DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Stinson Airport, out there in Bexar County. Now, if you want a story about a family that didn't just witness aviation history but practically *built* the runway for it — pull over, because the Stinsons are about to make your jaw drop. It starts with Katherine.
Katherine Stinson, born in Alabama in 1891, had her eyes on a piano bench, not a cockpit. She wanted prize money — enough to fund her musical education — and she figured flying might be the way to get it. So in 1912 she tracked down a famed flight instructor out of Chicago, a man named Max Lillie, and she convinced him to take her on as a student.
Now, Max Lillie was not in the habit of taking just anybody. But Katherine was not just anybody. She walked away from that training as the fourth licensed woman pilot in the entire United States.
The piano, apparently, could wait. She took to the skies as a stunt pilot, touring the country and making people wonder if gravity applied to her the same way it did to everyone else. Back home, the whole family caught the fever.
Mother Emma, sister Marjorie, brothers Eddie and Jack — together they established the Stinson Aviation Company in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Marjorie and Eddie trained at the Wright Flying School in Ohio and became pilots themselves. This was a household where the dinner conversation probably involved wind shear.
Then Max Lillie — that Chicago instructor who'd started the whole chain of events — came back into the picture. In 1913, he encouraged the Stinsons to make their way to San Antonio, where the army had granted him permission to use the parade ground at Fort Sam Houston. And so they came.
Before long, Katherine and Marjorie were up in the air instructing U.S. and Canadian military pilots. Think about that a moment — women teaching the military to fly, at a time when plenty of people still weren't sure women *should* be flying. In 1916, the family leased five hundred acres right at this very site from the city and established what they called Stinson Field.
Five hundred acres. These folks were not thinking small. Then the World War came, and civilian flights were banned.
Stinson Field went quiet for the duration. But in 1918, with the war behind it, the field reopened as the city's civil airport. San Antonio had itself a real airport now, and the Stinsons had given it to them.
Here's a name you might recognize in the middle of all this: Charles Lindbergh. While he was stationed at Brooks Field, Lindbergh kept an airplane at Stinson and flew out of the field himself. Just tucked in there among the Stinsons' legacy like it was the most natural thing in the world.
The 1930s brought commercial airlines rolling in, and a new terminal building went up with funds from the Works Progress Administration, giving the whole operation a proper face. Then World War II arrived, and once again Stinson Field put on its military uniform, serving as an Army Air Corps training facility. Once the war ended, it came back to the people — returned to civilian use, it became the primary general aviation airport for the city of San Antonio.
Barnstormers to jets. Military cadets to commercial passengers. One Alabama girl with piano dreams and the nerve to ask Max Lillie for a lesson.
That is how five hundred acres in Bexar County became something that still has a name worth saying out loud: Stinson Airport.
What the marker says
Established by the Stinson family of aviation pioneers, Stinson Airport has witnessed the history of aviation from barnstormers to jets. Alabama native Katherine Stinson (1891-1977), hoping to win prize money to finance her musical education, convinced famed flight instructor Max Lillie of Chicago to take her on as a student in 1912. She became the fourth licensed woman pilot in the U. S. and began touring as a stunt pilot. Her family - mother Emma, sister Marjorie, and brothers Eddie and Jack- established the Stinson Aviation Company in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Marjorie and Eddie trained at the Wright Flying School in Ohio and also became pilots. In 1913, Max Lillie encouraged the Stinsons to move to San Antonio where the army had granted him permission to use the parade ground at Fort Sam Houston. Soon Katherine and Marjorie were offering instruction to U. S. and Canadian military pilots. The family leased 500 acres at this site from the city in 1916 and established Stinson Field. After the ban of civilian flights during World War I, Stinson Field became the city's civil airport in 1918. Charles Lindbergh kept an airplane and flew out of Stinson while he was stationed at Brooks Field. In the 1930s, commercial airlines began using the airport and construction of a new terminal building with Works Progress Administration funds enhanced the facility. During World War II it once again became an Army Air Corps training facility. Returned to civilian use after the war, Stinson Field became the primary general aviation airport for the city of San Antonio. (2001)