hour tour around Canyon, Texas?
Maybe a visit to the Panhandle-Plains Historic Museum, a trip around the historic courthouse square, a tour of the “new” West Texas A&M University campus, a hike in Palo Duro Canyon State Park, or a show at the Texas Musical Drama (June to August only) are on your bucket list. Whatever your activity, bring your castaways (I mean friends and family) to relax and eat at Feldman’s Wrong Way Diner.
A landmark for close to twenty years, it started just a block off Canyon’s square then moved to a prime spot just a block
west of U.S. 87, the main north/south drag through Canyon across from West Texas A&M.
SO WHY “WRONG WAY”?
According to a 2017 Canyon News feature with owner Danny Bird, the people of Canyon selected the name from a list of a couple dozen possibilities. Wrong Way Feldman was a lost barnstormer and American ace pilot who appeared as one of the castaways on an episode of the classic 1960s television show Gilligan’s Island—and who just might’ve been based on the real-life flier Douglas Corrigan (1907–1995) of Galveston, Texas.
But the bottom line is—there is no wrong way to enjoy Feldman’s. Service is quick and friendly, food is hot and plentiful. The day I visited (cold, gray with the threat of snow), locals were eating burgers, chicken fried steak (the restaurant’s top seller), catfish, soups and salads. I left before the table with three black cowboy hats was served, but their presence convinced me from the start it would be good quality, good amounts, and a good price.
Surprisingly, the décor isn’t all about aviation, Gilligan’s Island, or sixties television shows. You’ll find each laminated tabletop features themed mementos—I ate with the Beatles on my table.
Chamber of Commerce visitcanyontx.com
Wrong Way Diner 2100 N. 2nd Ave. Canyon, TX, 79015 (806) 655-2700 www.feldmans diner.com
Others included vintage signs, Route 66, motorcycle and auto brands, and more. The walls are lined with movie posters, WT uniforms, and souvenirs, and one large wall in the main dining room is covered in clocks. There’s a nice relief of the Lighthouse from Palo Duro Canyon, too. Don’t miss the original script from Gilligan’s Island framed behind the front welcome counter.
Perhaps the most memorable attraction is the large-scale model railroad layout suspended from the ceiling that makes its way throughout the entire restaurant. (I’m an “O” gauge guy, so I watched the train throughout my entire visit.)
The menu is large, certainly enough to please everyone on the TV show. Gilligan might like a burger (there are eight to choose from), while the Skipper seems like a chicken fried steak kind of guy. The millionaire Howells should appreciate some of the higher-priced menu items like a USDA choice ribeye or the house baby back ribs. Remember, most items are reasonably priced—well within an Authentic Texas reader’s budget.
Movie star Ginger would choose from half a dozen salads, no doubt. While I suspect the professor and Mary Ann would enjoy just about anything, I don’t think anyone from the Minnow would be up to the Big Lebowski Burger, with fried eggs, cheese, lots of bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion and a burger, all served
between two grilled cheese sandwiches—but maybe you would! Sounds like Feldman’s own eating contest.
Me? I ordered the green chile cheeseburger, juicy and spicy (not hot) at the same time. The fries were crisp. Peach cobbler with ice cream (my splurge) was tasty, with flaky crust. It cut the cold from outside. Best of all, you are encour-
aged to tell them how they are doing. A small blue comment card is placed on your table with your silverware, and the bright yellow comment box on the way out is an easy way to share your feedback.
I still remember by server’s name— Brenna—and gave her good marks on my comment card. Nothing wrong, here.
NEVER WRONG Home made peach cobbler topped with ice cream is a great finish.
Steak Finger Headquarters
Put Buddy’s Drive In on Your Own Bucket List
by Melissa Hagins
In Andrews, Texas, half a century ago, two best friends had a common goal to work for themselves.
Minnie “Granny” Coleman and Floy “Nan” Robertson decided to take on the old Paragon Drive-in restaurant, clean it up, and start a business of their own. They reopened it as Buddy’s Drive In, also known as Steak Finger Headquarters. The “Texas Bucket List” show picked it as their “Bite of the Week” in October 2018.
Minne and Floy were like family for each other. After the women passed away within a year of each other, the grandchildren took over ownership, but daily operations are handled by Floy’s daughter-in-law Janie Robertson, whose husband also
helps out some.
The steak fingers at Buddy’s are known all over West Texas as the best in the area. People will make the trip to Andrews from wherever they are—and the distances aren’t always short—just to get a taste of these delicious pieces of heaven. They’re cooked to order, requiring about 10 minutes to prepare a plateful, and Buddy’s serves so many, it takes 17 staffers, including 3 fry cooks, just to keep up.
