December 31, 2019 Last Flights of 2019

The Liberty Gazette

December 31, 2019

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Thanks to good weather, the end of 2019 was filled with flight. On one of those lovely blue-sky days we moseyed west to the historic Stinson Municipal Airport. This airport began life in 1915 when Emma Stinson and her four children leased five hundred acres from the city of San Antonio. They opened Stinson School of Flying, where students were beneficiaries of passionate patriotism and piloting.

Katherine, Eddie, Marjorie, and Jack Stinson made significant contributions to aviation, and the airport named for them is the second oldest continuously operated airport in the country. Only College Park Airport in Maryland, built by the Wright Brothers in 1909 is older.

We love the old stone-faced art-deco style terminal, which was built in 1936. The building got tender loving care for its seventieth birthday when the city renovated and expanded it while retaining most
of the original structure. Inside, photographs and memorabilia decorate the halls chronicling Stinson Field over the past century.

The next day was also severe-clear, so we opted to go north, toward Granbury. The city of Granbury keeps several courtesy cars available for people who fly into their airport and want to go into town.

It’s good for the businesses and the city. They figure you’ll spend money there, at least for lunch. The Granbury airport has a really nice terminal building with a porch that wraps around the west and south sides. In Cracker Barrel style, comfy rocking chairs line the porch, perfect for watching take-offs and landings. Bring your own score card, if you dare.

Inside the roomy terminal, pilots and friends sit a spell to talk about airplanes and the wonderful freedom of flight. It’s always this way when we stop in at Granbury. Always filled with happy, friendly people.

After we fueled up the Elyminator, we messaged our friend AnnElise Bennett, who lives at Pecan Plantation airpark, just nine miles from Granbury. We hopped over and got the grand tour of her new house and the hangar where her Cessna 182, “X-Ray,” lives. We also happened upon several neighbors, most of whom we already knew, making for an impromptu reunion of friends.

Day Three was hanging on with decent weather again, so we ventured southwest to Mustang Island. What a great scenic flight along the beaches of the Texas Gulf Coast!

Not far from the island, we noticed circles on the ground—bomb craters. Along that route, there had once been towers where observers watched how close the students came to hitting the targets. Amazing that the rings of the craters still show up, decades later, despite floods and high winds.

At Mustang Island Airport, you can rent golf carts to go into town. Our picnic lunch on the island was superb, and the flight back made us think of a quote by William Langewische: “I ask people who don’t fly, ‘How can you not fly when you live in a time in history when you can fly?”

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