Kingman’s Aviation History Port Kingman & Western Air Express Kingman’s Next Airfields

Kingman’s Aviation History

Port Kingman

&

Western Air Express

Kingman’s Next Airfields

 

May 25, 1928—Col. Lindbergh to be Mem­ber of New Air Line, Flying ace will be important factor in air line that will work with Santa Fe line, front page article in the Mohave County Miner. The announce­ment came on May 22, that Col. Charles A. Lindbergh has join the recently organized Transcontinental Air Transport, Inc. TAT is a rail-air passenger service that will travel from New York City, NY to Los Angeles, Ca. in two days. Lindbergh will chair the techni­cal committee. Until now, Col. Lindbergh has not joined in any commercial aviation ven­tures. TAT President C. M. Keys made this announcement. (mcm)

June 1, 1928—Col. Lindbergh Passes thru this County, on the front page of Mohave County Miner. Wednesday night about 7:15 pm, Col. Lindbergh flew thru town. There was a report the Col. Lindbergh passed thru Seligman about 6:30 pm that evening. Col. Lindbergh is making an inspection of the air route for the new air service. TAT will use trains by night and airplanes in the daytime. Col. Lindbergh made it into Long Beach at 2 AM the next morning. Long Beach field is lighted. The other airfields in the Los Ange­les area are not lighted. He flew around for about four hours looking for an airfield. He was at the coast by 10 pm. (mcm)

August 3, 1928—Kingman to be Important Air Line Port, General Manager of Airway Terminals, Inc., here to inspect location for landing field for big transcontinental air passenger and mail service, front page ar­ticle of Mohave County Miner. Last Saturday evening, H. Clay Ferguson, general manager of the Continental Airway Terminals, Inc. (headquarters in NYC) and P. R. Love, an aviation engineer, landed here from a flight from Los Angeles, Ca. They landed at Wal­lapai Field. Mr. Ferguson had met with Col. Lindbergh in Los Angeles, he was here to look for possible landing sites. The two men were looking at two towns for future airfields here in Kingman and the Holbrook, Az. Mr. Ferguson will meet with L. V. Root, secretary of Mohave County Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Root will take the two men around the Kingman area to look at locations. The first location was Munds Station, eight miles from Kingman in the Sacramento Valley. Then they visited Wallapai Valley, they were look­ing at Section 7. They like the location. Mr. Frank DuBois had leased this section of land from the Santa Fe Railroad, he was using it for cattle. Mr. Ferguson said this is Santa Fe land, they could use for the future airfield. Mr. Ferguson and Mr. Jones left the next day for Flagstaff, Az., to have a meeting with Col. Lindbergh. (mcm)

September 28, 1928—Tri-Motored Fokker Lands in Kingman, article on the front page of Mohave County Miner. On Wednesday afternoon, a Fokker Tri-Motor airplane land­ed at Wallapai Field. The airplane is from Richfield Oil Co. of California. It received gas and flew back to Los Angeles, Ca. The airplane left Los Angeles at 10 AM that morning for a trip to fly over the Grand Canyon. The trip was put together by the Richfield Oil Co. President J. A. Talbert. They tried to fly over the Canyon, but there was a storm that was too strong for the airplane. So they headed back to Los Angeles. The passen­gers of the flight were Gordon B. Crary of E. F. Hutton Co. of LA, L. A. Hauser, president of Hauser Packing Co., E. E. Skiller of Pasa­dena and of late the Chicago Board of Trade, Dr. E. C. Moore of LA, W. B. Joyce, president of Harper Reynolds Hardware Co. of LA, Luther H. Johnston of Pennzoil Corp. and R. Crowe, financial editor of the Los Angeles Times. (mcm)

October 19, 1928—Art Goebel here in Western Air Express Plane, small front page article on the Mohave County Miner. Art Goebel (a well-known aviator and the win­ner of the Dole flight to Hawaii) flown into Kingman. He landed his two motor Sikorsky amphibian monoplane at Wallapai Field to fuel up and head to Los Angeles, Ca. He is delivering this airplane for use of taking passengers from the mainland to Catalina Island. Mr. Goebel is the record holder of the fastest time for New York to San Fran­cisco. (mcm)

October 26, 1928—Kingman is to be on T. A. T. Air Route, Officials here to look over site of landing field where hangers and machine shops will be located, the front page of the Mohave County Miner.“ Major Lamphier of the T. A. T. was here this morning flying in from the West. He will be back in Kingman within two weeks with a tri-motor passenger plane. He stated Kingman will be the most important station on the west coast. In ad­dition to transferring passengers here from the day plane to the night plane, etc. King­man will be the junction point for Los Ange­les and San Francisco passengers, transfers to and from the East being made here.” Ma­jor Thomas Lamphier, vice-president of the Transcontinental Air Transport, Inc., landed here at Wallapai Field on Saturday forenoon. He was coming in from Winslow, Az. with pi­lot Mr. Callahan. The two men were met by J. S. Withers, clerk of the Board of Supervisors of Mohave Co., Judge Carl Krook, L. V. Root, of the Mohave County Chamber of Com­merce, and Vernon Hubbs, of the American Legion. The group went to Section 7. The Major liked the area that Mr. Ferguson has picked. He also checked into the lighting and water situations. (mcm)

November 30, 1928—Traffic MGR. Air Line Here, small front page article of the Mohave County Miner. T. B. Clement, traffic manager of T. A. T., visited Kingman this past week. He was inspecting the air route to see what traffic possibilities appear in each place. His was escorted to the site for the proposed airport by Willis Black. He also visited with several businessmen in Kingman. He made a commit about the start of building of the company’s station would begin about Janu­ary First. (mcm)

December 7, 1928—Will Start T. A. T. Field Here Soon, Officials here to make final ar­rangements at big flying field. Expenditure of $75,000 to $100,000, front page article of the Mohave County Miner. Henry G. Hotch­kiss of New York and Donald Bartlett of Washington are officials that are represent­ing the legal and business of T. A. T. The two men arrived in Kingman, yesterday. They are with two engineers, H. G. Herliky and J. B. Bayard, Jr. They were met by members of the Mohave Co. Board of Supervisors and Chamber of Commerce. The group headed to the future site of the terminal at Section 7. The engineers looked over the land and it was ideal location for a field. Mr. Hotchkiss and Mr. Bartlett met with the county govern­ment officials and the citizens of Kingman. T. A. T. is looking to start their schedule by May 1st. The improvement of the airport would cost between $75,000 and no more than $100,000. (mcm)

December 14, 1928—Western Air Express Officer Visits Kingman, on page 7 article in the Mohave County Miner. Western Air Express representatives C. C. Moseley and F. M. S. Miller were in Kingman early this week. They were looking at land for a future airfield. They were shown land in Hualapai Valley. They like some the land and were very happy and looked forward to establish­ing an air service here. They took off from Wallapai Field on their way to Williams, Flagstaff and Winslow, Az. (mcm)

December 28, 1928—Tri-Motor Fokker Here, a small article on the front page of the Mohave County Miner. The Richfield Oil Fokker airplane landed at Wallapai Field. The Richfield Oil was selling the airplane to Universal Airlines in Chicago, IL. So the tri-motor Fokker is heading to Chicago. On board were the T. J. Fowler, pilot, his sister, Mrs. John D. Doyle and her baby (she is married to the president of the company), and A. Button, the mechanic. Richfield Oil is looking at buying a bigger airplane with Hornet engines and larger fuel storage. (mcm)

January 18, 1929—T. A. T. will have Fine Air Depot, byline: Bids will soon be opened and breaking of ground will start. Col. Lind­bergh’s trip here delayed., a front page ar­ticle of the Mohave County Miner. T. A. T. ac­tivities are a buzzing. Representatives of the company are in town working on getting the depot started. The land, Section 7 is paid for, so the construction can begin on the new airstrip and terminal building and hanger. Major Lamphier made a stop in Kingman on Tuesday; he refueled and headed west to Los Angeles. Col. Lindbergh was held up by a storm in Illinois, but will arrive to inspect the area. Pat Gilmore, contractor for Santa Fe Railroad, was here early this week, he was looking over future landing port. There are bids out for the hanger; size will be 190 feet by 155 feet. The hanger will hold four tri-motors. Bids will be open on January 28th. Along the hanger is the passenger’s depot, with pilot’s rest rooms and a radio station. (mcm)

February 1, 1929—Aeronautics Discussed at Rotary Club, front page article on the Mohave County Miner. John Allen Ware is a guest speaker of the Rotary Club last Wednesday. He gave the club an introduc­tion into the aeronautics. He covered the history of flight, from the balloon to glider to powered flight. He also covered how the technology was changing, by use of the wings of airplane. He spoke about the air mail service. Mr. Ware served in the air ser­vice during World War One. (mcm)

