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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWings Over Aggieland-- The Fledgling Years 1911-1941 w AIM a AMX wS.'�'.' J y"" y !+ • y Iy � �� �F4 I IP A r. R @o - TAO", fi 1 1 } !"t1 t t � ry fi :a + a K 4 , P• a . c , • a ' ♦ a Y a > a • a` e ri 7 , at ' • a By David L. Chapman IiiDgS Oler ielaDd • The Fledgling Years 1911 -1941 A&M students and Harrold Kantner's Bieriot. I hoping to catch a glimpse of the little biplane making its way through the valley of Man's first flight heralded the beginning of a revolution in transportation that the Brazos River to the campus of Texas A&M. Reports of the progress of pilot would capture the imagination and hopes of many generations. Aviation became the Robert G. Fowler's fragile little craft were dispatched quickly along the route. In very symbol of modernity for the new 20th century America. It represented the Bryan,the telegraph operator received word that Fowler had left Hearne at 12:45 adventurous spirit of a youthful, modern, emerging nation.To be modern was to be p.m.,following the railroad tracks, and would land at the College to refuel. The "air-minded."Aviation promised to end wars, promote lasting prosperity and cure news spread like wildfire throughout the town.All business and social activity came disease. Early enthusiasts became the high priests of what came to be known as the to a halt as people poured into the streets to see a craft they had only read about in "winged gospel." Not until the space flights of the late 1960s would America newspapers.At 1:15 p.m. a small white speck became visible in the clear, bright, become so absorbed in the promise of technology. Indeed it is difficult to imagine blue winter sky. Quickly,the curious citizenry of Bryan scrambled for the best from today's vantage point the excitement generated by a single flimsy contraption vantage point from which to view this amazing spectacle. Some, risking injury or of wood, cloth and wire.Today, almost no one notices what traverses the sky death, perched precariously on the courthouse cupola to get closer to the history- above. In 1911 it was a different matter. making event.As the craft flew closer,the crowd could see the spinning propeller At 1:37 on the afternoon of December 1, 1911,the aviation age, with all its and hear the far-off popping of the little engine. dreams, hopes and promises for the future, sputtered onto Kyle Field at the By 1:20 p.m., Fowler's machine was clearly visible to the eager throng of Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas. The event was of such importance students and faculty members gathered to watch the arrival of the first aircraft ever that citizens ceased their daily activities all along the flight path to gaze skyward to visit the campus.Just as the craft neared the campus, it suddenly dropped from sight sending a wave of apprehension through the as- sembled crowd. Fowler had landed at the old fairgrounds between Bryan and the College to make an emergency ` adjustment to a rough running engine.A quick turn of a nut ' here and a needle valve there and he was once again in the �41 air. Over the campus, Fowler slowly circled Kyle Field and then "alighted gracefully as a bird." More than 400 students .w . rushed toward the little aircraft to stare in amazement and a � disbelief. Some hesitantly touched the craft as if to prove it was real and not fantasy. Fowler eagerly answered ques- tions about his machine, a Wright Flyer. In fact, Fowler was trained by Orville and Wilbur Wright. After lunch with the ' cadets, he refueled his aircraft and took off at 3 p.m. "into 4 the cerulean blue." In the short span of a few hours,the College had seen the "birdman"and begun a love affair with aviation that would marry the school's strong technical . ►' Texas A&M C.P.T.P.Cadets watch another student solo. background to the mysteries of flight. could be delivered. News of the Wright This event did not happen in a vacuum. brothers'aircraft trials for the Army at Fort These were years of rapid change in an era Myer,Va., were reported in detail by the local that was still very much rooted in the past. papers.When Fort Sam Houston in San To realize the enormity of the impact of Antonio was selected to carry out aviation modern technology, one only has toy+ 11 field testing, ,I n-R Texans envisioned their state • P n ; U � remember that the first automobiles were �i �� t 1 ; - 1 7., becoming the hub of modern technology. !!" F I only beginning to make their appearance Beginning in 1909, newspapers seemingly and were greeted with both amazement ri focused on every aviation event, no matter iKu and scorn. Farmers throughout the Brazos how small.They riveted public attention on Valley were banding together to fight the lot, the successes and failures of aviation's first intrusion of the smoke belching machines. crude attempts to advance the boundaries of Some even vowed to shoot anyone driving Faked Longhorn photo of Kantner over campus. flight. Amazing adventures,feats and records one of these threats to pastoral tranquility.And yet there were those who believed came in quick succession. Readers eagerly awaited news of Herbert Latham's these new machines would lead mankind into a new age of harmony and prosperity. daring attempt to fly the English Channel from Calais to Dover. When Latham As is often the case with new technology, more was asked and promised than crashed, it seemed obvious proof to doubters that manned flight over any real First Air Service squadron in the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets-1921. I i I i IW AA s a , 1 �.