FRY NOT TRY ’EM?
Buddy’s has been serving up steak fingers in Andrews, Texas, since 1969.
(Time was, Buddy’s offered up a menu as vast as any other diner’s, but customer demand for the steak fingers was so insistent, they cut down their list. These days they do still offer a few other classics—like the chicken fried steak that’s so enormous, they have to serve the fries and toast on a separate plate.)
Just what are steak fingers, you ask?
Well, the cooks start with a large piece of beef steak, slice it by hand, dip the log-shaped pieces in egg wash and then bread ’em all by hand with a special recipe of flour and spices. Each plate starts with a full pound of fresh, never frozen, beef—but who’s measuring? These chefs have been making the dish for so many years they know a serving size by feel. Your plate comes with half a dozen of the crusty, deep-fried delights, gravy for dipping, Texas toast, and, of course, fries. You’ll need a large size iced tea to top that all off with. You might not need dessert.
Buddy’s dishes up so many steak fingers, they get two meat deliveries a
week. “One time they didn’t order meat because they had been closed,” said Robertson. “The meat company was concerned about them and called to check that they were okay.”
With the oil business booming, Buddy’s serves about 150 meals a day, between curbside and dine-in. And since the dining room offers only sixteen four-tops, during the lunch rush there’s usually a line out the door for a table. Not to mention that after high school football games they handle dozens of to-go orders for visiting teams’ aftergame meal.
Everyone who lives in west Texas knows about Buddy’s. Robertson said they “try to keep things as original to the way Floy and Minnie did it fifty years ago.” Why mess with something that works so well?
Janie and her staff are working on a celebration for their fiftieth anniversary party. It will be an event everyone will want to attend—so just make sure to call your order in ahead of time.
Buddy’s Drive In
106 E. Broadway Andrews, TX 79714 (432) 523-4890
Hours
Tuesday–Saturday 11 am–2:30 pm and 5–8:30 pm
Andrews Chamber of Commerce
700 W. Broadway Andrews, TX 79714 (432) 523-2695 andrewstx.com
DON’T MISS
Farley Boat Works
The Fine Art of Wooden Craft
by Mike Carlisle
When you enter the Farley Boat Works, you are immediately immersed and transported back to the era of wooden boat building. The smell of freshly cut lumber reaches your olfactory sense, and sounds of sanders, saws, and other woodworking tools fill your ears. You watch the nearly lost art of building wooden boats by hand.
Farley Boat Works is a re-creation of the original 1915 shop, where people build classic models of Farley boats or resurrect others. Although Farley Boat Works existed in several other locations, its fourth and last shop has been restored and serves as a living museum in Port Aransas, on the Texas Gulf coast. Children and teens from local schools can learn about woodworking while building their own wooden creations to take home. Farley Boat Works provides a place for people of all ages to go and learn about local history and experience an important aspect of what shaped “Port A.”
In order to educate people about the history of Port Aransas and the island culture that surrounded building boats, Rick Pratt, retired director of the Port Aransas Museum, wanted the boat works reestablished in 2011. The Port Aransas
Visit Port Aransas portaransas.org
Farley Boat Works 716 W Ave. C Port Aransas, TX 78373 (361) 816-9789 portaransasmuseum.org/farley-boatworks
Hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 8:30 am–noon and 1–5 pm
BIG FISH Port Aransas fishing guide Barney Farley Sr., right, holds a 77-pound tarpon that President Franklin D. Roosevelt, seated, caught on May 8, 1937, in Port Aransas waters. | Port Aransas South Jetty
Preservation Historical Association (PAPHA) bought the structure early that year, and opened the doors to the restored Farley Boat Works building on February 7, 2012. Boat building lessons for the general public commenced the same day!
With its string of locales in Port A, Farley Boat Works is by far the oldest major boat building business in the city’s history. Most of its boats were designed open for tarpon fishing rather than with closed cabins. According to Pratt, the all-wood boats that the Farley family built were typical of the tarpon era.
(One of the most famous fishermen to go out in a Farley boat while visiting Port Aransas was President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who landed a five-foot tarpon in 1937.)
Besides the iconic Farley boats, the Farley Boat Works has facilitated over 100 different other boat builds, covering a wide gamut from kayaks and simple stand-up paddleboards to large kit boats like the Classic 19 Express. The kit boats arrive as a pallet of 4 x 8 sheets of plywood cut into jigsaw pieces, ready to assemble into a classic cabin cruiser at a fraction of the usual purchase price.