February 22, 1929—Engineer for T. A. T. Here To-morrow, John A. Herlihy on trip from east to outline work on the starting of work on T. A. T. Kingman plant, an article on the front page of Mohave County Miner. John Herlihy is the field engineer for T. A. T. and will be to survey the land for buildings, hangers, passenger station, radio station, beacon lights, and etc. So far the cost of the field is set at $75,000. The bids are unsealed and waiting to be posted. This field will be a very functional airstrip. As for level ground and great weather conditions. (mcm)

March 1, 1929—Work Starts on the T. A. T. Field Monday, L. H. Foster gets contract for putting field in shape. T. A. T. will erect radio broadcasting station here, on the front page of Mohave County Miner. Mr. Foster begin grading and leveling the land for the new airstrip. He won the bid to do the airstrip. After this has been done, the rest of the new terminal will be added. T. A. T. is trying to make the May 1st deadline for passenger service. (mcm)

Aero Club is to be Formed in Kingman, an­other article on the front page of the Miner. Bob Manship and newly arrive aviator Ed­die Burke called for meeting at the Fire Hall. They were looking for people who wanted to learn how to fly. So the two aviators are trying to establish an aero club. Eddie Burke has his own airplane, a red nose Lincoln-Page machine. He has been here two weeks. (mcm)

March 15, 1929—T. A. T. Field Work is Now Under Way, Contractor L. H. Foster says field will be ready to receive ships by first, front page article on the Mohave Count Miner. Mr. Foster expects to complete his work by the First of April. T. A. T. airplanes have already landed at the new airstrip. The airstrip has natural soil conditions and adding granite detritus to make a better packed for the landing and the take-offs. There is a strong interest to also have sightseeing tours flying out of the new airfield. (mcm)

March 22, 1929—Lindbergh Pays Visit to Kingman, a small article on the front page of the Mohave County Miner. Col. Lindbergh flew into Kingman and saw the new airstrip from the air, last Sunday. Residents of King­man flock to the new field to see the famous aviator. He was flying a black and orange plane, after circling three or four times, he decided not to land and he waved to the crowd. He then flew on to Santa Barbara, Ca. for few days in seclusion. (mcm)

T. A. T. Head is Visitor Here, another small article on the front page on the Miner. John A. Herlihay, special engineer of T. A. T., flew in yesterday morning on the Ford Tri-Motor “City of Columbus”. The “City of Columbus” was the airplane christened in the fleet of airplanes for the new passenger service. This is the Flying Office for T. A. T. He and few company officials were in Kingman to do some work on the new airstrip. The group flew in from Winslow, Az.; this is an­other site for a terminal being used by T. A. T. While in Kingman, he purchased a Tudor Ford coach for the company from Kingman Motor Co. (mcm)

Western Air Express will Build Here, Land­ing field and gassing station will be put in here, as Kingman will be on the Western Air Express route, another article on the front page of Miner. Silas Morehouse, chief pilot of Western Air Express, arrived here yes­terday to select a site a new airstrip, where the Western Air airplanes can fuel up. Willis J. Black, Mohave County Chamber of Com­merce, assisted Mr. Morehouse in find the suitable site for this new airfield. Mr. More­house said the airfield should start opera­tions around May 1st. This would be another advantage for Kingman. (mcm)

March 29, 1929—T. A. T. Will Build Depot and Hangars, Contrary to report work on both these buildings will proceed in near future, front page article of the Mohave County Miner. John A. Herlihy of Albuquer­que, NM., the chief engineer of T. A. T. of Washington, D. C. and H. S. Brodt of Evan­ston, Il., an engineer of T. A. T., stopped at the new site to do some more inspecting. They came in last Tuesday. They would in­spect the grading of the airfield and to see the completion of the contract. Also check on the power and telephone poles for the site. Mr. Herlihy said that the buildings will be built and will start soon. T. A. T. is now looking to start service on June 1st. Soon as the terminal and hanger is built, they will start building the tower for the wireless station. J. C. Cowden, a director in the T. A. T., and John A. Collings, chief pilot, arrived yesterday. They were heading home after inspecting the service line. They were flying in the “City of Columbus” (the paper called the plane a Fokker, it was a Ford). They refu­eled at the new airfield. (mcm)

Rotarians Hear of Airplane Instruments, last page article of the Miner. The Kingman Rotary Club is treated to another speaking engagement by John Allen Ware. Mr. Ware spoke of how the instruments work in an air­plane and how they apply to flight. He also told how they worked for Col. Lindbergh on his solo flight across the Atlantic. He in­cluded Col. Byrd trek in the Polar Regions.(mcm)

April 12, 1929—Good Headway at the T. A. T., front page article of the Mohave County Miner. The runway at the new T. A. T. field is practically completed. What has to be done is the oiling of the runway, only 3000 feet have not been done but will done after air service operations have begun. The mile long runway is ready for flight operations and 3,500 foot runway that run east to west is just completed. Some 4000 feet of trench­ing needs to be done for the radio station ground wires. The radio station will not be located at the field, but at another location. This location is at a ten acre tract between the Sandy Road and Slaughterhouse. Pier­son and Johnson have the contract for the two radio buildings. The depot contract went to an Albuquerque, NM man. The new depot will be one ½ mile from Route 66. Kingman will one of twelve stations on the Transcontinental Air Transport system. (mcm)

April 19, 1929—Kingman to be Division on Air Line, Western Air Express closes deal for airport which will make Kingman divi­sion point, article on the front page of Mo­have County Miner. Robert O. Boykin, field engineer of Western Air Express, was in Kingman for the last ten days. He has been working on leasing land from C. M. Clark. The location is at Berry. Mr. Cole, general manager for the company, arrived in King­man on Tuesday. He came in by airplane from Oakland, Ca. He liked the location and approved of it. Mr. Boykin will make the rest of arrangements for the new airfield. King­man new airfield will be part an air service for passengers by Western Air Express. This company is well financed by Simon Guggenheim Foundation, Harry Chandler of Los Angeles, and other financial interest of the country. The company has 12 tri-motor Fokkers in the fleet. Hebert Hoover, Jr. is ma­jor director in the company. Mr. Hoover will be in town soon. (mcm)

Applications Pour In for 1st Trip on T. A. T., small article on page 7 of the Miner. The enthusiasm is very evident; some one thou­sand applications were received to fly from the eastern terminus of the Transcontinental Air Transport. For the first trip only twenty passengers were accepted for the coast to coast trip. The first trip is schedule for July 7th. (mcm)

Richfield Oil to Build Here, another small ar­ticle on page 7 of the Miner. Dudley Steele, chief of the air division of the Richfield Oil Co., flew into Kingman. He made arrange­ments for the building 20,000 gallon tank to be erected at Louise. This location can sup­ply the airplanes of T. A. T. and Western Air Express. Public Utilities will do the power line for the property and Southwest Building & Supply Co. will do cement work and pump house. (mcm)

April 26, 1929—T. A. T. Field Going Ahead, a front page article of the Mohave County Miner. The radio towers and buildings are progressing very well. A. A. Pierson, the contractor for the radio building contract, said that the completion will happen in 30 days. Then ready for occupancy by compa­ny. L. H. Foster said the T. A. T. field proper is ready for final oiling. The new site is being prepared for the building of the terminal. (mcm)

Round Trip Passenger over T. A. T., an article on page 3 of the Miner. Col. William O. Tufts, Washington manager for Rand, McNally and Company, was the first person to take the trip from New York to Los Angeles. The pur­pose was to map the service line. The map will be on trains and planes. The pilot for the trip is John A. Collings. Mr. A. E. Demaray, of the National Park Service, was along for the ride. C. M. Bradley, chief mechanic, was on the flight, too. Col. Tufts enjoyed the trip very much. He made a return trip, this time flying over the Grand Canyon and visiting the westbound terminals. He returned to Chicago. (mcm)

Western Air Express Field Well Started, a small article on the last page of the Miner. The new field at Berry is well underway. Two thirds of the main runway parallels the Santa Fe tracks. Feldspar dust will be used as marker, arrangement of a fence to be put up and that is some the events taking place at the new Western Air Express field. Also which one of the runway might be oiled or when the completion is done. (mcm)

May 3, 1929—Herbert Hoover, Jr., Here This Week, front page article of the Mohave County Miner. Mr. Hoover arrived for a two or three day stay in Kingman by train. He is the assistant to the president of the compa­ny, Harris N. Hanshue and is the communica­tions engineer. Not only that, he is the son of the President of the United States Herbert Hoover. He is mainly here to go over the plans of the new airfield for Western Air Express. He was later met by his wife, who drove in from the coast. (mcm)

May 3--Western Air Planes Thru Here May 15, short article on the front page of the Min­er. Western Air Express made an announce­ment that air service will come through Kingman beginning May 15. The air route is for Los Angeles to Kansas City, by air it will take about 12 hours and by train is 39 hours. The planes are Fokker tri-motors with 14 seats. The airplane has a cruising speed of 125 miles an hour to the max is 150. These planes cost $80,000 each. Western Air Ex­press has 9 planes with the tenth on the way from the Los Angeles, Ca. factory. (mcm)

May 17, 1929—Air Service Thru Kingman is Started, Wednesday Western Air Express started daily twice a-day. Service linking Kingman with outer world by air, front page article on the Mohave County Miner. West­ern Air Express started daily flying service to Kingman on Wednesday. The new field at Berry is now a hot bed of activity. The air­planes come in from the west, Los Angeles, Ca. and from the east, Albuquerque, NM. (mcm)

T. A. T. is to be Ready by June 15, front page article of the Miner. R. M. Dunlap, the King­man Field Manager for T. A. T., arrived here this week. He will take over all airfield op­erations. Mr. Brodt, a contractor for T. A. T., is saying the complete of tasks will be com­plete by June 15. The radio building is fin­ished and ready for action. The next item on the agenda is the huge beacon tower to help the pilots at night. The new field will have some lighting capabilities, like flood lights for the runway. A Ford tri-motor is to arrive today and will have the several heads of the T. A. T. Company on board. They will make a quick inspection. (mcm)

May 24, 1929—T. A. T. Towers are Now Here, a small article of the Mohave County Miner. The construction of the two 128 foot radio towers will begin tomorrow. The towers arrived yesterday and will be put up once.

