Fort Worth Star-Telegram/UT-Arlington Digital Archives
Amon Carter and Charles Lindbergh.
Gentleman and history lover Doug Sutherland, a prolific Facebook poster of historical images of Fort Worth as she grew into the flourishing adult of the 21st century, gave enthusiasts like you and me a good one a few years ago: Amon Carter and Charles Lindbergh hanging out at Carter's Shady Oak Farm at Lake Worth.
Lindbergh is outfitted in a hat, the standard issue of the host.
It wasn't so much that Amon Carter was entertaining a big fish. That was a common occurrence.
Few characters in American history are as peculiar as the pilot of the Spirit of St. Louis, the ship Lindbergh piloted nonstop from New York to Paris in 1927. He was the first to do that. And Lucky Lindy had all sorts of hot political opinions that caused a stir in the lead-up to WWII.
By the time this picture was taken the next year, in November 1928, Lindbergh was famous. His infant son would not be kidnapped and murdered for another three-plus years.
This memory came to mind because stuff similar to this is what you’ll find at the new exhibit at the venerable Fort Worth Museum of Science and History: “Cowtown Takes Flight,” which takes visitors through Fort Worth’s fascinating aviation history.
The doors opened on Saturday and will stay open for a while. Some of the stuff will be on permanent exhibit. Lockheed Martin, the Meta Alice Keith Bratten Foundation, and Humanities Texas are the principle sponsors.
“Cowtown Takes Flight” is open during regular museum hours and included with museum admission and membership. For more information about “Cowtown Takes Flight” and the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, visit www.fwmuseum.org.
1 of 3
Fort Worth Museum of Science and History
2 of 3
Fort Worth Museum of Science and History
3 of 3
Fort Worth Museum of Science and History
“Cowtown Takes Flight” serves as a tribute to remarkable heritage, shedding light on the social histories surrounding aviation’s transformation in the Fort Worth area. The exhibit aims to educate and engage visitors, revealing the human stories behind the technological advancements and the impact aviation has had on the community. Cattle, oil and gas, and aviation. All have been integral industries to Fort Worth.
Amon Carter, Ben E. Keith, Mayor Henry Meacham, and C.R. Smith are among those personalities featured, but there’s a whole bunch there. The shovel Carter used for the ceremonial groundbreaking of the Greater Southwest International Airport in 1950, later Amon Carter Field, is on display.
Roland Garros, the famed French flyer killed in WWI, has a place in the exhibit.
He is credited with making the first powered flight in Fort Worth on Jan. 12, 1911, in his Bleriot XI Statue of Liberty monoplane. The Fort Worth Driving Park, a racetrack near Carroll and West 7th streets, was the site of where the flight took off. A historical marker near the Montgomery Ward’s building title “Fort Worth’s First Flight, commemorates the event.
Garros was in town for the “Great Aviation Meet,” which had been brought to town through Amon Carter’s entreaties. Other team members included Edmond Audemars, a Swiss man, and Rene Simon and Rene Barrier, fellow Frenchmen.
Only Garros flew. The other pilots in the flying circus had refused to go up in Fort Worth’s 25 mph winds. High winds could blow these rudimentary vessels miles off course or simply into the ground. Garros, though, did not want to disappoint a crowd that had waited hours to see this.
He leveled off at 2,111 feet, according to news reports, and flew 10 miles in seven minutes over the North Side.
Lindbergh was a semi-regular to Fort Worth. According to the Star-Telegram, on that day he was pictured with Amon Carter, Lindbergh had flown in from Midland on a plane owned by Reg Robbins after a hunting trip in Mexico on the ranch the Luis Leon Ranch in Chihuahua. He and two friends from Mexico had to drive to Midland after his plane broke down in Mexico. Robbins had gained his own sort of fame as a pilot in Fort Worth.
That was Sunday, Nov. 4, when he arrived. He was greeted at Fort Worth's municipal airport — the recently renamed Meacham Field — by A.P. Barrett, president of Texas Air Transport (the future American Airlines), C.R. Smith and Tom Hardin, both top officials at Texas Air Transport, and Amon Carter.
They all lunched at the Fort Worth Club, where Lindbergh was staying the night.
Before nightfall, however, Lindbergh visited the homes of Carter and Barrett, as well as Shady Oak Farm, site of the picture.
America's most famous pilot rose from bed the next morning for breakfast at the Fort Worth Club and an 8:30 arrival at the airport. He had a planned 10 a.m. takeoff for St. Louis, borrowing Fort Worth oilman William Dunning's private airplane.
For 30 minutes, though, he dazzled the residents, taking two flights and a few passengers over the city.
He promised to return, later in the week, in fact, to deliver Dunning's plane to its hangar.
At the moment, he had to get back to St. Louis, a six-hour flight, to cast his vote for Herbert Hoover in the presidential election the next day.
