Volume 9 , Issue 27

An Okie Legacy Centennial Moment

1929 Waynoka TAT Anniversary -- 78 Years Ago, July 8, 1929: Daily Airline Service Comes to Oklahoma.

Waynoka's senior citizens age 65 and older were offered free rides on a Transcontinental Air Transport Ford tri-motor plane after the dedication of the TAT Airport northeast of Waynoka in 1929. Shown here in a Daily Oklahoman photograph are six of the seventeen seniors who accepted: A.A. Critton, 71, Waynoka, "Aunt Puss" Taul, 84, Waynoka pioneer, Mrs. Elizabeth Miller, 67, Hutchison, KS, Mrs. C. Howard, 75, and Jay Sears, 68, both of Alva, and Thomas J. Fleming, 78, Waynoka.

It was 78 years ago on Sunday, July 8, that the first Transcontinental Air Transport airplanes landed at the TAT airport northeast of Waynoka. Known as the "Lindy Line" because of Col. Charles Lindbergh's involvement, TAT offered coast to coast travel in 48 hours. The trip was accomplished with the cooperation of the Pennsylvania Railroad, TAT, and the Santa Fe Railroad, using the trains for night travel and the air for daytime miles. Planes from the east landed at Waynoka each evening, and passengers boarded an aerocar for the trip to the Harvey House for dinner. A Pullman car was ready for their overnight train to Clovis where they would catch their next flight which took them to the west coast.

Eastbound passengers arrived by train every morning in time for breakfast at the Harvey House before their flight to Wichita, Kansas City, St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Columbus, Ohio. They arrived in New York City the next morning on a passenger train of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Technology soon provided the ability to fly at night, eliminating the usefulness of the TAT-Santa Fe connection in Waynoka. The largest hangar in Oklahoma, which was the third largest hangar in America, saw little aviation action after that, and in 1939 was moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, where it is in use today by the Central Flying Service.
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