They are the next item of construction to be done for the T. A. T. field. The depot is al­most complete, hoping everything will be in place by June 1st. The oiling of the runway was completed and a steel fence installed and encircling the airfield. H. S. Brodt says it is looking good towards the final step of construction of this new terminal. (mcm)

June 14, 1929—T. A. T. Depot is Completed, front page article of the Mohave County Miner. Transcontinental Air Transport pas­senger station is completed. The construc­tion was finished this week, but with one ex­ception of the laying the tile in the reception room and lighting fixtures. There will be a dedication on June 25th. The other buildings under construction will be completed by that time. The Company Officer’s are invit­ing all of Kingman to come out to look at the new airfield. A flood light arrived on the field just this week. It is a 30,000,000 beam candle power light for use at night. The light still has to be installed. It will help the pilots at night, in telling the ceiling of the sky. The fuel trucks have arrived at the same time. The pumps on these trucks can pump 60 gallons in a minute in the wings of the air­planes. Port Kingman is the most completed airfield on the service west of Wichita, Ks, with the exception of Los Angeles and Al­buquerque. T. A. T. has a publication called “Plane Talk”, which is published monthly. (mcm)

June 21, 1929—Will Dedicate T. A. T. Field Next Friday, on the front page of the Mo­have County Miner. Port Kingman will have a dedication at 2 PM next Friday. All the businesses in town will close at this time so their employees can attend. The T. A. T. and Mohave County Chamber of Commerce will host the dedications. Pat Murphy, in charge of the transportation department, contact man for the entire system, will be there to greet the locals, he will also be the official host. Max Cornwall, western manager, who has considerable flying time, will be pres­ent. There will some of well-known aviators and officials. Port Kingman’s team will be present, like R. M. Dunlap the manager of the airfield, Bill Clover the meteorologist. Kingman officials will be present. Power and telephone lines are going in now. The cost of the power is $7,750 and the cost for the telephone is $2,900. The power poles came in this past week. (mcm)

Western Air will Select a New Field, P. H. Philbin, Jr., assistant to president, here to se­lect field which company plans to buy and improve. On the front page of the Miner. Mr. Philbin and Lt. Albert F. Hegenberger (Con­gressional Medal of Honor, and co-pilot with Mr. Maitland on the first trans-Pacific flight to the Hawaiian Island) have spent several days this week in Kingman. Their purpose to locate and purchase the land for a new airfield. John Allen Ware and C. B. McClel­land, of Santa Fe Railroad land representa­tive, are appointed to help the WAE officials. Willis J. Black the president of the Mohave County Chamber of Commerce appointed the men to a committee to assist Western Air Express. The future site was located in Sec­tion 5, which is Santa Fe property and being leased to Arizona Livestock Co. Section 5 adjoins F. H. Kapp homestead. Mr. Philbin wants the best land for a great airfield. He compares the new airfield closely to the new T. A. T. airfield. The runways will be oiled or paved. (mcm)

June 28, 1929—T. A. T. Airport Dedicated Here Late Tuesday, Chamber of Commerce in charge of ceremony that officially dedi­cates this important link in transcontinental air travel, an article on the front page of the Mohave County Miner. Port Kingman was christened on Tuesday as part of the dedi­cation. A great crowd of hundreds came out during the terrific heat that afternoon. Port Kingman was the first airport dedicated in Northern Arizona. Lois Gates, daughter of Jay M. Gates, president of Central Com­mercial Co., broke a bottle of ginger ale across the standard of the American Flag to officially christen the field. Mr. Willis cut the ribbons to officially open the new airport. A prayer was given by Rev. E. S. Andersen of the Methodist Episcopal Church. There were appreciations handed out, to help in the endeavor of the building of Port Kingman and everything associated with it, like the spe­cial guest who was on hand for the dedica­tion. Mr. Black read a small passage for the dedication:

“In joyful recognition of all the benefits of science and its direct contribution to the advancement of aviation throughout the world we hereby enter into the dedication of this aviation port. Hence­forth to be known as Port Kingman. To the eternal God whose creative nature and accepted wisdom had endowed mankind with an ever increasing power of invention, we dedicate this airport. To the undying memory of heroes who have made sacrificial contributions to the advancement of aviation, we dedicate this airport. To the growing satisfaction now enjoyed by those within whose power rests the future destinies of commercial aviation, we dedicate this airport. To the task of bringing about greater efficiency in the realms of commercial progress, national correlation of civic interest and international good will, we dedicate this airport.

Pat Murphy,

For the Transcontinental Air Transport Co

Willis J. Black,

For the Mohave County Chamber of Commerce

Lindbergh Will Fly this Way, on page 7 in the Miner. Col. and Mrs. Charles A. Lindbergh flew over Kingman at 1:10 PM on Wednes­day. The two did not land here, but flew on to Glendale, Ca. They will rest in Glendale until July 7, when he will make the first pas­senger flight from California. He was to inspect Port Kingman but decided not to. (mcm)

July 5, 1929—First Radio Broadcast from Kingman, a small article on the front page of the Mohave County Miner. This past week, the first official radio broadcast was made in Mohave Co. After the power lines have been put in and connected to service the airfield. The switch was turned on the operation of the radio station has begun. The radio station and the airfield are connected by this power line. The signal was picked up as far away east as Albuquerque and far away west to Los Angeles. The only the light has to be installed at Port Kingman. Then the field will be ready for the first flight from the west. (mcm)

Air-Rail Line Follows Route of Old Stages, ar­ticle on the front page of Miner. From Sweet­water, TX, July 2-Speeding airplanes linking coast with coast by air-rail schedules pass over the same route today taken by the old Butterfield stage line of 71 years ago, old-timers here have recalled. With Transcon­tinental Air Transport being inaugurated, the historical comparisons can be made, for the old and the new routes. The Butterfield Stage charged a passenger $200 for 25 days and T. A. T. charges $215 for 24 hours and 35 minutes. The Butterfield Stage had daily service starting in September 1858, from St. Louis to San Francisco via El Paso, TX. The southern route missed the blizzards of the mountain passes. The Butterfield Stage Lines was for the demand for people to get across the country from Atlantic to the Pacific. So with the aviation, you now can fly from coast to coast within 24 hours. (mcm)

Western Air Publishes Rates, a small article on the back of the Miner. Tarr, McComb, & Ware, Co., of Kingman, received a bulletin of rates from Western Air Express, Co. The fares Los Angeles to Kingman would be $35, Los Angeles to Holbrook, $65, to Albuquer­que, $90, to Amarillo, TX, $120, to Wichita, Ka, $155, and to Kansas City, Mo., $175. The Deluxe planes will serve lunches for the routes to the north. Twenty-five pounds of baggage will be allowed for each passen­ger and additional baggage will cost by the pound. Western Air Express fleet consists of Fokkers, Sikorsky, and Loening amphibians’ planes and Douglas, Stearman, and Curtis open cockpits. (mcm)

July 12, 1929—T. A. T. Air-Rail Service is Started, front page article of the Mohave County Miner. Monday, July 8, at 11:18, Col. Charles A. Lindbergh landed the first air­plane of the Transcontinental Air Transport air service at Port Kingman. He was piloting the “City of Los Angeles”. Mrs. Lindbergh was along for the ride. (mcm)

July 12--World Famous Flier Visitor in King­man, a front page article of the Mohave County Miner. Col. and Mrs. Lindbergh landed here last Saturday, on their way to the west coast to start the service on schedule. They were brought into town by the T. A. T. official car. They got a room at the Beale. They took a drive out to Crozier Ranch for a swim. They had a guest with them, Betty Hall and Harry Brodt, T. A. T. engineer, and Mr. and Mrs. Bill Clover in another car. After the swim, they headed back into town. While in their room, they had a visitor, Mr. Willis J. Black. They thanked Mr. Willis for all his help in working with T. A. T. The Lind­berghs left the next morning. (mcm)

