DUANE
Duane's take
Here's the story as the official marker tells it, from right here in Potter County. Now, friend, if you think air travel was always just a given in the Texas Panhandle, pull over and let me set you straight. Because the story of how Amarillo got itself connected to the sky is one worth sittin' with.
It was May 29, 1929, when regular air service to Amarillo was inaugurated — not here, but four miles west, at Old Municipal Airport. And the outfit that kicked off the whole affair was Western Air Express, rolling in with a twelve-passenger Fokker trimotor plane flying round trip all the way from Los Angeles to Amarillo. Twelve passengers.
A trimotor. That was the first segment of transcontinental air service, and it was a tribute, the marker says, to the city and the leaders who had worked to build that airport and secure the service in the first place. Then came July 7, 1929 — mark that date, because something genuinely historic happened.
Transcontinental air transport launched. The first continuous, regularly-scheduled air passenger and mail service from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Coast to coast.
Now here's where the story gets a little taller and a little truer at the same time: that route had been surveyed by Charles Lindbergh — yes, that Charles Lindbergh — and he'd done it soon after his 1927 world-record solo flight from New York to Paris. Lindbergh, his wife, and other celebrities were honored guests of Amarillo on that very first transcontinental commercial flight. Can you imagine the scene?
The reorganizations that followed in the commercial aviation world — companies shifting and merging and reforming — eventually resulted in the formation of Trans-World Airlines, TWA, which went on to hold the record for the longest service to this area. Meanwhile, a man named Harold English opened English Field in 1929, and that airport began handling commercial air traffic in 1930. In 1952 it was renamed the Amarillo Air Terminal, and by the time this story was set down, it was handling the flights of six major airlines.
From a twelve-seat trimotor four miles west of here to six major airlines — that's not just progress, friend. That's a city that looked up and decided the sky was worth reachin' for.
What the marker says
Regular air service to Amarillo was inaugurated May 29, 1929, at Old Municipal Airport, 4 miles west of here. It was initiated by Western Air Express, using a 12-passenger Fokker trimotor plane flying round trip from Los Angeles to Amarillo. This was the first segment of transcontinental air service, a tribute to the city and leaders who had worked to build the airport and secure air service. Transcontinental air transport launched on July 7,1929, the first continuous, regularly-scheduled air passenger and mail service from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Its route had been surveyed by Charles Lindbergh soon after his 1927 world-record solo flight from New York to Paris. He and his wife and other celebrities were honored guests of Amarillo on that first transcontinental commercial flight. Reorganizations of companies originally flying commercial schedules to Amarillo resulted in the formation of Trans-World Airlines (TWA), now holding the record for longest service to this area. English Field, opened by Harold English in 1929, began handling commercial air traffic in 1930. In 1952 it was renamed Amarillo Air Terminal, and now handles the flights of six major airlines. (1966)