Multimedia presentations on display throughout the building describe and document boat building projects like the Port Aransas Skiff and Gulf Coast Scow Schooner. A replica named Lydia Ann, inherited from another nonprofit in 2015 represents the first scow schooner being built in over a century.
When it’s finished, Pratt envisions the Lydia Ann schooner eventually being used for historical sightseeing tours through the jetties and around Port Aransas.
Volunteers are crucial to such building projects, Pratt says. In the off season, Winter Texans like Steve Potter make up the majority of volunteers— putting in their time at the “husband daycare center.”
If you are interested in building a Port Aransas skiff firsthand, you can purchase all the materials to complete a boat from Farley Boat Works. Prepare to spend ten to eighty eight-hour days on your feet, depending on the number of friends and family you can involve. Farley Boat Works provides all the building materials except primer and paint. “We offer the tools, the advice, and a willing hand to help you build your own boat,” explains manager Dan Pecore. “You supply the elbow grease.”
Seafood & Spaghetti Works
910 TX-361
Port Aransas, TX 78373 (361) 749-5666
Island Cafe Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, & Seafood!
301 S. Alister St. Port Aransas, TX 78373 (361) 749-1741
Wooden Boat Festival
Port Aransas April 24–26, 2020 portaransaswoodenboatfestival.org
BACK IN THE BOAT Hurricane Harvey amay have hammered Farley Boat Works and swept away its garage, but the outfit is recovering and actively educating people about the history and fascination of hand-built wooden boats. | Photo by Mike Carlisle
DON’T MISS
Calvary in the Hill Country
Junction To Stage 70th Presentation of Easter Pageant
by Tim Chandler
Viewing the site , it’s easy to imagine a rocky, brush-strewn hill outside Jerusalem.
Looking up, you can see the 24-foot lighted concrete cross on top of the hill whose northeast slope provides a prospect of Highway 481 connecting with Interstate Highway 10 south to San Antonio. The crest of the hill overlooking the golf course, the fairgrounds, and the South Llano River is known as Lovers Leap, but the hill below has for the past seventy years been known as the Easter Pageant Grounds.
It was here in 1950 that the newly organized Men’s Bible Class held the first Easter Pageant in Kimble County. The class had been formed in 1948 by Methodist minister James Jordan, who noted that many men unwilling to attend church would nonetheless attend a class. They began meeting in the Junction movie
theater, and their classes were broadcast for years on local KMBL radio. The class whose first project was the construction of the Everlasting Cross atop the hill in 1949 then poured the original 40' x 100' concrete stage for the pageant the following year.
At an early Easter morning service in 1949 broadcast from the foot of that new cross, Kimble County native and former Texas governor Coke Stevenson spoke to an audience of 1,500 worshippers gathered in the valley below declaring that for the believer, “There is a better life in a better world.” It was this occasion that
PAGEANTRY In a vividly colored scene (above) from the Easter Pageant of Junction, high priests pass judgment on Jesus.
sparked the Men’s Bible Class to produce the first pageant the following Easter.
Nearly seven decades later, the passion play has never been canceled for any reason, including inclement weather. It is produced entirely by volunteers and still sponsored by the Men’s Bible Class, led for the last several years by director Larry Trimble. According to Trimble, the cast has varied from the original twenty-three members to as many as 150 over the years. As for the event’s leadership, however, he notes, “I’m not really the director—actually more of an assistant director who gets direction from a higher source.” Trimble has been involved in every role and capacity involved in putting on the show from lighting, to reading scripts, acting, and set construction.
By the event’s second year, in a story dated March 29, 1951, the Junction Eagle newspaper declared the show a rousing success. A front-page story headlined “Easter Story Attracts Throngs Here Sunday,” described the scene. “A colorful and stirring Easter Pageant at the foot of the cross on Lovers Leap was seen by 2,500 visitors, starting at 3:30 am Sunday morning, sponsored by the Men’s Bible Class.” It was reported that the cast included 34 main characters, with 23 acts portraying the last week of Christ’s life and includ-
ing a five-minute sermon, a choir, and coffee and donuts served from Ranger Capt. Gully Cowsert’s chuck wagon.
The Easter Story 70th annual performance Saturday, April 11, 2020
From downtown Junction, follow Main Street south across the old South Llano River bridge at the edge of town where it becomes Highway 481. Starting up the hill, turn right onto FM 2169 and then left onto County Road 181, which takes you to the parking area for the pageant on the south side of the Junction Golf Course.