T. A. T. is now Equipped with Studebakers, article on page 7 in the Miner. T. A. T. has purchase a fleet of Studebakers for the help­ing to link the rail depots to the airports. The fleet consists of 11 President Cabriolets and 1 President State. The cabriolets will be used with special built aero-car. The aero-car is a trailer for passengers. The eleven Studebakers are at all stops on the air-rail route. The State sedan is for official use only in St. Louis, Mo. (mcm)

Grand Canyon from the Air is Great Trip, a small article on page 7 in the Miner. Two Ford tri-motors from Scenic Airways flew over the Grand Canyon. The field is 20 miles from El Tovar, the airplanes are stationed there. Major Smith piloted one of the tri-motors and Captain Nelson has the other. Major Smith is a friend of Captain Gil Irwin, long time flyer that is known in Kingman. It only takes a few minutes to reach the Can­yon. Going into the Canyon is spectacular is this airplane. (mcm)

July 19, 1929—Planes Receives Radio Flash Avoids Storm, Intermittently flashed signals from local T. A. T. station reaches ship which sails high into the clouds to avoid the local storm, the front page article on the Mohave County Miner. Port Kingman’s radio station alerts incoming airplanes of the storm over Kingman. Robert Gnagey, the airfield’s new­ly arrived meteorologist, and Winfield E. Davis, in charge of the radio station, were notifying incoming airplanes of the weather conditions at Kingman, last Wednesday. Mr. Gnagey informed Mr. Davis about the weather condition and to send out a mes­sage to fly past Port Kingman. A non-sched­ule tri-motor from Maddux Air Lines landed during a break in the storm. About 5:30 PM a message was received from Glendale, Ca. airport, “Just arrived at Glendale, passed over Kingman at 15,000 feet, thanks to your message, in constant touch with your station at all times since leaving Winslow. Transmit­ter out of order and could not reply.” (mcm)

San Francisco Gets Service in T. A. T. Plan, a small article on the front page of the Miner. This week, Col. Charles A. Lindbergh made an announcement that a daily transcontinental air service between San Francisco, Co. and New York, NY. The service would be inaugu­rated on September 1st. Passengers would leave Alameda Airport at 8 AM fly to Clovis, NM, that day and get a train for the night to Waynoka, Ok, fly from there to Columbus, Oh. Then travel by rail from Columbus to New York, arriving in New York about 9:50 AM. From New York to San Francisco, leave New York at night; arrive in San Francisco about 8 PM on the second evening. Soon as it is suitable, the Pullman airplane will start night time flying. (mcm)

Copper State Airways Corporation Use Kingman Port, an article on page 7 of the Miner. A Prescott company, Copper State Airways is making arrangements with West­ern Air Express. Copper State Airways have recognized WAE, with their superior posi­tion as a transcontinental passenger carrier. Copper State Airways wants to become a feeder line to WAE. Copper State Airways is waiting on the granting of corporation and a license from the U. S. Department of Com­merce. (mcm)

July 26, 1929—Air Travel Brings Many Big People, an article of the front page of the Mohave County Miner. With Transcontinen­tal Air Transport and Western Air Express airports, Kingman is seeing a number of nationally and internationally known people flying into town. People coming in at Port Kingman; Mr. and Mrs. J. V. McGee (he is the general manager for T. A. T.), Gene Batten (nationally known army speed pilot and recent winner at Seattle, Wa.), Mr. and Mrs. George Epstein (nationally known eastern clothiers from Reading, Pa.), Arthur Goebel (winner of the Hawaiian Dole flight and one time holder of coast to coast/dawn to dusk flight), Walter Perkins ( in charged of the department of aeronautics for the Pacific Coast), and Max Blouse ( president of one of the largest transportation companies in the world with headquarters in Manila, Philippines). The people that are coming in at the Berry Field; Barney Oldfield (nation­ally known racing driver), Herbert Hoover, Jr. (the President’s son and official for WAE), Ralph Snoddy (internationally known speed boat racer), James Talbot (chairman of the board of directors of the Richfield Co.), Har­ris M. Hanshue ( president of the Western Air Express Co.), Lieutenant Hegenberger (nationally known army air pilot, who flew a Fokker from San Francisco to Hawaii), Phil Philbin and James Wooley ( vice-presidents of Western Air Express Co.). (mcm)

August 2, 1929—T. A. T. Installs Lighting for Night Flying, article on the front page of Mohave County Miner. The flood light was installed this week. This light has 50,000,000 beam candle power, with sufficient strength to light up the entire length of runway of Port Kingman. This flood light gives the field enough light that it feels like the daytime. If the pilots look into the light, they will not be blinded by the light. Not just this light but all the other lights for the airport will be installed during August. The first string of obstruction lights were also installed this week. They are placed 900 feet apart on either side of the runway to help the pilots at night. There will be a lighted wind sock and a revolving beacon light that will be 51 feet high on erected tower. Also there will be small flood lights installed in the corners of the passenger station. (mcm)

Western Air Big Growth in 3 Years, a page 6 article in the Miner. Western Air Express has grown more than 1,000 percent in the last three years. Since 1926, they have gone from 20 employees to 302 and 6 airplanes to 35. They had 209 passengers for 1926 and

now have flown 8,019 passengers for the first six months of this year and estimations are for 20,000 passengers. In 1926, daily flown was 1,200 miles to 7,300 miles daily for the first half for 1929. In three years, the company has grown from 3 airfields to 15. As for air mail, 2,856,560 pieces of mail for 1926 to 41,726,240 for the first six months of 1929. Western Air Express has flown more than 2,600,000 miles without any pas­sengers has killed or injured, including no force landings or mechanical trouble in flight. The locations of airport and employ­ees: Los Angeles, 195; Salt Lake City, 9; Las Vegas, 6; Denver, 11; San Francisco, 7; Oak­land, 4; Avalon, 3; Wilmington, 8; Kingman, 4; Holbrook, 4; Albuquerque, 7; Amarillo, 4; Wichita, 4; Kansas City, 21; Chicago, 3 and in addition 3 traveling representatives. West­ern Air Express always has airplane in the sky at any given hour. As for airport con­struction and improvements, they will spend more than $2,000,000. Western Air Express has established an air line service from Los Angeles to Kansas City as part of an air-rail service. This service can connect LA to Chicago in 24 hours, LA to New York City in 46 hours, and LA to Washington, D. C. in 47 hours. This is the fastest service by any air-rail service. (mcm)

August 9, 1929—Western Air Starts Ex­press, a front page article of the Mohave County Miner. Western Air Express has inaugurated a new service last Wednesday. They have started a new rapid transit ex­press service from California to the Mid-west. This is a partnership with Railway Ex­press Agencies (successors to the American Railway Express Company). This service has opened up a new rapid trade facilities for wholesalers and manufacturers on the Pacif­ic Coast. The shipment that came thru King­man, a special consignment of very rare orchids going to a Kansas City florist and a large order of Calavos (trade name for avocados grown for the California Avocado Association) and other seasonable foods and rush merchandise. The trip from Los Angeles to Kansas City is made in regularly in 12 hours, as for the rail service, it would be 50 hours. This service is open to all local people and arrangements can be made thru the local Express office at the Santa Fe de­pot. Shipments are limited to 200 pounds in weight and cannot exceed 60x19x40” in di­mension and the can be insured not greater than $5,000. (mcm)

August 16, 1929—T. A. T. Report on the 1st Month of Service, a page 4 article in the Mohave County Miner. From St. Louis, Mo. August 13---Transcontinental Air Transport carried almost 50 percent of its passenger capacity in the first month of its operation. Donald M. Bartlett, assistant general man­ager released the figures today. Since July 8, planes have operated 43% on the eastern division between Columbus, Oh to Way­noka, Ok. The western division had 33%, from Clovis, NM to Los Angeles and San Francisco, Ca, for the total average of 38% for the month. T. A. T. had 433 passengers, not including those who were guest (Free) of the company. There are 153 passengers for coast to coast trip and 280 passengers made the short trips. The passenger flown miles are 432,264. That is equivalent to one passenger going around the globe – 17 times. There was 113,957 schedule miles for passengers, but the actual flown miles is 113,240. The operating ratio is then 99.4%. The passengers have sent letters of accep­tances to form of traveling. (mcm)