• F a w y� a mow ` - 1t1111�ii1l� { �# # ! � d� .er#l4##ry. gift! d' ma 0 ........... :a +rrs.r .•rrrs�rsrrrrr .+r�wr-++w..� � .ia � �li r 'Ld wNurr��rrru�s �_ distances would never be practical.Wilbur Wright was asked if he would attempt a only two weeks after the first flight onto Kyle Field.Although the show was some- channel crossing. "No," he said, "if I had, I should have done it long ago." On July thing of a failure, it was very typical of early aviation. James R. Mills, publicity agent 26, 1909,just a few weeks after Latham's ill-fated attempt, Louis Bleriot crossed for the event,arrived in Bryan on December 13, 1911,to promote a series of flights the channel in a small monoplane of his own design. by Art Smith, one of the Glenn H. Curtiss Aeroplane Company's better known pilots. These early flights generated immense enthusiasm among Americans who Mills chose Dellwood Park, located between the College and Bryan, as the site for wanted to see these wondrous new machines and share in the adventure. It did not the flights. The Bryan Daily Eagle hailed Smith as the "world's greatest birdman." take entrepreneurs long to realize that there were enormous profits to be made in For only 50 cents, one could experience a sight"rarely seen" by man. Cars of the taking the airplane to the public. While the promise of adventure undoubtedly drew new Interurban Railroad were to run every 15 minutes for the convenience of the flyers to risk their lives in these early flimsy craft,the lure of princely wages citizens of Bryan and the students at the College. Unfortunately, bad weather provided a powerful incentive for both pilot and promoter alike. A pilot could earn plagued the event from the beginning. After several days delay, Smith crashed on more in one day of flying in an air show than a skilled craftsman could in two takeoff during a practice run damaging the aircraft beyond repair. Smith left the months.This probably was well deserved, because the life span of an early pilot remains of his"once graceful manbird" on the field to be picked over by students was measured in weeks and months. Air shows and exhibitions sprang up almost for materials to build a glider. "Thus I leave my weakened machine," wrote Smith, overnight. Large crowds would gather wherever the "birdmen" landed to stare in and return to the factory to build new, strong parts." amazement, see them fly,and, all too often, see them crash. Although Smith crashed and the air show failed to materialize,the few days One of the earliest of these so-called "aviation meets" occurred near Texas A&M spent waiting for good weather gave A&M students time to visit at length with both Shop crew at Easterwood. Mills and Smith and look over the Curtiss aircraft. In an effort to satisfy some of the / public's curiosity, James published a short article in the Daily Eagle, entitled • .;"41F "Aviation as a Science,"that provided a close look at the philosophy of these early r s aviation professionals. Mills pointed out that: "The majority of people do not realize the possibilities of the science of aviation , # 4 AN and still there are others who expect too much of it.They do not realize that it is but ' in its swaddling cloths; it being only a few years ago that a person would laugh and scoff at the very idea of a machine weighing about 1,200 pounds forging its way through the ethereal heights at a very great altitude,flying at the rate of 50 or 60 _ r miles an hour...There is a great field for the manufacturing of aeroplanes in this 8 q, " country.There are only two or three reliable manufacturers on this side of the mycraShs'r�ory hecamous 10 -� Atlantic...In the exhibition line the aeroplane has no bounds, as it is the thrill of of its gigantic \q°�'zrB r9re thrills. It is the greatest drawing card for the county fair, picnics, celebrations; in army and navy, but now since fact no outdoor event is complete without it. Cross-country flights have been made the aeroplane has proved its usefulness as a from one city to another—the English Channel has been crossed and recrossed. factor of war England should be on guard." England was thought to be immune from attack on account of the armed strength Some may have considered Mills's prophecy an abstract threat, but the Elks' Lodge certainly could see the money-making potential of an air show. This was an opportunity to build on the publicity and