The pageant begins at sundown on Easter Eve, and no admission fee is charged. Lawn chairs, tailgates, and bag chairs are welcome—but be sure to come prepared for unpredictable weather.
For visitors coming to Junction at times other than Pageant evening, it’s still possible to appreciate the vista from Lovers Leap. From downtown Junction, continue across the river and up the hill on CR 181, turning sharply back to the right to ascend the hill where the Great Cross is mounted. Scenes of valley and town below are worth the climb!
Junction Tourism
730 Main St. Junction, TX 76849
(325) 446-2622
www.junctiontexas.com
By 1955 plans were reported in the local paper for the fifth annual Easter Pageant involving material for new costumes, improved light and sound, and printed programs, and a resolution urging all men in the 80-person cast to grow beards through Easter Sunday. A follow-up story that year also reported that “as soon as the Easter Pageant is over, Wilson Buster has agreed to take his hair trimmers to the Pageant, plug them in immediately following the show and relieve the boys of their facial hair.”
Over the years, start time has been adjusted from that first year when it began at half past three on Easter morning to midnight the night before, then 10 p.m., and now about thirty minutes after sundown on Easter Eve. As it was in 1950, admission to the play is still free, the audience still parks their automobiles at the base of the hillside beginning at noon, refreshments are still served, and the pageant story remains unchanged. For the 70th edition of the Pageant on April 18, 2020, around 9 p.m. when the crowd has gathered and the cast is in place, there will be a brief recital of the names of those original twenty-three men who started it all in 1950.
TIMELESS STORY The Junction Men’s Sunday School Class (right and below) has staged the Pageant annually since 1950.
soaring Stinson
Soar above the desert with Burt Compton of Marfa Karnes County courthouse
On an unusually brisk April afternoon in 2018, county residents packed the courthouse square in Karnes City, located about an hour’s drive southeast of San Antonio. They were celebrating one of the most dramatic transformations in the twenty-year history of the Texas Historical Commission’s (THC) Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program (THCPP).
The 1894 Romanesque Revival courthouse is the third to serve Karnes County. The first was a log cabin erected in 1854 in the original county seat of Helena, an important stagecoach stop between San Antonio and Goliad. It was destroyed by a fire in 1865, and a new stone courthouse, designed by architect John Jacob Riley, was built in 1873 in Helena, where it still stands today.
By the 1880s, the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway was planning a route from San Antonio to the Gulf Coast, but Helena residents didn’t raise enough money or donate sufficient land for the project. Instead, local rancher William Green Butler offered property west of Helena through what is now Karnes City. The railroad subsequently bypassed Helena and designed a route through Karnes City; the populated and prosperous railroad town became the new county seat in 1893.
FULL-COURT PRESS Reflecting its original 1894 architectural glory, the restored Karnes County courthouse has garnered a raft of awards, incuding the Conservation Society of San Antonio’s 2020 Historic Preservation Award, presented this spring. | Texas Historical Commission
AWAITING RESTORATION In 1920, Karnes County renovated its 1894 courthouse to make it more modern for its time. | Wayne Wendell
COMING TO ORDER
Sixty-eight years later, the courtroom was restored to its full twostory height, and the building stands ready again to serve new generations of Texans. | Texas Historical Commission
Soon after, Karnes County officials accepted courthouse design bids— including offers from prominent Texas courthouse designers Alfred Giles and J. Riely Gordon—before ultimately awarding the project to John Cormack, who built courthouses in Concho, Somerville, and Uvalde counties. The courthouse was dedicated in October 1894 and completed in May 1895. The three-story brick courthouse was rusticated with stone trim, featuring Second Empire and Richardsonian Romanesque elements with projected mansard towers, cylindrical corner towers, and a central clock tower.
In 1920, the county renovated the courthouse to make it more modern for its time. Alterations included two additions on the west side, removing the original clock tower and conical roofs of the corner turrets, applying stucco over the brick, and blocking off the south entrance.
Nearly ninety years later, county officials and preservationists decided to return the now-aging courthouse to its original 1894 appearance. Preservationists and members of the community first partnered with the THC in 2004, when they applied for and received a $100,000 courthouse planning grant from the THCPP. Over the next decade, an annex replaced
1873 COURTHOUSE Karnes County’s second courthouse, constructed in 1873 after the first one burned, still stands today in the original seat of Helena.
TWENTY-ONE YEARS LATER, after the railroad bypassed Helena, the current Romanesque Revival courthouse, shown here in an undated photo, was built in Karnes City in 1894. | Texas Historical Commission
nonfunctional additions, then Karnes County was awarded a final $3.9 million grant to fully restore the building to its 1894 architectural magnificence.