August 16--Western Air Scenic Route is Described, a page 7 article in the Miner. Traveling from Kansas City to Los Ange­les is 1417 miles of great variety of scenic beauty. We are leaving Kansas City, at 8:30 AM Central Standard Time, on a 14 place cabin Fokker Tri-motor. Flying over the Missouri River is sight to see, “a broad stretch of muddy, swirling water, constantly eating at its banks”. As for the summertime, the broad plains of Kansas are a delight for the eyes, no mountains or hill in the distance. From the air you can see fields of pastures and patches that are now fenced in. As these fields are passing by you spot cattle graz­ing and farmers work their land. From the air, you get the feeling of being heavenly. You see how people go about their daily lives on the farm. With airplanes in the sky on a more daily routine, more people will fly and see how others live from the air. It is 9 AM, we are flying over Oklahoma. We now see the dirt color changing to reddish and it is barren, there are “two types of mother nature intermingled”, before to long we will fly over Texas. Our flying speed is 120 miles an hour and making our way to California, for we are 800 miles from the coast. We now over Texas, no more farm land and we are now over ranch land. As we are flying over Texas, I notice “just bleak desert land, in­terspersed here and there with barren yet majestic mountains”. I also notice rancher working hard in a rain deprived landscape. We now over New Mexico, heading to Al­buquerque, we climb over the mountains at 10,000 feet in altitude. Then landing in Albuquerque for a short period of time, as we change planes, we had only 600 miles to go to Los Angeles and 6 hours to go of flying time. We are back in the air, from Albuquer­que to Cajon Pass, Ca, “the scenery is much the same in general, although ever-chang­ing in detail”. The tri-motor flies the south rim of the Grand Canyon. The Colorado River is just as powerful as the Missouri. We make a brief stop in Kingman, Az., to refuel and head westward to California. Kingman is a little mining town that is rich in historic interest. The sun is setting in the west, the co-pilot points out Baldwin, Arrowhead and Big Bear Lakes. We finally arrive at our des­tination. It was a great view along the way. (mcm)

August 23, 1929—Science as Applied to the Weather, a page 7 article in the Mohave County Miner. Robert Gnagey, the meteo­rologist of T. A. T., Port Kingman, is prepar­ing a series of article for the paper. His first article is about weather conditions, like rain, snow, sleet, winds, lighting, and thunder. He tells how man has learned the fundamen­tals of weather, which grew into sciences of forecasting weather, which he works with everyday. (mcm)

Flood Lights Help Fokker Make Landing, an­other page 7 article in the Miner. The lights at Port Kingman help a Western Air Express Fokkers land safely; this was the first time for this type of situation. The plane was coming in from Wichita and was fighting the headwinds, so it was running late in the schedule. Ralph M. Dunlap, general manag­er, was at Port Kingman, when he heard the plane overhead. So he turned on the huge B. B. T. light, along with the beacon and bound­ary lights. The pilot flew lower over the field and then made a perfect landing. The plane stayed on the field and next morning the plane left for Los Angeles, Ca. (mcm)

Zep Passengers via the T. A. T., small article in the Miner. Dr. Eckner of the Graf Zeppelin has sent word about using T. A. T. He is send­ing 6 of 9 members of his crew of Los Ange­les to Lakehurst, NJ. They will use the T. A. T. service to get them there before the arrival of the Graf Zeppelin. So the crew will pass thorough Kingman on their way east. (mcm)

T. A. T. Passenger List Carries Number Prominent People, a small article on page 6 in the Miner. Some well-known people fly thru Kingman on T. A. T.; Beverly Bayne and son, Richard (she is motion picture actress), J. E. Crosson (his sister is Marvel Crosson, young aviatrix, she died in her airplane), Dr. Jerome Wagner (prominent New York physi­cian, going to the coast to get married to a well-known actress), Bruce Mackay (traffic manager for Maddux Air Lines), Harriett O. Parson ( well-known fiction writer for cur­rent magazines), and F. W. Meister of the Graf Zeppelin. (mcm)

August 30, 1929—Zep Crew is Apprecia­tive, small article in the Mohave County Miner. This week, the T. A. T. received thanks and expressions of appreciation from the crew of 7of the Graf Zeppelin. (mcm)

Trys to Ride Landing Gear of T. A. T. Ship, an article on page 7 in the Miner. Last Tues­day, someone tried to get a ride by hopping on the landing gear of a Tri-motor. Ralph Dunlap, general manager of Port Kingman, watched a poorly dressed man try to catch a ride to Los Angeles. Mr. Dunlap gave chase and was able to catch up the speeding airplane and pull the man off the gear. The man was trying to get a ride to Los Angeles. He has done this before, by catching rides on other airplanes. He rode from Reno, Nv. to Los Angeles. So he was making effort in trying to do the same in Kingman to Los An­geles. (mcm)

September 6, 1929—Search for T. A. T. Ship is Still On, No Trace yet of the TAT ship, San Francisco, which disappeared three days ago today. Many planes and men in search, front page article on the Mohave County Miner. BULLETIN—As this paper goes to press we received a report that four men walking and waving a white flag had been sighted from the air at a point 29 miles northeast of Pellaca, which in turn is located north of Holbrook. This report is supported by the theory that the plane went north to hit the break in the clouds, as mentioned in the article below. Possibly these men have no connection with the TAT ship, “San Fran­cisco” and possibly they have. A thorough investigation of this clue is being made. Three days ago the T. A. T. plane the “City of San Francisco” went missing. It left Albu­querque on time but never reached Winslow or made it to Kingman by 2:15 schedule of that day. The plane must have gotten lost or crash somewhere in Arizona, New Mexico or Southern Utah. The plane had a crew of three and five passengers when it went missing. With hundreds of men look­ing on the ground and 30 airplanes in the air the search is on for the missing plane. Twenty-five airplanes are from the army and navy from the bases in Southern California. Planes coming in from the west will fuel up at Port Kingman. The other airplanes are from T. A. T. and have already been search­ing from Kingman to Albuquerque; they have been pulled from the schedule. T. A. T. has posted a five thousand dollar reward in finding the ship. The pilot of the “San Fran­cisco” is J. B. Stowe, 29 and 6 years of flying experience, Ed Dietel is the co-pilot and C. F. Canfield was the courier, are the crew. Some of the passengers are A. B. McGaffey, successful lumberman from Albuquerque, and a wife of a T. A. T. employee from Glen­dale, Ca. There have been a lot of theories about what might have happen, like trying to pass a storm and run out of fuel and went down in the northern strip. Also rumors have surfaced, so papers have printed them. This is a terrible blow to a small growing air service. (mcm)

Crash Ends Life of Air Derby Racer, Major John Wood plunges to death from 3-mile altitude. Mechanic companion, Miller, leaves ship and lands with chute, another article on front page of the Miner. In the California desert 25 miles of Needles, Ca, and Major John Wood’s body was located on the early morning of Wednesday. The wreckage was found by Burrell Smith, pilot of the Aero Corporation of California. He returned to Needles immediately and sent this tele­gram: “Landed at wreckage, Body found. Death instantaneous. No fire but explosion.” As observations are taken, the plane had been struck by a bolt of lightning, causing the fuel tank to explode. Major Wood was 32 years old, president of the Northern Air­ways, and a line between Chicago, IL. and Minneapolis, Mn. He was a resident of Was­sau, WI. He also established a new non stop record between Los Angeles and Cleve­land, Oh. Mr. Miller survived the explosion knock him out of the airplane, he pulled his ripcord and floated to the ground with a hard thud. He awoke from the hard landing and made it to Needles, 30 hours later. He did find airplane pieces around him, but no sign of the airplane. C. R. Van Marter left for Needles that Wednesday afternoon to pick up the body. He ran the local funeral home in Kingman. He will get the remains ready for shipment. (mcm)

September 13, 1929—Air Official Visitor Here, a small article on the front page of the Mohave County Miner. Fred C. Hingsburg, the chief engineer for the U. S. Depart­ment of Commerce, flew in last Tuesday for a quick stop. He is inspecting the T. A. T. and Western Air routes. So he wanted to look over Port Kingman and Berry Field. He wanted to look at the runways and radio facilities. He was flying in a Fairchild cabin airplane and during landing it made a per­fect 3 point landing. (mcm)

September 20, 1929—Western Air Will Own Six Huge Planes, front page article of the Mohave County Miner. From an article from Harbrouch Heights, N. J.—The biggest land plane ever built, with a wing spread of 99 feet and length of 75 feet, carrying thirty-two passengers by day and with sleeping accommodations for sixteen persons, was officially launched here today. The plane will be used by the transcontinental air-rail services of New York Central system and the Universal Airlines. Five planes are be­ing built for Universal Airlines, after which 6 more airplanes will be built for Western Air Express. The plane’s speed is at 150 miles an hour, has four Wasp engines, two tandems on each side of the fuselage. These forward motors have two bladed propellers while the rear are of the four bladed type. (mcm)

September 27, 1929—T. A. T. Ships Now Report Location Every 15 Minutes, page 7 article in the Mohave County Miner. Trans­continental Air Transport Co. will use their radio stations a lot more. The planes of the air service are contacting the radio sta­tions of the airfields. This way the ground personnel know where each plane is at and marked on a map. This is the first instance of where an air service in the county has great two-way radio communication with plane and radio station. The people of King­man have listened in at times of these radio contacts. (mcm)