interest generated by the first attempt. Just five months after Smith's crash, I ` the lodge contacted an exhibition troupe founded by the renowned y Moisant brothers. John B. and Alfred Moisant were already well- known throughout the country. John had been the first to fly from l Paris to London. The pair had even attempted to take over the government of El Salvador. Their adventures as soldiers of fortune and pioneer aviators were fodder for the popular press. Like Mills,the Moisants had been quick to realize the economic l potential of aviation.They expanded their interests beyond their own personal competition at air meets by forming an exhibition company known as Moisant International Aviators. To this group flocked such well-known aviators of the day as Roland Garros, Rene Simon, Rene Barrier, St. Croix Johnston, Harrold Kantner and short field and tall trees. America's first female pilot, Harriet Quimby. The brothers founded a flying school at Results of a ti u Hempstead Plains on Long Island to train licensed pilots to perform in air shows. what they termed "trade days"for May 21 and 22, 1912,to take full advantage of The Moisant International Aviators'air show promised, in fact"guaranteed,"an the "throngs" of potential customers. As an inducement,they offered sales, exciting event.True to their word,they delivered what they promised.John Moisant discounts, premiums for the visitor traveling the most distance and an absolute fell out of an airplane in New Orleans in promise of an air show. According to 1910 and was killed while performing the Eagle: just such an exciting event. In 1912, mr or, "This meet is to be an absolutely Quimby, swell-known writer for Leslie's bona-fide proposition. There is no Weekly, died the same way when a gust ,. element of uncertainty about it. The . . , .i of wind caught the aircraft and bounced Elks lodge of Bryan is behind it and her out. It did not hurt the drawing they give every patron an iron-clad power or reputation of the aviators guarantee.This guarantee is that the when they managed to get involved in machine is to be on the field where all Kadet Aviations'student bus. the Mexican Revolution. can see it, its working explained, and The Elks and the Commercial Club of Bryan carefully planned for the economic the flight must reach 500 feet in altitude and embrace a circle of four miles. If all opportunity. They expected the meet to bring "immense throngs in the city from all these conditions are not complied with, each patron will have his money refunded parts of the county and from surrounding counties." Bryan merchants organized as he passes out the gate." Navigation instruction for C.P.T.P.Cadets. wr. • r e�n 1 ,C. Civic pride and unabashed boosterism went hand in hand. Here, hoped the city miles per hour. Unusual in design by today's standards,the Gnome had seven air- fathers, was an event to make some money and "put Bryan on the map." One cooled cylinders that rotated at 1,600 revolutions per minute with the propeller. thousand tickets,at 50 cents each,were placed on advance sale.The Eagle ran The aviator who arrived on May 20 aboard the special Moisant train for the Elks' articles and advertisements daily urging citizens to buy tickets and promote the show was none other than Harrold Kantner, "speed demon of the air." By the time event. Public schools and the A&M College were to be dismissed early.The of the Bryan meet, Kantner had already established a world record speed of 105 Interurban trolley was rescheduled to run every 15 minutes from Bryan and the miles per hour at an altitude of 5,000 feet during a previous meet in Chicago. He College to the site at Dellwood Park. Even the weather seemed to be cooperating. was somewhat unusual for this time, because he was actually a licensed pilot, Everything was now in readiness. holding pilot certificate number 64. Licensure was in actuality little more than a Moisant crewmen wasted no time unloading the aircraft and equipment for the formality;the license was not required by law and most pilots of the day thought it wagon journey to Dellwood Park.At the park,the aircraft was carefully uncrated unnecessary for the practice of their profession and an abridgement of their and assembled.As might be expected,there was no shortage of volunteer labor freedom.As soon as he stepped off the train, Kantner announced that he would from curious onlookers including a number of cadets from the A&M College. The perform the "famous voloplane stunt" (a corruption of volplane)for the enjoyment craft was a Bleriot monoplane designed by the famous French aviator and con- and amazement of the spectators.To perform this feat,touted as the "most queror of the English Channel, Louis Bleriot, and built under license in the United dangerous" in all aviation, Kantner would climb high into the sky, switch off the States by the Moisant Company. A 70-horsepower Gnome engine, considered aircraft's motor and glide toward the ground while performing acrobatic turns and enormous at the