The fourteen-year project is considered one of the most challenging in the courthouse program’s history. Because the dramatic 1920 makeover also left the courthouse with severe foundation issues, restoring the structural integrity of the building was prioritized, along with the initial architectural design.
Today, the original Victorian beauty of the Karnes County Courthouse has been reclaimed, including the four brick chimneys, slate tile roof, historic landscaping, and iconic clock tower. Inside, the original wood flooring has been salvaged and reinstalled in the main courtroom, along with reconstructions of the historic courtroom furniture.
The restored courthouse—now a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, a State Antiquities Landmark, and listed in the
National Register of Historic Places—sits atop a hill where it can be seen from miles away in any direction, serving as a beacon of this small Texas community’s tenacity and dedication.
At the rededication event, Karnes County Attorney Jennifer Ebrom Dillingham said, “It being fully restored and fully functional will bring in other opportunities for law offices to come in, along with restaurants, small businesses, and things that operate around a courthouse square.”
For more information about the THCPP, visit thc.texas.gov/thcpp.
Soaring above the Desert Dry Line
Burt Compton’s Marfa Gliders
by Randall Kinzie and Wendy Little
Floating on thermal waves above the Chihuahuan Desert of Southwest Texas, the lucky passenger in the sleek, well-designed glider craft is afforded views that encompass the Davis Mountains to the north and west, the Chinati Mountains on the south, and all around and in between the southern Trans-Pecos.
From over 2,000 feet above the ground, the desert becomes a floor of prairie grass, catclaw, and volcanic outcroppings merging into jutting mountains and peaks. The vast plain is spotted with antelope, cattle, and the occasional windmill. The infinite sky, a palate of blues and wisps of white clouds, harbors some of the best thermals a sailplane pilot could dream of. It’s the thermals above the Marfa Plateau that beckon sailplane pilots from around the world to launch their craft into the skies over the Big Bend region of West Texas.
And it’s Burt Compton of Marfa Gliders who orients them to the wild country,
Marfa Glider Rides & Sailplane Flights
Marfa Municipal Airport 45101 Highway 17 North Marfa, TX 79843 flygliders.com
trains new pilots and coaches rusty ones, and provides glider rides by appointment.
When it comes to the challenge of gliding Far West Texas, Compton doesn’t mince his words. “Realistically,” he explains on his website, “Marfa in West Texas is not an ideal site to ‘learn’ cross-country soaring. Lack of proficiency in accuracy landings, crosswind takeoffs and landings, aerotow in strong lift (and sink), takeoff and landing in gusty air and poor ‘blue’ thermal soaring technique might be challenging for first-time pilots at Marfa, especially in our strongest soaring months of April through October.”
But Marfa occupies a unique niche in American and Texas aviation history. Originally a railroad town and ranching community, Marfa was chosen to be a training base for Army Airforce pilots during World War II. Fort D. A. Russell served as the headquarters and base for the army during the early 1940s. After the war, Marfa, and the base, became a P.O.W. camp for Germans who were either captured, or surrendered at the close of the conflict.
By 1960, the Marfa Plateau or “dry line” gained a reputation with sailplane enthusiasts from around the world, and soaring camps were held at the old training base located seven miles east of Marfa on U.S. Highway 90. Conditions were ripe for record-setting glider flights, and in 1967, the old airfield became the hosts for the first sailplane competition to be held in Texas. In 1970, Marfa hosted the only World Soaring Championship to be held in the Untied States.
Enter Burt Compton. Raised in an aviation family on their gliderport near Miami, Florida, he soloed in gliders in 1968 and is as FAA “Gold Seal” certified flight instructor in gliders and airplanes. A life member of the Soaring Society of America, a trustee of the Soaring Safety Foundation, and a producer of several glider pilot training videos. These days he’s an FAA Designated Pilot Examiner for the Lubbock FAA District Office, which includes much of West Texas, including Marfa and Hobbs, New Mexico. And he’s CEO of Marfa Gliders, by now an institution in his adopted hometown.
Compton makes his safety conditions crystal-clear on his website. “Want a concentrated course to finish your glider rating? Sorry, no ‘crash’ courses, but I do offer quality training to meet your goals. Come to West Texas and enjoy our excellent weather (not warm up here at our 5,000’ msl airport elevation) and the wonderful scenery of the Texas Big Bend country and the Davis Mountains.”
