DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker's got the story — let me tell it to you the way it deserves to be told. Now, most airports have a dedication ceremony, a ribbon, maybe a few speeches. Ranger Municipal Airport has something better than that.
It has a race — a transcontinental race, with fifty thousand dollars on the line and a Wright biplane in the starring role. Back up to November 24, 1911. Publisher William Randolph Hearst had put up fifty thousand dollars — fifty thousand — for the first person to fly across the United States in thirty days.
And an early aviator named Robert G. Fowler was going to be the man to claim it. Somewhere along that transcontinental attempt, Fowler brought his Wright biplane down on the V.V.
Cooper, Sr. field, just west of where the present airport building now stands, right on the eastern edge of what would become Ranger College. That landing makes the earliest documentation of an airplane touching down in Ranger. The Texas Department of Transportation's Aviation Division would eventually list this field as the third oldest operating airport in the state.
Third oldest. In all of Texas. It didn't start with a planning committee.
It started with a man chasing fifty thousand dollars and a prize deadline. Nearly seventeen years passed. Then, in the spring of 1928, a man named C.J.
Moore and a group of aviation boosters — folks determined to build a proper airport for Eastland County — started searching for a suitable site. They found one. They purchased the very same V.V.
Cooper, Sr. tract, all one hundred and thirty-five acres of it. And on Armistice Day, November 11, 1928, they officially dedicated the airport. There's a certain poetry in that — a day set aside to mark the end of one kind of flying over Europe, repurposed to celebrate a new kind of flying over West Texas.
Through the 1930s the place went by the name Haugland Airport. Then in September of 1939 it was renamed Ranger Municipal Airport, the occasion being the opening of a civilian pilot training program by the Ranger Flying Service — owned by Russell B. Miller, Hall Walker, and O.G.
Lanier. A new name for a field already building quite a résumé. And that résumé only kept growing.
On June 16, 1931, aviatrix Amelia Earhart landed her Pitcairn Autogiro right here at Ranger Field. Also through the 1930s, Ranger Airport served as the midway point for glider races running from Grand Prairie to Sweetwater and back — which means this little strip of Eastland County was the turning point, the pivot, the spot where every one of those races changed direction. Then came the war.
During World War II, Army Air Forces Piper L4 Cub pilots flew into Ranger Municipal Airport on multiple occasions, staying two to three days at a stretch to practice in the clear skies around Ranger. The skies over West Texas have always been generous that way. Since World War II, area citizens have worked continuously to keep Ranger Municipal Airport an asset to the city, the county, and the state.
And given what this field has already seen — a Hearst Prize attempt, Amelia Earhart's autogiro, glider races and wartime trainers — you have to figure those citizens knew exactly what they were working to preserve.
What the marker says
The Texas Department of Transportation's Aviation Division lists this field as the third oldest operating in the state. The earlies documentation for an airplane landing in Ranger was on November 24, 1911, when Robert G. Fowler landed his Wright biplane on the V.V. Cooper, Sr. field just west of the present airport building, on the eastern edge of Ranger College. Fowler, an early aviator, landed in Ranger during his transcontinental attempt to win publisher William Randolph Hearst's $50,000 prize for the first person to fly across the United States in 30 days. In the spring of 1928, C.J. Moore and various aviation boosters determined to build an airport for Eastland County began searching for a suitable site. They purchased the 135-acre V.V. Cooper, Sr. tract, and officially dedicated the airport on Armistice Day, November 11, 1928. Called Haugland Airport in the 1930s, the airport was renamed Ranger Municipal Airport in September 1939 when the Ranger Flying Service, owned by Russell B. Miller, Hall Walker and O.G. Lanier opened a civilian pilot training program at the airport. Several noteworthy aviation events have occurred at Ranger Field. On June 16, 1931, aviatrix Amelia Earhart landed her Pitcairn Autogiro here. In the 1930s, Ranger Airport served as a midway point for glider races from Grand Prairie to Sweetwater and back. During World War II, Army Air Forces Piper L4 Cub pilots flew into Ranger Municipal Airport on multiple occasions for two to three days of practice in the clear skies around Ranger. Since World War II area citizens have worked continuously to make Ranger Municipal Airport an asset to the city, county and state. (2006)