time, could easily power the little aircraft to speeds above 100 dives.Then, when only a few feet off the ground and nearing what seemed certain fi death, Kantner miraculously would restart his engine and climb away.True to their word,the Moisant Company performed all M of the required parts of the air meet.The I event was a huge success. Students at A&M delighted in acting as a ground crew and having their pictures taken with the craft. The event was so important that they even faked a photograph in the yearbook, The *� Longhorn, showing Kantner soaring over the campus. With the outbreak of World War I in R Europe in August 1914, students at Texas A&M eagerly followed the progress of the conflict, especially the advances in the technology of modern warfare. Machine Kadet Aviation chief instructor Guy Smith. ice. -- ---- - guns and artillery created carnage on a scale previously unimaginable. On the high advantage of the National Defense Act of 1916,applying for permission on October seas, German U-Boats committed "dastardly deeds"that brought the war closer to 3 of that year to establish a senior Reserve Officer Training Program. By the fall of home by claiming American lives. Above the horror of it all were the darlings of the 1917, Texas A&M's first R.O.T.C. program was in place. Students exchanged the popular press,the aviators. In the daily newspapers,these daring and gallant cadet gray uniforms the Corps had worn for 40 years for the army green of R.O.T.C. "knights of the air"were portrayed as maintaining the chivalry of an earlier age that and the beginning of a long and proud tradition of providing commissioned officers had been lost in the mud of the trenches below. It did not matter that men often for the armed services of the United States. Many students did not wait to finish the burned to death in their aircraft. While the press vilified the use of submarines and course work, electing to resign from school and enter the service directly.After war poison gas as criminal and cowardly,the airplane remained untainted by war. Here was declared on April 6, 1917, seniors in good academic standing who entered were all the elements to excite the spirit and imagination of young college students. officer training camps received their degrees even though they had not completed As diplomatic relations between the United States and Germany deteriorated the final semester's work. For the first time in the history of the Agricultural and during 1917, Texas A&M was already in the midst of preparations for what seemed Mechanical College of Texas no graduation exercises were held in College Station. to be an almost inevitable conflict. Patriotic spirit ran high in both the faculty and Instead, President William B. Bizzell held commencement under a grove of oak student body. On March 21, 1917,the faculty voted unanimously to offer all of the trees at Leon Springs, where most of the seniors were undergoing officer training. College to the federal government as a war training ground.Two days later,the In some respects,the largest military college in the United States was far ahead Board of Directors ratified the action of the faculty. It was the first college in the of the rest of the nation in military preparedness. Its students were well prepared nation to volunteer its facilities for military service. The College quickly took for what was considered to be the standard military arts of the day. But when it The Aggie Air Force at Easterwood Airport during World War 11 w. sow ,w , s• � �r s * y came to training for the war in the air,Texas A&M, like the rest of the nation,was unprepared. Hurriedly, in June of 1917, President Woodrow Wilson asked for an ` a appropriation of$600,000 for the construction of 30,000 aircraft within the following year. In addition, he asked for the construction of 24 aviation training F camps. Thus,when Texas A&M's President Bizzell visited with representatives of ., w the U.S. Army in August of 1917 to work out details for turning the campus into an active training camp for the Army, he also proposed that one of the new aviation facilities be located near the College. Undoubtedly, he realized that the school would need an airport and here was a chance to have the government build it. While Bizzell was unable to obtain one of the aviation training fields, Texas A&M m: became a center for Signal Corps training. In April of 1918, Signal Corps activities were expanded to include radio mechanics for the U.S.Army Air Service. Profes- sors Frank C. Bolton and O.B. Wooten were in charge of training 300 recruits every . 