According to the National Soaring
The high Chihuahuan Desert of the Marfa Plateau gained a following with glider fans in the midtwentieth century.
| Courtesy of Wendy Little
GLIDER TRAIL
Wendy Little, executive director of the Texas Mountain Trail Region, is one of many to have experienced the thrill of a sailplane ride with pilot Burt Compton.
| Courtesy of Wendy Little
Museum (www.soaringmuseum.org), Marfa is ground zero for some of the best thermal drafts and record setting soaring conditions in North America. Since 1960, sailplane pilots have utilized convective thermal updrafts, the “Marfa Dry Line” and wave lift for record setting soaring flights, four US National Soaring Contests (1967, 1969, 1991, 2006) and the first World Soaring Championships (1970) flown in the United States,” reads the marker for Marfa.
Gliders and gliding competitions have a more recent history as well. In the beginning, gliders were more of a way to “hop” across the terrain. Launched from hills or towed by ground vehicles, the primitive design would become airborne for short amounts of time. The goal then, and now, is to stay aloft for as long as possible. In 1929, the first record was just a bit over nine minutes. Nowadays, pilots can stay airborne for hours.
The materials used to manufacture the aircraft included fabric, steel, and wood; today, they are much more efficient, utilizing carbon fiber, Kevlar, and fiberglass.
On April 5, 2008, a national landmark was dedicated at the Marfa Municipal Airport, honoring the efforts of the men and women who made soaring records possible. The National Soaring Museum recently celebrated fifty years of recording the history of gliders and sailplanes.
Compton provides pages of practical advice for newcomers and pilots alike. “Obtain a current El Paso aeronautical (sectional) chart to understand our topography,” he writes, “and to see the distant airports. Most remote ranch runways are too narrow for gliders or they are fenced and locked.”
If you opt for a ride with Compton, he’s generous with advice on local places to stay and other sites to see. His aircraft, like all those used in competitions around the U.S., are FAA certified.
The National Soaring Museum marker may be viewed at the Marfa Municipal Airport, located three miles north of Marfa on State Highway 17.
“I never get tired of going up,” Compton told the Austin Chronicle in 2008. “I’ve got the best job in the world. What could be better than having your office 2,000 feet above the ground?”
HEIGHT OF RECOGNITION A plaque at the Marfa Municipal Airport honors the soaring records that have been set in the area. | Courtesy of Wendy Little
Aviation History in the State Archives
A Marjorie Stinson
by Susan Floyd
THOSE FABULOUS GIRLS AND THEIR FLYING MACHINES
Pioneering pilot Katherine Stinson (above, with “her aeroplane”) became the fourth American woman to earn a license, in 1912. Sister Marjorie (left) is shown suited up to fly a Packard LePere in 1915. |
Courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
“JUST FLYING” Holland’s Magazine featured the everyday exploits of Katherine Stinson in its January 1918 issue. | TSLAC Archives and Information Services Division
family of accomplished aviators moved from Hot Springs, Arkansas, to San Antonio, Texas, in late 1913— and changed the history of both Texas and the world.
Katherine Stinson was already a well-known stunt pilot, having been the fourth American woman to earn a license to fly, in 1912. Known as “The Flying Schoolgirl,” she perfected increasingly complex and dangerous flight tricks, including the “loopthe-loop,” which she was the first woman to perform—in a plane she had built herself. She also mastered skywriting with flares and was the first pilot—of either sex—to fly at night. On August 29, 1914, Katherine and little sister Marjorie “Madge” flew over Chicago in their Wright biplane with a trailing yellow banner reading “Votes for Women.”
Marjorie Stinson had received her pilot’s license at the age of 18, in 1914. After the family moved to San Antonio, she attempted to launch an airmail route across Texas, becoming the first airmail carrier in the state. However, this enterprise proved unsuccessful, and Marjorie joined her elder sister as a stunt pilot. It was Marjorie who approached the San Antonio city council in 1915 for permission to open the Stinson School of Flying on a large patch of vacant land west of the San Antonio River, just south of town. The city agreed to rent the 500 acres for five dollars per year. The Stinsons’ mother, Emma, served as business manager, while brother Eddie was the operation’s chief mechanic. Nineteen-year-old Marjorie became the lead flight instructor at Stinson Field.
However, the siblings’ mission changed later that year as a result of the
Great War that rumbled on in Europe. In late 1915, Marjorie became the only woman in the U.S. Aviation Reserve Corps, and in 1916 she began training cadets from the Royal Canadian Flying Corps for service in World War I. Her teaching methods earned her the nickname “The Flying Schoolmarm.” Over the course of the war Marjorie trained more than 100 pilots—all before her twenty-second birthday. Her students were known as “the Texas Escadrille.” When the United States entered the war in 1917, both sisters volunteered to serve as pilots—Katherine more than once—but both were rejected on account of their sex. Katherine instead became a Red Cross ambulance driver in Europe.
