Austin, Cleared for Takeoff: Aviators, Businessmen, and the Growth of an American City (Jack and Doris Smothers Series in Texas History, Life, and Culture, No. 14)

Austin, Texas, entered the aviation age on October 29, 1911, when Calbraith Perry Rodgers landed his Wright EX Flyer in a vacant field near the present-day intersection of Duval and 45th Streets. Some 3,000 excited people rushed out to see the pilot and his plane, much like the hundreds of thousands who mobbed Charles A. Lindbergh and The Spirit of St. Louis in Paris sixteen years later. Though no one that day in Austin could foresee all the changes that would result from manned flight, people here--as in cities and towns across the United States--realized that a new era was opening, and they greeted it with all-out enthusiasm. This popularly written history tells the story of aviation in Austin from 1911 to the opening of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in 1999. Kenneth Ragsdale covers all the significant developments, beginning with military aviation activities during World War I and continuing through the barnstorming era of the 1920s, the inauguration of airmail service in 1928 and airline service in 1929, and the dedication of the first municipal airport in 1930. He also looks at the University of Texas's role in training pilots during World War II, the growth of commercial and military aviation in the postwar period, and the struggle over airport expansion that occupied the last decades of the twentieth century. Throughout, he shows how aviation and the city grew together and supported each other, which makes the Austin aviation experience a case study of the impact of aviation on urban communities nationwide. (200509) Illustrations on pages 9-16, 87-92, and 161-168......Page 8 PREFACE......Page 10 INTRODUCTION......Page 18 CHAPTER 1. CAL, GLENN, BENNY, AND THE ORIGINS OF AUSTIN AVIATION......Page 34 CHAPTER 2. AUSTIN, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, AND WORLD WAR I......Page 45 CHAPTER 3. BARNSTORMERS, BUSINESSMEN, AND HIGH HOPES FOR THE FUTURE......Page 65 CHAPTER 4. A BRIGHT SIDE OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION......Page 86 CHAPTER 5. WAR TRAINING RETURNS TO THE UNIVERSITY......Page 110 CHAPTER 6. AN ERA OF PEACE AND THE GROWTH OF PRIVATE FLYING......Page 134 CHAPTER 7. MUELLER, MARFA, AND THE GATHERING STORM......Page 157 CHAPTER 8. ERA OF INDECISION......Page 186 CHAPTER 9. CITY ON A TIGHTWIRE......Page 205 CONCLUSION......Page 226 NOTES......Page 230 BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 264 INDEX......Page 272 Tells the story of aviation in Austin from 1911 to the opening of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in 1999. This book covers almost all the significant developments, beginning with military aviation activities during World War I and continuing through the barnstorming era of the 1920s. It also shows how aviation and the city grew together. Kenneth B. Ragsdale. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 213-254) And Index.