13 weeks in the intricacies of maintaining and repairing radios aboard aircraft. For this purpose,a number of Curtiss JN-4's were brought to the campus and the Animal Husbandry Pavilion became an aircraft hanger for a large part of the war. After completion of the course,the mechanics left directly for service in Europe. Some went only as far as the Texas border with Mexico to help with the search for Pancho Villa. While the aviation radio mechanics school was in operation,the Signal Corps attempted to supply radio parts by air to the campus.Two aircraft from Ellington Field in Houston made precarious landings on the campus on April 18, 1918. After delivering their cargo,the first aircraft crashed on take off. The second aircraft waited until the next day and met a similar fate on departure. Surprisingly, no one was seriously injured in the mishaps and the damaged aircraft were loaded on the train for shipment to Houston. The Air Service made no further attempts to land in the middle of the campus. Dedicated landing facilities would have to wait for another two decades. By November,World War I was over and the Army ended its use of A&M as a training base. The troops came home and the College made an attempt to return to its primary mission of educating the young men of Texas. For Texas A&M the world would never be the same again.The College was no longer an unknown Texas military school. It had trained thousands for the"war to U.S.Army wings over the campus-1gig. At end all wars." Forty-nine percent of its graduates had served in the armed forces of I the United States. Fifty-five former students lost their lives in the war. Of these 10 were in the Air Service. Second Lt.Willford McFadden, class of 1917, of the 103rd Aero Squadron (Lafayette Escadrille), disappeared on dawn patrol somewhere over France. He had been on the front for only three weeks, about the average life span of a fighter pilot. Some, like Jesse L. Easterwood, class of 1910, compiled heroic i records and survived the war only to be killed in a flying accident. Most of the ,. others never made it to combat, dying prematurely in training accidents or in the flu epidemic of 1918-1919. 1 n� Of those who survived the war,a few aviators would return to Texas A&M to complete their studies, promote the possibilities of flight and pass on their love of flying. For example, Mark A. Hamilton, Class of 1920, even spent a year after the war flying the mail from Chicago to Cleveland before returning to Texas A&M to . _ finish a degree in chemical engineering. James E. Gardner, Class of 1922, had ��` served as an Air Service instructor pilot. Neill Singleton had seen combat over F France as a member of the famous 103rd Aero Squadron. Not surprisingly, it would Engine repair training. y_ ._ 1 be the military aspect of aviation that would provide the first formal aviation training They are justly proud of their service;they are enthusiastic on the subject of flying, at the College. and the great pride and love for the magnificent sport will bear them out through The first Air Service unit came to the A&M Corps of Cadets in December 1920, many unrelenting demands on their physical and mental courage; it will steady the organized around a few returning veterans. This was an elite cadet unit with hand that jams on the gun for the first solo; it will be their strength in the hard fight rigorous physical requirements that disqualified 40 out of the first 102 cadets to of man for mastery of that light treacherous sea above." enroll. Beginning Air Service cadets, in addition to their regular college curriculum, While the Department of Military Science responded with formal training soon spent the next two years studying aircraft, engines, instruments, bombing, aerial after the end of the war, academic courses at A&M were far slower in development. gunnery, aerial photography, radio, machine guns, artillery observation, and Not until 1928 was formal course work available. In that year,the Department of infantry and cavalry liaison.After the end of their junior year at A&M,the cadets of Mechanical Engineering introduced ME 428,Aerodynamics, as a senior elective. In the Air Service Squadron attended summer camp for six weeks at one of the U.S. 1930,the College hired Willard I. Truettner, an aeronautical engineer,to teach the Army's flight training fields, where they received "a great deal of back seat work as course. In 1931-32, Truettner introduced ME 434,Aeroplane Design,along with observers." In addition,the students took formal course work from the army in two graduate courses, ME 511 and 512, Advanced Aeroplane Design. By 1938,the aircraft and engine maintenance.After graduation,they were given commissions as demand for these courses had increased to the point that the Board of Directors reserve second lieutenants and placed on active duty for six months for actual flight approved the creation of the Department of Aeronautical Engineering. It would take training. With obvious pride in their new unit,the Battalion reported the following: two years to formalize the department; Howard W. Barlow would become its first "The A and M Air Service Unit stands for 100 percent proficiency and courage. head in the fall of 1940.The late 1930s to the beginning days of World War II were flak ,` r` y heady days for aviation on campus. These were times that would see the creation +► y and development of important facilities and programs in