October 11, 1929—Air Route thru Kingman Topic Rotary Meet, a front page article on the Mohave County Miner. Last Wednesday’s Kingman Rotary Club meeting had a topic about air mail service coming through town. The club’s community service committee brought it to the attention of the club. The committee is looking into naming the air mail route. An air mail service could bring considerable revenue to the town. Other towns are being communicated with about the idea. The request and data are being submitted to the post office department. This process with help in getting a permit for the air mail service and some airline service can carry it. Here are some of the other guests at the meeting; John Diggle, G. Walter Reed, Rev. Gerald B. Harvey and Robert Thurston. (mcm)

Universal Air Lines will Fly this Air Lane, page 6 article in the Miner. Northern Air Lines, a subsidiary of the Universal Air Lines, is expecting to operate another air service through this area. They have order 5 Fokkers this service. This airplane can carry 32 passengers and is a convertible type, giving Pullman service for night time flying. Universal Air Lines is one of the larg­est carry services in the county. No date was given for this service to begin. (mcm)

Motion Picture on T. A. T. Ships, a small ar­ticle in the Miner. Universal Newsreel and Duograph Company, a maker of a special projector, were able to show in-flight mov­ies. Flying at 5,000 feet and watching a film for a 45 minute showing. This past Monday and Tuesday, aboard a T. A. T. flight there was a showing of the newsreels and two cartoons specially edited for the in-flight experiments. This was done for the west­bound passengers. The projector is in­stalled in about two minutes and it weighs about 34 pounds including batteries. With­out the batteries, the projector weights about 8 pounds. The projector is in back of the plane and a screen at the size of 20 by 24 inches is behind the cockpit. This special shade projector uses a short distance which means no need for closing the windows of the cabin. Some local people had a chance to view the experimental system on their way west, Sheriff Graham, Mrs. R. E. Dun­lap, and Jimmie James. They were on the Wednesday flight. (mcm)

November 1, 1929—Air-Rail-Water Circle is Now Inaugurated, a page five article in the Mohave County Miner. St. Louis, Oct. 28—The steamship has joined the transport combination that became so popular with the inauguration of air and rail travel last summer, according to an announcement today by T. B. Clement, general traffic man­ager of Transcontinental Air Transport air-rail line which operates in connection with the Pennsylvania and Santa Fe railroads. For the marine addition is from the Panama Pacific line, the company operates between the New York and the Pacific Coast via the Panama Canal. The new service is known as “over and around America by air, rail, and water. Trips can originate from any locale in the U. S. The distance is 9,000 miles in sixteen days. The new service will start on November 2. Panama Pacific has three ships, they will be part of the service. First out will be S. S. California then the S. S. Virginia and S. S. Pennsylvania will be part of the rotation. The ships have turbo electric engines and have the top speed of 21 ¾ miles an hour. The combination adds appeal to the busi­ness person or the pleasure traveler. (mcm)

November 8, 1929—Radio will Direct Ships on this Lane, Department of Commerce to install $10,000 plant here for direction of ships on this route, front page article of the Mohave County Miner. N. W. Bliss, assistant airways engineer of the U. S. Department of Commerce, made a recent visit to Kingman. He said that $10,000 would be used to place equipment for airplanes to use in the flight. The new equipment is known as Directive Radio Range, keep airplanes on their course day or night, fair or stormy weather. The pilots will listen to a signal that will be re­ceived by the plane. There will be 4 degree angle of diversion in the direction of the course. If going north of the path, the pilot will receive a dash and going south of the path will be a dot. These radios beacons will be set up every hundred miles on each airline. (mcm)

November 8--Will Aid in Air Mail Route, a page 4 article of the Miner. Mr. H. W. Beck of T. A. T. Western Traffic office out of Los Angeles sent a letter to G. Walter Reed, secretary-manager of the Northwestern Arizona Development Association about Kingman becoming an airmail terminal. The local Rotary Club had a plan for Kingman to be placed on an air mail route to Los Ange­les. Secretary Reed wrote an official letter to the club. They were hoping that T. A. T. would carry the mail bags. Mr. Beck’s letters as follows:

I have your letter of October 31, asking our assistance in connection with the inauguration of airmail service between Los Angeles and King­man.

It will indeed be a pleasure to do ev­erything in your behalf, and your letter will be promptly placed before those in our company who have to do with such matters.

At the present time, TAT is an exclusive passenger carrier, but you may rest assured that we will be glad to do everything we can to aid you in accomplishing this purpose.

Yours very truly,

H. W. Beck

Western Traffic Manager

(mcm)

Amelia Earhart Kingman Visitor, page 8 article in the Miner. Miss Amelia Earhart stopped off in Kingman last night and stay the night and left the sometime in the next morning. Miss Earhart is a nationally known aviatrix and official of T. A. T. She is heading to the Pacific Coast for some official busi­ness. Miss Earhart left her plane in Wichita, Kansas. She has traveled by train and plane to get here. (mcm)

****November 15, 1929—T. A. T. and Mad­dux Air Consolidated, With announcement of consolidation comes another on the ma­terial reduction of T. A. T. fares, front page article on the Mohave County Miner. “Effec­tive tomorrow, November 16, a consolida­tion of operation between the TAT and the Maddux Air Lines is announced jointly by TAT officials and J. L. Maddux, president of the concern bearing his name.” The consoli­dation was begun several months ago, with TAT purchasing a controlling interest of the air service. This merger extends TAT lines by thousand miles, from San Francisco and Agua Caliente. Also TAT announced re­duced rates, by 25 per cent. From Kingman to New York is $234 and to San Francisco, $55 and Los Angeles, $35. Previous prices were Kingman to LA, $50 and New York, $300. (mcm)

November 22, 1929—Beacons for this Air Route, front page of the Mohave County Miner. L. C. Elliott of the U. S. Department of Commerce, and F. C. Whiting, official from Western Air Express, were in Kingman this week in connection with the building of the beacons for night flying between Goffs and Kingman. Western Air Express is in charge of the construction. Construction will start at once. The other beacon will be constructed at Holbrook, AZ. Both officials are from Washington, D. C. (mcm)

December 13, 1929—Western Air Reduces Rates, page 7 article in the Mohave County Miner. Effective Sunday and running for one month, the rates are reduced by 20 percent. From Kansas City to Los Angeles is $140 and $28 from Kingman to LA. For reservations contact the local office of Tarr, McComb & Ware, they are the Western Air Express agents. (mcm)

January 3, 1930—Former Kingman Boy sees Chloride Fire from the Air, a front page article of the Mohave County Miner. An young Ralph Ware, son of John H. Ware of Chloride, AZ., who is employed by Western Air Express as a courier on the tri-motor Fokker. He saw a fire in the vicinity of Chlo­ride; this was during a flight from Kingman to Los Angeles. Ralph Ware flew over Chlo­ride to inspect the fire. He landed at the LA field and he phoned his uncle, Allen E. Ware of Tarr, McComb, and Ware Co., about the fire. The fire happened Thursday night. (mcm)

T. A. T. will Stop Here by Appointment, an­other front page article on the Miner. TAT is cutting personnel at the Port Kingman. Since the merged of Transcontinental Air Trans­port with Maddux Air, there is a reduction of personnel in the new company. Ralph E. Dunlap, field manager of Port Kingman, is leaving for the coast to look for work with other aero companies. Mr. Dunlap has been Port Kingman Manager, since Port Kingman started operations. Eddie Wallace, former field clerk, is now in charge of the terminal. With a new Barstow, Ca. airport to be used a division for the San Francisco line. Port Kingman terminal is now by appointment only, that is for passenger service. (mcm)

January 3—Radio Test Fokker comes through here, one more front page article of the Miner. Western Air Express is testing their radio system. This is the first radio test for the Berry Field. A Fokker with a radio flew through here. The test happened this week and worked very well. The signal was picked up as soon as the tri-motor left Los Angeles and was heard far east as Winslow. (mcm)

January 10, 1930—Air-Mail Line may Fol­low Experiments, TAT-Maddux line putting fast Lockheed over route in test for air-mail carrying service, front page article of the Mohave County Miner. TAT-Maddux is test­ing the first air-mail route this morning. Leaving Waynoka, Ok. to Los Angeles, the Lockheed monoplane is carrying air mail over the TAT-Maddux line. The Lockheed is a fast airplane in the fleet. This is to help put Kingman on the air mail route and also in securing an air mail route. (mcm)

