I REMEMBER


by Don Chaney


Don Chaney is the former mayor and a long-time resident of Crane.

Article #59
Taken from the Crane News, published November 18, 1999.

 

     In the nineteen-thirties and early nineteen-forties, the Midland Airport consisted of a couple of small runways and one hangar.  This was adjacent to Highway 80, the Bankhead Highway of America.  The nearest scheduled airport was at Big Spring.  I have mentioned that my mother flew from there to Philadelphia on a DC3 two-motored prop plane.  The picture at Midland was changed when the U. S. Air Force Bombardier School was built at Terminal.  In 1954, in the fall, my mother was in the hospital here in Crane, desperately ill.  We called my brother in California who was in the Marine Corps.  (As coach of the Marine Corps Rifle Team, he had one of his riflemen who was in the air arm of the Marines.)  He volunteered to check out a Marine Jet and make one of his practice flights to Texas, bringing my brother.  They called from March Field, CA and asked how far it was from Crane to Big Spring.  We told them 90 miles.  They said, "We are taking off now, so leave for Big Spring or we will beat you there."  We hopped in the car and drove to Big Spring.  The big Marine Corp jet was circling the field.  My brother said the pilot let down the flaps at El Paso to start slowing down to land at Big Spring.

Previous Article
Next Article
Return to I Remember Home Page

Return to Crane County Home Page

© 2004 David Griffin
2008-2010 Tim and Pam Lee
2011-Present Laura Gregory Roberts