aviation. It was painfully obvious that Texas A&M needed an airport and the facilities to put theoretical knowledge into practice. During the 1930s numerous barnstormers visited the campus using the large area adjacent to Boyett Corner as a crude landing strip. No one wanted to repeat the Army experience of 1918. In one of the more unusual events, aviation entrepreneur Reg Robbins brought his Ford Tri- ' Motor to the campus for three days, offering an air show and rides. For many it Wwas their first flight and a rare chance to see the campus from the air. Increas- 'I ingly,former students, military training flights and aviation buffs in general dropped in on the makeshift landing field.While many airplanes visited the campus,the absence of landing, maintenance and repair facilities was a detriment not only to the expansion of the educational process, but also to the operation of the College. paviiioe In the summer of 1939, Gibb Gilchrist,then dean of engineering at Texas A&M, pimai usba°dry met with officers of the Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA)to approve the site of an Curtiss Jp.4 inside the A U S prm9 C I I III y k airport for the College. Gilchrist had been working on the matter for some time and wrote that"some school in the South is going to be developed into a real '' r aeronautical training ground."To Gilchrist,that school was Texas A&M.At the time, colleges and universities across the nation were building airports to provide practical applications for classroom theory. By the time Gilchrist made his proposal,the CAA had completed preliminary �. studies and tentatively approved a 500-acre site located 1.5 miles r, from the Academic Building,just west of what was known locally as Lake Shinola. All that was needed to begin construction was the formal issuance of an airport operator's license from the CAA. 7 During this same period of time, representatives of the U.S. Army Air Corps also met with A&M officials to show their r I interest in the project. The proposed Aggie airport was impor- tant, because it was in a direct line about halfway between Barksdale Field in egad;o Shreveport, La.,and Randolph Field in San Antonio,two of the largest Army r�ansm'SS%oa training facilities. Before anything of substance could be accomplished in these various discus- for financial support, it had almost no chance of becoming more than just another sions, Germany attacked Poland on September 1, 1939, beginning World War II of the little grass strips that dotted the rural Texas landscape. Gilchrist knew he and adding a new sense of urgency to training pilots.Thousands of new pilots would need continuing outside support from the surrounding communities. At that would be needed for national defense, a task well beyond existing military capabili- time, College Station was too small to provide any meaningful help. Bryan, on the ties. One answer to the problem was the CAA's immediate implementation of the other hand, had begun construction of the 250-acre Coulter Field in 1938 with Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP). This innovative program would provide funds provided by the Walter J. Coulter family. In addition, Bryan had just approved funding at colleges and universities for ground schools and flight training. While $8,500 in airport improvement bonds. the flight instruction was not specifically oriented toward the military, it was On September 21, 1939, Gilchrist and Col. Ike Ashburn, executive assistant to designed to produce quickly a reserve of fledgling pilots available to the military in Texas A&M President Thomas 0.Walton, met with Bryan's city commissioners to the event of a national emergency.There were deadlines to be met for program explore the possibility of making the airport at Texas A&M a joint venture.Ashburn certification, however, and Texas A&M's airport was only in the planning stages. explained that obviously the city and the school could build a better facility if they Unless the school moved quickly, it would miss a golden opportunity to have its pooled their resources. Secondly,the existing Coulter Field was located too far from students trained at government expense. Texas A&M to be used efficiently for student training.The proposed A&M site Meeting the CAA deadline was not the only problem facing Gilchrist and the would be about the same distance from Bryan as Coulter Field. Therefore, Gilchrist College. The construction and maintenance of a first-class aviation facility would be and Ashburn proposed that Bryan contribute its recently approved bond funds to an expensive undertaking. If the proposed airport had to rely solely on Texas A&M the college airport.Walter Coulter,who was at the meeting,agreed with the U.S.Army aviation instruction inside the Animal Husbandry Pavilion. 