Pages past - Oct. 14

On this date ...

1930: Fifteen months after it began, Clovis' pioneering role in coast-to-coast travel came to an end.

Transcontinental Air Transport took flight on July 7, 1929, with Clovis among a dozen stops on its 48-hour plane-train trip from Los Angeles to New York.

Incoming passengers from east and west flew into Clovis, while outgoing passengers took a train to their next stop. The airport site, selected by Charles Lindbergh, is today home to Cannon Air Force Base.

But effective Oct. 14, 1930, the Clovis stop was replaced by Amarillo for economic reasons, TAT officials said.

"With only about 40 minutes more flying time, we can go on to Amarillo and hotel our passengers for the night and avoid the expense and inconvenience of putting them on the train at Clovis at night," said D.W. Tomlinson, the TAT line's chief of operations.

The Clovis Evening News-Journal reported it was only a matter of time "until the run between the two coasts will be all flying ... and the only stops made will be those for refueling."

TAT eventually became Trans World Airlines, or TWA, before it was acquired by American Airlines in 2001.

Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens. Contact him at:

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