Last month I was asked to participate in a program about Houston aviation history
at the 1940 Air Terminal Museum at Hobby airport. The museum is housed in the
magnificent old air terminal building that is currently undergoing a phased
renovation. It was designed by noted Houston architect Joseph Finger and is a
perfect example of Houston
’s sophistication during the 1940s. I was immediately taken with a sense of
history as I walked into the building.
The main speaker (no it was not me) was Smithsonian Air and Space Curator for
Civil Aviation, R.E.G. Davies. He spoke about the history of early commercial
aviation in Texas. I was fascinated to learn about Houston
’s role in the advancement of passenger and cargo transport in America. I learned
that success for many aviation companies was determined by the ability to
procure a mail transport contract.
The event inspired me to put together a selection of early Houston commercial
aviation images. The men shown in these photographs were determined to take a
new technology and turn it into a profitable business. Please visit the 1940
Air Terminal Museum
’s Web site at www.1940airterminal.org and help support their endeavors.
If you stand in the atrium of the terminal building—between the noise of jet planes landing and taking off—you can hear the ghost of Howard Hughes laughing.
1940 Air Terminal Museum v Old air control building, Hobby Airport 1930s • Braniff Airways dignitaries, late 1930s • TAT Flying Services with pilot, Curtiss Robin, B aircraft and Buick • Bowen Lines crew loading up a cargo of Grand Prize Beer. Bowen started passenger
service in the 1930s and was later acquired by Braniff Airways.
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