1 i x t ` . ., +• t ' .': •vim ,�y�,,, (j�. NAM vie Immw lk RI z Ay'` °, .. �.. wool OF! s �ry ii suggestion as long as the new Texas A&M airport used the Coulter name. The city down almost immediately and dragged on through the spring of 1940. Texas A&M commissioners tentatively accepted the plan and Mayor Ivan Langford appointed a wanted the city's continuing financial participation in all aspects of airport opera- committee to work out the legal details. It was clear from the meeting that the city tion. Bryan wanted to make a one-time donation, leaving all future costs and leaders of Bryan had, at least for their`+ '� ,. management decisions to A&M. At this moment, "lost interest" in having their .' '` ';. .• ' point, an unrelated action by students own airport. The next day the Bryan severely strained town and gown Daily Eagle reported that Gilchrist's - ���►;, relations. In a dispute over the distribu- proposal had been accepted and there I ,, ,, u� tion of first-run movies between the would soon be a new"Coulter Field"at t a irk campus and Bryan, the cadets decided Texas A&M. to boycott Bryan in general and Bryan Unfortunately, this spirit of theaters specifically. According to cooperation was very short-lived. students who took part in the "stay Disagreements, student protests and a away from Bryan" campaign, it was less-than-candid approach to negotia- U.S.Army CurtisJN-4 prepares to take off from the campus on April 18,1918. extremely effective in placing economic tions all played a role in creating a climate of distrust. Correspondence between pressure on the merchants. Gilchrist later recalled that this action so angered the Gilchrist and Mayor Langford indicates that negotiations between the two bogged city commissioners that they became unwilling to consider the airport proposal. A&M students and the Interurban-1911. . A � t While Bryan debated the matter, Gilchrist plunged doggedly ahead with the details of airport construction. In the middle of October,the CAAj ' + t. notified Gilchrist that the College had been selected I as one of the Civilian Pilot Training Program locations. Naturally,the acceptance was conditional on the completion of the airport.The CAA approved more than 400 schools across the nation as sites for the program in the hope of producing more than , • 10,000 new pilots.At Texas A&M, more than 250 students applied for only 40 available slots in the = jb yQ1 x ; first class.To be eligible, an applicant had to be ; 4 between 18 and 25 years of age and not less than 64 inches nor more than 78 inches in height.The applicant had to have weight proportional to heights �. as specified by government standards. He was Packing up the pieces of the crash. a required to have uncorrected 20/20 vision in each eye, not have any color blindness student pilots would fly a total of between 35 and 50 hours. Actual flight instruction and to be able to hear a whispered voice at a distance of 20 feet. Students were was contracted to Kadett Aviation Company of Bryan at the cost of$290 per required to pass an interview and two student,all paid by the CAA. physicals even to be considered for the , The missing element in the progress of All . program.Any medical problem, no matter a this program was the construction of the how slight,was sufficient to disqualify the airport. Initial site preparation began in applicant. In addition, students had to have January 1940 at the same time as the completed their freshman year and have had formation of the first ground school class. no previous solo flight experience.The first 1, Within a month,the bare essentials of ground school began in January 1940, with grading and surfacing had been completed. Willard Truettner acting as chief instructor. The 2,200-foot runways were sodded with This phase of instruction consisted of 72 grass and all was ready for the first flights. In hours of class work in such subjects as air addition, an 80-foot wide b 100-foot long 9 , regulations, navigation, meteorology, Faculty and students look over wreckage. sheet metal hanger was added near the north parachutes, engines, instruments and radio usage. Classes were held at night so as end of the north-south runway to handle maintenance.This crude little field was not to interfere with the daily class schedule. On completion of ground school, just the beginning of Gilchrist's plans to make the airport a regional center for "4 qw transportation and training. Although the College had little additional funding to A&M. Easterwood enlisted in the Naval Air Service. He trained at Pensacola, Fla., expand the project,the deteriorating world situation stimulated ever increasing and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Commissioned as an ensign, he government appropriations for national defense. During the early spring of 1940, was only the second American to qualify as a naval aviation pilot. He sailed to Gilchrist traveled to Washington, D.C.,to present the school's needs to a new England in March of 1918 and saw service with the Royal Flying Corps. In addition, Civilian Aviation Administration. Impressed with Texas A&M's progress and plans he also served with Italian, French and American Services. By the end of the war, he for the