January 17, 1930—Pilot Slides thru Clouds into Valley, front page article of the Mohave County Miner. Jimmy Doles a crack pilot of the Western Air Express was here for a two-day in Kingman, last Saturday afternoon. He first landed here because there was a thick fog bank over Kingman. The weather was so bad it would not let him leave for Los Angeles. He made one attempt he was forced back to Berry Field. He could not climb over, go around or going under the cloud banks. The fierce storm was beginning to trouble him. He slipped thru the clouds coming in for a landing at Berry Field. He tried one more attempt and wasn’t making any headway and was forced down on a clear patch for a landing strip. This smooth area was just this side of the seven-mile hill. He landed the tri-motor without a scratches or dents. He spent the night there. This was not new for Mr. Doles, he had this happened to him once before in western New Mexico. He landed in New Mexico on some stretch of smooth land and flew out the next day to Albuquerque. Before the search parties began hunting for him. (mcm)

Air Lines in Big Rate Cut, page 4 article in the Miner. This could be the start of the fare wars, we see today. T. A. T. and Western Air Express are cutting fares for passenger ser­vice in help the traveling public make bet­ter decisions in flying with the best service. Western Air Express makes the first cut, second time within thirty day of January 15. As for the Western Air Express fares:

Los Angeles to Kingman, $24

Los Angeles to Holbrook, $45

Los Angeles to Albuquerque, $62

Los Angeles to Amarillo, $83

Los Angeles to Wichita, $107

Los Angeles to Kansas City, $120

Transcontinental Air Transport-Maddux Air did one better. They slash their deluxe air travel. Here are the TAT fares:

Kingman to Columbus, $118

Kingman to Indianapolis, $106

Kingman to St. Louis, $91

Kingman to Wichita, $64

Kingman to Waynoka, $49

Kingman to Clovis, $43

Kingman to Albuquerque, $23

Kingman to Winslow, $11

Kingman to Los Angeles, $14

Kingman to San Francisco, $35.50

These extremely low fares will not last long. It should the traveling public to look at fly­ing more. (mcm)

Air Mail Test Ship goes thru, page 5 article in the Miner. Transcontinental Air Transport makes first air mail test in Lockheed Vega cabin monoplane. It arrived at Port Kingman on Sunday afternoon. It stops at Port King­man for fuel. It made stops in Albuquerque and Winslow and it is making it way to Los Angeles. TAT is making arrangements for this service to continue after they gain the right to delivery. (mcm)

January 24, 1930—Kingman is Situated on Main Lines, Advantages of a “main line town” are many. Transcontinental rail-air-highway routes., a front page article on the Mohave County Miner. Kingman is a “main line” town. With all the transportation facili­ties around town can support the observa­tions. First, the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad, with Santa Fe crossing Mohave County and having a depot here. This is a main line for the Santa Fe. Second, U. S. Route 66 runs from Chicago to Los Angeles, it is consider a main line. It comes through Kingman. So you have travelers driving the road and some trucking lines hauling freight on 66. Kingman has services to cater to this type of traveler. Third, with the addi­tions of two modern airfields in the Kingman area, TAT-Maddux and Western Air Express offer another traveling experience. Both of air services have their lines coming through Kingman. So Kingman is part of this main line. “Kingman is a “main line” city enjoying unusual transportation facilities”. (mcm)

January 31, 1930—Lindbergh Here Last Friday Nite, page 5 article in the Mohave County Miner. Col. Charles A. Lindbergh, of the TAT-Maddux stopped in Kingman and stayed Friday night at the Beale Hotel. Col. Lindbergh is on inspection trip of a special kind. He is looking for a base for gliders to operate out of. This best known aviator is searching Arizona for that base of operation. There is a substantial reward for anyone who can keep a glider up for ten hours or better. Col Lindbergh enjoyed his stay in Kingman, with not many of the town’s folk knowing he was here. (mcm)

“Jocky” Hail Helps Hunt Lost Flyer, page 5 article in the Miner. G. W. Hail, known throughout Mohave County as “Jocky” Hail, and owner of the Liberty Hotel in St. George, UT., help search for Maurice Graham, a lost mail plane pilot. “Jocky” Hail flew over southern Utah and northern Arizona. He was doing this last week, he had flown over 2,500 miles of land that he was familiar with. (mcm)

February 7, 1930—Beacon Light Construc­tion is Starting, Local contractors are suc­cessful bidders on light from Seligman to Barstow, front page of the Mohave County Miner. Lon Foster and Ray Dimmick of King­man won the bid to install Western Air Ex­press beacon lights. These lights will be placed at the George Miller Ranch, Kingman (property formally owned by J. H. Smith), Goldroad hill, Goffs, Summit Station near Cadiz, Ca., Bagdad, Ca., and Lubic, Ca. The total cost of the installation is at $30,000 and follows the government specifications. The contractor will start next week on the project and have it done within 60 days. The beacons will be 51 feet high and can be visible from one light to the other, to the distance of thirty to forty miles. Five of the lights will have Koehler power plants and the rest will be on electric. The beacons will be on all night for the Flyers. (mcm)

Western Air New Rates In, page 8 article in the Miner. John Allen Ware a representative of Western Air Express informs a new rate for service. The new rates cover Western Air and allied lines, like Standard Air Lines, West Coast Air Transport or the Mid-Conti­nent Air Express. The rates cover the terri­tory including Seattle, Kansas City, Denver and other points. (mcm)

February 14, 1930—Previous Air Travel Record is Smashed, page 3 article in the Mohave County Miner. St. Louis, Jan. 29.---All previous records for air travel have been broken by Transcontinental Air Transport-Maddux Air Lines since the recent rate reduction placing air travel on the same basis as rail and Pullman travel, accord­ing to figures made public today by T. B. Clement, general traffic manager of the airline. The record was made in the extreme weather situation and causing two days of no flight operations. The seven Ford tri-mo­tor airplane of the fleet of TAT-Maddux was increased by 18 Curtiss Condors passenger planes. With the fleet growing, it can in­crease the flying service for the passengers. Also having more short trips can be han­dled by TAT-Maddux. “The figures indicate very clearly that travelers have only been waiting for more favorable rates before adopting air travel generally. Travelers now are making the same use of the plane they did of the train a few months ago’, Mr. Clem­ent said. (mcm)

February 21, 1930—T. A. T. Passenger List, page 5 of the Mohave County Miner. Here is the TAT passenger list for the past week: to Los Angeles -- Melvin Anderson and Rudy Lambert, of Chloride; W. D. Hatt, Kingman; William Lindsay, Kingman; Harold C. Berry, Clair Brockett, Henry Harrison and Bert Jag­erson, all from Chloride; Mrs. Ray Hall, King­man; and Bob Plunkett of Los Angeles. J. P. Brooke to Clovis, NM; W. L. Miller to Kansas City, Mo. Port Kingman stated that all capac­ity loads were carried during the past week and two instances double headers were necessary to handle the passengers. (mcm)

February 28, 1930—Doles and Crew Still Unreported, Western Air ship which left here Sunday on deadhead trip to L. A. still missing. Big search on., front page of the Mohave County Miner. Jimmie Doles and his crew were deadheading to the coast when a terrific storm stopped them here in King­man. They landed at the Berry Field, to wait out the storm last Saturday. While waiting for the storm to clear up, the crew enjoyed the Fireman’s Ball, that night. The crew de­cided to leave Sunday at noon. They were not heard from again. The crew is Doles, A. W. Beiber and John Slaton. All the men are married and Doles has one child. (mcm)

April 4, 1930—Art Goebel, Famous Pilot, Here for Day, front page of the Mohave County Miner. Art Goebel, internationally known aviator, made a stop in Kingman, on Wednesday. He was flying from Wichita, KS. to Los Angeles. His traveled from Wichita to Kingman in one day. Mr. Goebel made it through Albuquerque with the high winds. Lately, he has been promoting commercial aviation. He is a frequent visitor to the com­munity. He departed early Thursday morn­ing for Los Angeles. (mcm)

April 11, 1930—Giant Fokker Planes were here Tuesday, front page article on the Mo­have County Miner. At 11:00 on Tuesday morning, two Fokker F-32 passenger planes landed at Port Kingman on their way to Los Angeles from New York. All of Kingman came out to watch the landing of these two special looking airplanes. They refueled and headed towards Los Angeles. West­ern Air Express bought the two planes for coastwise service. These giant red birds will carry 32 passengers and include the crew. Instead of three engines, this plane has four engines, two in front and two in the back. During landings and take-offs, there were graceful. The main passengers of the two planes were members of the Fox Film Cor­poration. Also painted on the sides of the planes was “Fox Flying House Party”. Most members were needed on the west coast for work. An hour before a pair of Fokker F-10 landed along with a group of Army Pursuit and Scout planes. (mcm)

Mimic War of Kites is Held Near Airport, page 7 of the Miner. Joe Smith, Carl Krook, and John Ware sponsored kite flying tourna­ments the last two Sundays. F. C. MacAlpine was the director. Joe Smith is a grade school athletic instructor and he helped the en­trants in proper construction of their kites. A total of eleven prizes were awarded to the children that participated in the tourney. Henry Shelton won in the endurance event. Jackie Porter took down six kites to win the kite “air-war”. Each Sunday brought out a large crowd out to Port Kingman to watch the tournament. The sponsors are hoping to have the event next year. (mcm)

