One of the stories Teresa told quite often were the times that she got to go the airport with her dad to see Eleanor Roosevelt and then Amelia Earhardt. She always said she was just a little kid and didn't realize who she was seeing. But her dad felt it was very important to take his kids to historical events.
I found the following article in the Douglas Dispatch. Just think, our grandfather and Teresa were at both of these events!!
A
group of airport supporters, city staff and Mayor and Council were on
hand Thursday afternoon to commemorate the stopover of First Lady
Eleanor Roosevelt in Douglas Airport, located at the end of 10th Street.
The event was marked with a plaque which will be placed in a small garden near the Airport Museum.
In
December 1928, Douglas’ airport became the first international airport
in the Americas, and was dedicated as such by Eleanor Roosevelt on June
5, 1933 by striking a bottle of water (remember it was still
Prohibition) against a flagpole at the site.
Roosevelt
decided to make a last minute stop in Douglas to dedicate the airport
on a trip to California. She spent 20 minutes in Douglas before
continuing her trip.
Chris Overlock of the Cochise County Historical Society, spoke about Roosevelt’s brief stopover during the dedication ceremony.
Liz
Ames dedicated the plaque in much the same manner as Roosevelt breaking
a bottle of sparkling cider against the rock the plaque will be placed
on.
The plaque reads: “At this
location on June 5, 1933, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, dedicated Douglas International
Airport as the first international airport in the United States.
Designed
by J.P. Sexton as the first and only truly international airport in the
Americas, Douglas International Airport began operations in 1929. The
Douglas airfield was connected with the Agua Prieta, Mexico, airport by a
common north-south runway.
“Early
air travel between the United States and Mexico required plans to be
cleared both for entry and exit of their respective counties. In other
border cities, that meant a “hop and a skip” from one country’s airport
to another country’s airfield. With DIA, planes could land in one
country , pull back the wide gate on the barbed wire fence at the
border, and taxi across to the other country. Then, after clearing
customs, pilots and passengers could resume the flight to their
destination.
In 1929, the first
Women’s Air Derby, a transcontinental air race for woman pilots (Amelia
Earhart, among them) included Douglas as one of its stops. In October,
1930, Douglas was a stop on the first transcontinental airmail route.
Douglas International Airport became a successful commercial airport
with regular airline service.
“By
the late 1940s, most commercial traffic went through Bisbee-Douglas
International Airport, about nine miles north of Douglas. Douglas
International Airport lost its international designation, and became
Douglas Municipal Airport.
On
December 30, 1975, Douglas International Airport was added to the
National Register of Historic Places. Cochise County Historical Society,
June 5, 2008.
Host of firsts
The
Douglas International Airport has been the home of a host of firsts
including being the first airport in the state, first involved in
military maneuvers and bombings and Douglas was on the route of the
first regularly scheduled coast-to-coast airmail service, said Les
Stimac, Airport Museum volunteer.
On Oct. 15, 1930, two of the three inaugural airmail flights landed at Douglas airport.
In 1933, Douglas airport was ranked as one of the 10 best in the country.
The
nod goes to Douglas Airport for being involved in the first aerial
military missions as a plane leaving the airport was conducting spy
missions for General Pershing against Pancho Villa in Mexico. Pershing
later used aerial bombing on railroad tracks in Mexico using buckets
filled with lard, metal pieces and explosives.
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