future, $131,000 in Works Progress Administration and $71,000 in CAA had flown 16 bombing missions and completed numerous hazardous flight funds were provided for airport improvements. In addition, the CAA issued a operations. Lt. Easterwood was killed while flight testing a sea plane at Coco Solo, certificate naming the facility as an "Air Navigation Facility Necessity." Construction Canal Zone, Panama, on May 19, 1919. He was awarded the Navy Cross posthu- began immediately on paving and lighting for the north-south runway. mously for his"distinguished and heroic service as an aviator" during World War I. Soon after original construction began on the airport, a search was begun for a The dedication of Easterwood Airport took place on May 22, 1941. Held in suitable name that would honor and represent the heritage and tradition of the conjunction with final review,the dedication was made even more poignant by the school. After a short search,the Board of Directors approved naming the airport for fact that the 100 seniors were being called to active duty immediately after gradua- Jesse Lawrence "Red" Easterwood, class of 1910, a close childhood friend of Gibb tion.The ceremony then moved to the airport where Eva Easterwood unveiled a Gilchrist. Indeed it was Gilchrist who recommended Jesse's name to Dr.Walton. granite marker honoring her brother. During the dedication,the Aggie air force— They had grown up together in Wills Point, Texas, and remained close friends even light aircraft from the CPTP—flew over in formation. Brig. Gen. Gerald C. Brant, when Gilchrist went to the University of Texas and Easterwood attended Texas commanding general, Gulf Coast Training Center, spoke at the ceremony and Hand propping a Meyers and Taylor Craft at Easterwood-1941. x C �. Sol i praised Texas A&M, Purdue and Notre Dame as having the best aviation facilities Little did anyone realize at the time that the field also marked a transition from and training of any colleges in the nation. In closing the ceremony, Dr. Walton the romance of flying, which captivated students on the campus,to the commercial dedicated the field "to the service not only of the College but also to the State of and military applications that would characterize post-war American aviation. World Texas,the nation,and democracy at large." War II would complete the break with the past.Aviation would no longer be viewed Texas A&M was justifiably proud of the as a savior of the world, but as a possible accomplishment.At last there was an airport destroyer. Commercial airlines and giant on the campus to combine theory and '' aircraft made flying about as exciting as practice. In just two short years,the school I 7ilil taking the bus.The field would remain, had turned a little-used pasture into the -?, however, as a monument to the vision of beginnings of a modern airport. It was,as �' t ,- those who had worked so hard for its 1 � i The Battalion put it, "another step in the 1 -- '"" " ' construction. Indeed, it serves as a vibrant progress of. . . modern education." By the Robert Fowler's Wright Flyer on Kyle Field—December 1, 1911. memorial to the pilots of World War I,the time of the formal dedication, more than 200 students had completed the primary barnstormers of the Depression,the flyers of World War II who learned to fly there, course and 78 had finished basic flight training. Of these,five had even qualified as and all the pilots for whom the romance of flying did not fade. flight instructors. In the summer of 1941, Army flight cadets from Randolph Field were using Easterwood as part of their cross-country training. —For Jim Noel, '52, who taught me to fly. Reg Robbins's Ford Trimotor near Boyett Corner. Previous Keepsake Editions 1. My Dobie Collection. Jeff Dykes 1971 12. Juan Oso. A Dobie Christmas 1983 2. The Pleasure Frank Dobie Took in Grass 1972 13. Mary & Mavis Kelsey Collection of Americana 1984 3. Hurrah for the Texans: Civil War Letters of George W. Ingram 1974 14. Sterling C. Evans: Texas Aggie, Banker, Cattleman 1985 4. The Oceans, A Library and the Friends 1975 15.A Vanished Landscape 1986 5. Glimpses of Aggieland: A Portfolio 1976 16, Ten Years After: The Alamo in the Letters and Journal of Edward Everett 1987 6. Aspects of the American West. Joe B. Frantz 1977 17. From Where the Sun Now Stands,A Manuscript of the Nez Perce War 1988 7. 1 Had all the Fun 1978 18. Rules and Regulations for the Government of the Mounted Rangers 1989 8. The Loran L. Laughlin Collection of Rare, 19. The Shirley Hotel 1990 Antiquarian Books. A Preliminary Checklist 1979 20. Jeff C. Dykes, 1900-1989, Conservationist, Collector, Scholar 1991 9. 1 Am My Work; My Work Is Me: Harvey Dunn 1980 21. La Hacienda de la Mariposa 1992 10. Pancho Villa: Images of the Mexican Revolution 1981 22. Thomas Bewick 1993 11. Charles Goodnight Remembered 1982 Copyright © 1994, Friends of the Sterling C. Evans Library,Texas A&M University, Keepsake No. 23. 94-30 3/94-700-UR t w� r. Y s y� �w t ` f 7 APR" <r Aw y . °1 t v'a i