Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 128

Progress 36 Albuquerque Journal, Sunday, Sept. 19, 1982 1 uk is. Albuquerque Museum Fhotoarchives Tri-motor aircraft sits on runway of Albuquerque Airport in 1929, one year after the East Mesa field opened Former Rail Employees Lay Groundwork for Aviation in City By BYRON SPICE Charles F. Walsh, perched on the wing of his flimsy Curtiss biplane, could see the Rio Grande a few hundred feet below him as he soared south along the valley. Circling to the east at the Barelas Bridge, Walsh picked up the railroad tracks and followed them back toward town.

Flying over Robinson Park, he soon reached his starting point the New Mexico State Fair at Traction Park near Old Town. As thousands of fairgoers cheered, Walsh swept down and landed on the baseball diamond in front of the grandstand, coming to rest in a mud puddle. Thus ended the first airplane flight over Albuquerque. Late in the afternoon of Oct. 11, 1911, Walsh had traveled 12 miles in 10 minutes, attaining an altitude of 1,000 feet and a speed of 60 miles an hour.

In the following days, Walsh repeated his feat many a i. i 't isn as simple as it used to be. Tocav. ouvmg a home requires more than just attention to family needs ana decorating possibilities, in today's complex money mcrket. requires a knowledge of real estate contracts, bailocr payments, wraparound mortgages, and a myriad of other financing ai'ernafves.

ou re probably not an exper in financing That's why you need a Realtor who is ocen 5tahi's professional agents are specially trained to be ncncmg experts Not only can they match a home to your creaks they can also match a financing arrangement to your personal financial picture Bavng a home today isn't simbe But a Hooten Stahl, we can mcKe it a lot easier for you Albuquerque Museum Ptwioarchives times, causing businessmen to rush into downtown streets to watch the plane crisscross the city at "express train speed." Thousands thronged to the fairgrounds, standing three deep on trolley running boards, to see the daring "birdman" drop imaginary bombs on a dummy battleship in front of the grandstand. Except for a few other aviators who flew in and through Albuquerque, there was little further aviation activity until after World War I. But the airplane was destined to shape the city as profoundly as had the railroad. Today, nine major airlines and five smaller carriers serve Albuquerque, with an average of 106 scheduled daily departures. Commercial and military aviation is centered at Albuquerque International Airport and the adjoining Kirtland Air Force Base.

Private planes also fly out of Tommy Ogle, an instructor for Frank Speakman, flew the City of Albuquerque in the Ford Derby in 1931-32 A H00TE1STML, IIG. sen more homies than anyone New Mexico. Sj-kjct c' -cx5ten sci: Ooei Houses retained Wyoming Airways' pilots and mechanics. One of Cutter's students, Albuquerque businessman R.L Harrison, was the first fledgling aviator to solo from the airport in January 1929. A nurse, Mary Carroll, would become the city's first woman pilot.

Earlier training flights were not as successful. On Sept. 20, 1928, a local pilot, E.A. Purdy was teaching a student, Emmett Mossman, on a graded strip three miles east of the airport, when their plane crashed. Purdy was dead when Frank Speakman reached the site and Mossman died a few day later the city's first aviation deaths.

At the time, air mail service between the East and West coasts passed through Salt Lake City, Utah, and Cheyenne, but a shorter route between St. Louis and Los Angeles was sought as interest increased in air passenger and cargo service. Arthur C. Goebel, a nationally known pilot from Belen, literally put the Albuquerque Airport on the map in 1928 when he selected the facility as a refueling stop for a New York to Los Angeles air race. In November 1928, Goebel sold a Western Air Express See AVIATION, Page 47 VvsT) sin Mceo 1 iOOO boom Nt 55-7470 Coronado Airport, north of the city, and Alameda Airport, on the West Mesa.

During the early and mid-1920s, touring barnstormers, as well as local and military pilots, used several small airfields around the city. But organized aviation in Albuquerque can be traced to Charles Lindbergh's spectacular trans-Atlantic flight in 1927. The feat captured the imagination of Americans and particularly inspired Frank G. Speakman, a Santa Fe Railway employee who homesteaded a ranch near the present-day Four Hills area. Speakman and another railroad employee, William Franklin, decided to go into the airport business and leased 140 acres of land on the East Mesa for the purpose.

With the help of Mayor Clyde Tingley, the partners borrowed city road equipment at night to prepare new runways and airport facilities near where the National Atomic Museum now stands. In appreciation of the city's help, they called it Albuquerque Airport. On May 15, 1928, a Californian named Ross Hadley landed at the airport, becoming its first customer. Others soon followed, including a Ford Tri-Motor on its way to sightseeing duties at the Grand Canyon. The plane attracted 2,000 persons to the airport.

James G. Oxnard, a New York air transportation promoter, also soon arrived on the scene and, impressed by the airport's potential as a Southwest crossroads, bought out Franklin's interest and furnished money for expansion to 480 acres. In early 1929, Wyoming Airways established a sales agency, aerial taxi, scenic tour and flight training business at the airport. The firm lasted less than a year, but it brought to Albuquerque two pilots named Clark M. Carr and William Cutter, who were to become local aviation leaders.

The airport took over the flight training school and 11 I 'nrJ v-r' x(4vv ji ki IW pip- i imtMm On the Cover In July 1928, more than 2,000 people turned out to see the arrival of a Ford Tri-Motor at Albuquerque's fledgling airport on what is now south Wyoming Boulevard. Today the city has a multimillion-dollar Jet Age facility which annually handles thousands of commercial and private aircraft as represented in the inset by Journal photographer Richard Pipes. mi a ml MEMBERS N.A.S.D.S.I. P. C.

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