Meanwhile, Marjorie continued to instruct military pilots, as well as take aerial photographs, including those of the National Guard mobilization camp
A WOMAN IN WARTIME
Both Stinson sisters volunteered for military flight duty after the U.S. entered the Great War. Katherine is not hard to spot among a group of army officers in 1918. | Courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
in San Antonio now preserved in the State Archives (as seen here). Holland’s profiled her in 1918 in an article titled “A Young Girl’s Perilous Bit.” The magazine reported that “Little Miss Stinson, young as she is, has brains in her head which she uses to her own great benefit and also to the benefit of her country.”
The later years of World War I saw a ban on civilian flying; this, combined with an increase in military-operated training fields, forced the Stinson School to close in 1917. After continuing her career as a stunt pilot for another
decade, Marjorie retired from flying in 1928 to become a draftsman for the United States Navy Aeronautical Division in Washington, D.C. She died in 1975, having spending the rest of her life researching the history of aviation.
Stinson Field became Winburn Field in 1927, then the San Antonio Municipal Airport in 1936. It is the second oldest continuously operated airport in the United States—and home to the Texas Air Museum, which is open for visitors (see more, page 63).
BIRD’S-EYE VIEWS Top, “National Guard Mobilization Camp, San Antonio, Texas, taken from aeroplane flown by Miss Marjorie Stinson” (aerial view of camp), about 1916, 1972/115-134; bottom, “Bird’s-eye view of part of Fort Sam Houston, taken from aeroplane flown by Miss Marjorie Stinson” (aerial view of camp), about 1916, 1972/115-136. Photographs, General John A. Hulen papers.
Meet the Texas Downtown Association
By Margaret Hoogstra
hat does an East Texas town of 3,500 with a downtown youth council, a Panhandle town of 13,000 working on handicapped-accessible restrooms, and a Central Texas town of 95,000 hosting a workshop for downtown business owners on historic window restoration have in common?
Citizens in each of these communities, actively engaged in the betterment of their unique downtowns, are members of the Texas Downtown Association.
For many Texas municipalities, there’s a renewed commitment to downtown as the heart of the community. Following World War II, the growth of suburbs, introduction of enclosed malls, and subsequent relocation of businesses caused many vibrant downtowns to become shadows of their formerly vibrant selves. By the late 1970s there were only a handful of
active downtown associations in Texas.
Recognizing the national need to help with the issues of older and historic downtowns, in 1980 the National Trust for Historic Preservation established the National Main Street Center.
Enter Anice Read. Described as a passionate advocate for the historical preservation of Texas downtowns, Read was appointed to the Texas Historical Commission (THC) in 1968. Seven years later, she joined the staff of the THC with responsibilities for community outreach. As the National Trust rolled out their new “Main Street” concept in
Texas Downtown Association P. O. Box 546
Austin, TX 78767-0546 (512) 472-7832
texasdowntown.org
SELFIE SPOT Members of the Texas Downtown Association 2018 Board of Directors and director
Catherine Sak (fifth from left) take time out for a group selfie in Paris, Texas. Courtesy Texas Downtown Association
the late 1970s, Read became the driving force for Texas to become one of the first state-coordinated Main Street programs in the nation.
Not surprisingly, Read was hired as the first director of the Texas Main Street Program (TMSP), which fell under the supervision of the THC. During her tenure at the Texas Main Street Program, Read worked directly with more than 100 Texas communities in restoring and revitalizing the historic fabric of their downtowns.
With limited state resources and over 1,100 municipalities within Texas, Read quickly realized it would be impossible to serve everyone interested in the program. Additionally, not every community interested in Main Street had the resources to fund their participation in the program. To fill that void, Read helped create the Texas Downtown Association (TDA).
In 1985, just five years from the founding of the Texas Main Street Program, TDA was established as a statewide, independent nonprofit representing cities and towns of all sizes, economic development corporations, chambers of commerce, small businesses, other nonprofits, and individuals from across Texas. Its purpose was, and still is, to connect and serve communities dedicated to downtown and commercial district development and revitalization.
Within a year, the TDA and TMSP co-sponsored the first statewide downtown revitalization conference. The Texas Downtown Conference “gave an opportunity for people to come together to share ideas and discuss the good, the bad and the ugly of downtown revitalization,” says Catherine Sak, executive director of the TDA. Furthermore, “because of the broad base of attendees—from downtown merchant groups, chambers of commerce and economic development professionals to preservationists and tourism specialists and people from small towns to big cities— there were many diverse conversations. Attendees were able to expand their knowledge base. Many of the lessons learned from Main Street were carried
over to TDA.”