Kingman Men Form Glider Club at Meet, page 7 also in the Miner. Last Wednesday night at 7:30 PM, at Port Kingman Terminal Building, the first meeting of eleven men formed a glider club. Nine other members were not there. The club of twenty men will start this club. The charter members will have instruction on how the glider performs and price of the training is affordable. The second meeting in May will have elections of club officers. (mcm)

May 2, 1930—Beacons to Point Way for Flyers, Beacon lights recently completed by Western Air and to be operated by the government, will guide night flyers on this airline, front page article on the Mohave County Miner. A solar clock, part of the bea­con lights equipment, has been connected to air lane by Western Air Express. This beacon light system will be turned over to the government operations. The solar clock switches the beacons on at twilight and off at dusk. These beacon lights will be like having a lighthouse for planes. (mcm)

Bad Weather Forces Westbound Airplanes to Return, another front page article on the Miner. On Wednesday, two planes were forced to return to respect airfields. The weather was terrible around Barstow and the fog was very thick to fly through. The bad weather has lasted for the past three days. The Western Air Express and TAT-Maddux were passed their halfway point when forced to return to Kingman. The planes made safe landings at Port Kingman and Berry Field. The passengers were put on trains and headed to Los Angeles. The crews stayed in Kingman and waited for further instructions. (mcm)

May 16, 1930—Beacons are Accepted by Government, front page article on the Mo­have County Miner. The government ac­cepted the beacon light system put in by Western Air Express. The inspectors were here this week looking over the system. They sent their report to Washington, D. C. and will be placed into the Eighteenth Lighthouse District with a central office in San Francisco. Crews will be assigned to the Coast headquarters and will take care of the system. The contractors, Foster and Dimmick said that there would be a me­chanic living in Kingman with steady work. The beacon lights would start operation in two weeks. The government representatives commended Foster and Dimmick for super work that they did on the system. (mcm)

June 27, 1930—Graham Plane is Found after Five Months, page 7 article in the Mo­have County Miner. The plane of Maurice Graham of Western Air Express is found this week in Crystal Gulch, UT. Some sheep herders found the plane in southern Utah. Graham has been missing since January 11. He was flying out of Las Vegas, NV. and carrying first class air mail. The crash of the plane left evidence that Mr. Graham sur­vived the crash, but plane was in no shape in to be salvage. There was a big debris field and the mail was still intact. Jimmy James will lead the search party for his friend. Most likely Mr. Graham may not have survived the elements of the Mother Nature. (mcm)

Tract Survey Near Airport Completed, an­other page 7 article in the Miner. The Arca­dia Addition to the Kingman Airport Tract has been subdivided. The past week, Ross Householder an engineer for William H. Walleck had done the subdividing. Mr. Wal­leck is from Van Nuys, CA. and owner of the subdivision. The subdivision is located on the west and corners of the Port Kingman property line. The lots are sized as 50x140 ft. (mcm)

July 4, 1930—Stunt Flyer’s Daring Leap Thrills Crowd, front page article on the Mohave County Miner. Percy Miller a vet­eran airman and thrill artist made a para­chute leap on Sunday afternoon about six PM above the Berry Field. Approximately two hundred and fifty automobiles trav­eled out to the Western Air Express field to watch this amazing stunt at 5 PM. The pilot helping out Mr. Miller is Charles Mayse of Mayse School of Aviation of Tucson. They reached several thousand feet in altitude and Mr. Miller made his jump. What makes this amazing is Mr. Miller has one leg. Mr. Miller is a World War One vet and he lost his leg in a propeller accident. He makes these jumps as form of making money. He did this last year with Bob Manship and his airplane. (mcm)

Letter Delayed on Graham Plane is Re­turned Here, another front page article on the Miner. Mrs. Ned Phelps was surprised when she received a letter returned to her. This past week, the post office had returned the letter, the letter was sent on January 9, 1930. The letter was part of the air mail on board of Maurice Graham’s plane. (mcm)

July 11, 1930—Planes Held Up Here by Storms East, page 9 article in the Mohave County Miner. TAT-Maddux and Western Air Express planes are informed not to travel east until storms have cleared by Winslow. The airplanes are coming from Los Angeles. The storms are very strong. It has been very bad weather this past week. (mcm)

Advertisement Gives Kingman Much Public­ity, another page 9 article in the Miner. Co­coa-Cola Company of Atlanta, GA. is featur­ing a picture of the local airport in their full page advertisements in the county’s leading magazines. TAT-Maddux and Kingman are receiving international publicity thorough the advertisement. The ad is in color, show­ing off Port Kingman and mountains in the background. The ad has two airplanes and passengers in it. The ad is saying, “Kingman, the hot-spot of the Arizona desert”. (mcm)

July 18, 1930—Party Finds Graham’s Body on Wednesday, front page article on the Mohave County Miner. Major R. N. McDon­ald, a World War One buddy, helped find the body of Maurice Graham. The body was found a few miles from the wreckage. Most likely to cause his death was exposure to the weather. The search was about 30 miles from Cedar City, UT. This is close to the Zion National Park. Mr. Graham leaves a wife in Hollywood and twins named Monte and Melodite, age 8. (mcm)

Famous Flyer Stops awhile en route East, another front page article on the Miner. This morning, at 8:30 AM, Charles Kingsford-Smith made a stop here at Berry Field. He was on the Western Air Express plane that was on schedule stop for refueling. Mr. Kingsford-Smith is a celebrated round world flyer and conquered the Pacific. Mr. Kingsford-Smith is heading to New York City to make an official visit. He will take a boat to Australia and where he will be married this fall. He recently completed his world flight in the famous plane, the Southern Cross, which was presented to a museum in Oakland two weeks ago. Also rumored on the flight with was Adm. Byrd, who crossed of the North and South Poles in airplanes. (mcm)

First T. A. T. Plane goes thru Kingman, page 6 article in the Miner. On July 11th, TAT-Maddux number one airplane makes a stop here. The Ford Tri-motor was purchased by Maddux Air Lines; it earned its nickname as Old Number One. On September 22, 1927, Col. Charles Lindbergh pilots the plane from Los Angeles to San Diego on its first flight. Old Number One has flown 2,050 hours as a passenger carrier. It has transport­ed 5,445 passengers and covering 204,500 miles (equivalent to eight trips around the equator). The airplane will be on display at Pennsylvania Terminal of the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. in New York City. Other well-known pilots to fly the plane are Lt. D. W. Tomlinson, Edward A. Bellande and Larry Fritz. It also carried the most celebrities of any other tri-motors.

On July 12, Old Num­ber One left Kingman heading east; there was a large crowd of town people on hand to watch the final flight. (mcm)

August 8, 1930—Kingman to be on East-West Airmail, front page article on the Mohave County Miner. Two new transconti­nental airmail routes are opened for bid. In­formation from Washington, D. C. wants two airmail routes to service the southern part of the country. The first route is from New York City to Los Angeles, 2,559 miles. The second route is from Atlanta to Los Angeles, 2,008 miles. Both routes will operate under Waters Act. The New York and Los Angeles route will go through Philadelphia, Pitts­burgh, St. Louis, Kansas City, Amarillo and Albuquerque, which would put Kingman on the route. The Atlanta and Los Angeles route will go through Birmingham, Dallas, Fort Worth, El Paso, and cities in New Mexico and Arizona has yet to be determined. The contracts will be awarded on a space-mileage basis, not the poundage basis that is required under the old law. Postmaster General Brown wants air passenger service to succeed. (mcm)

August 8--Mohave County is Air Minded, Travel Shows, another front page article on the Miner. With two air service in town, Kingman is the county seat, air travel is becoming more popular. TAT-Maddux serves Kingman and the town’s people with great service to Los Angeles. This part of the airline service is very useful and popu­lar. Eddie Wallace, the field manager of Port Kingman said, “Travel on the TAT planes is becoming more popular each day. We often have a waiting list for the westbound ships. Kingman to Los Angeles is one of the most popular short hauls on the line. When one considers the comfort, speed, and economy that it is growing if favor.” Four people from Mohave County left Thursday for Los Angeles; Mrs. Lillian Quay and H. A. Ward, both of Oatman and Mrs. Ethyl Felder of Fort Apache and George Marquard of Los Ange­les. (mcm)

California Lecturer Returns to L. A. via TAT-Maddux Line, page 6 article in the Miner. For the past week, George Marquard was visiting his sister, Mrs. Warren G. Damon. Mr. Marquard is a land developer from San Fernando Valley, after working for Burbank Oldsmobile dealership as their sales man­ager. He is a lecturer and sales specialist in Southern California. He hopes he can return someday soon. (mcm)

you can email me at portkingman@gmail.com
 

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