Shortly before Read passed away, the TDA and the TMSP teamed up again to create the Anice Read Fund. The lead gift came from the Houston Endowment; since then, support comes from TDA members and events. This fund is a flexible funding source supporting downtown projects and restoration efforts across the state. Since 2000, the Anice Read Fund has awarded over $150,000 in grants and has leveraged over $5 million in additional funding.
For the first fourteen years of the TDA’s existence, the organization was operated solely by volunteers. Board members ran it, with members pitching in as needed. Debra Drescher was hired in 1999 as the organization’s first employee; she served for six years as a part-time coordinator. Kim McKnight took up the reins for a year, and was then followed by Sak as the current fulltime executive director. In 2007, staff expanded to include a part-time marketing and membership position; Stephanie Donahue currently holds that position.
The work of the TDA focuses on education, networking, advocacy, and, of course, membership services. Educational opportunities such as roundtables and webinars on issues
relevant to downtown revitalization are available. The TDA offers consulting, a downtown assessment, speakers, and facilitators for strategic plans for downtown groups. Recipients of the Anice Read Fund receive recognition at the annual conference along with individuals, programs, projects and communities receiving the President’s Awards and the People’s Choice Awards. On the advocacy front, the TDA monitors state and federal legislation that affects downtowns and serves as a conduit for information to members. Finally, the organization helps to promote their members.
Today, with headquarters in Austin, TDA has over 300 members from every corner of Texas. While membership includes major metropolitan cities, 40% is from communities with a population of less than 10,000. All members are essential to the organization’s work and mission.
“None of what we do would be possible without the board and our committees— they contribute to everything that we do,” says Sak. “It speaks to the strength of the organization that the board represents city employees, nonprofit directors; people who are the “boots on the ground” getting the job done every day. Yet they volunteer and devote time to this organization.”
AWARD WINNER
Navasota’s Blues Alley was recognized in 2015 by the Texas Downtown Association as “the best public improvement in the state for cities of less than 50,000 people.” The mural pays tribute to Navasota’s musical heritage. Coutesy Texas Downtown Association
With thanks to information from the Handbook of Texas, by the Texas State Historical Association.
What Houston-born aviator and “Spruce Goose” inventor set speed records as a pilot, participating in a crew that cut Charles Lindbergh’s time for crossing the Atlantic by half in 1938?
What Texas inventor inventor purportedly flew an “air-ship” on September 20, 1865—almost forty years before the Wright brother’s famous flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina?
What Corinth, Texas–born aviator lost control of his Lockheed Orion floatplane near Point Barrow, Alaska, on August 15, 1935, and perished along with his famous passenger, Will Rogers?
An El Paso native did his pilot training at Kelly Field and flew the B-17 Flying Fortress on 89 combat missions in the South Pacific before creating one of the most beloved sci-fi TV (and later movie) series of all time. Who was he?
Following World War II, this Gonzales-born female pilot founded the Sky Ranch Flying Service in South Houston, which served as an airport for the segregated black community and provided instruction to veterans interested in flying.
Known as the “Flying Schoolgirl,” this aviatrix opened a flight school in San Antonio; was the first person to fly an airplane at night; the first pilot to do night skywriting; the first woman to fly in the Orient; and the first woman to be commissioned as a mail pilot. Who was she?
Dusty, the main character in the Walt Disney movie Planes, was modeled after what aircraft manufactured in Olney, Texas?
What two Texas aviation pioneers perished in the January 10, 1954, crash of a private aircraft in Louisiana?
What Fort Worth native, with one co-pilot, established a record-setting around-the-globe flight in 1986—9 days, 3 minutes, and 44 seconds—with no stops for refueling?
In January 2009 a cool-headed pilot of US Airways Flight 1549 guided his damaged aircraft to an emergency landing in the Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 passengers and crew. Who was he, and where was he born?
Tom Landry is universally known—and lauded—as the longtime, beloved coach of the Dallas Cowboys football team. But what World War II military service prepared him for his leadership skills on the gridiron?
Two world-famous pioneer aviators of the 1920s–1930s—one male, one female—survived non-fatal crashes in Texas. Who were they?
Three U.S. presidents have been airplane pilots; all were Texans. Name all three, for bonus points.
For detailed answer information, visit our website at AuthenticTexas.com
