Day Trips

Photo by Gerald E. Mcleod

The American Airlines C.R. Smith Museum flies through the history of commercial air travel in the U.S., but it never really soars. Just because this is a showcase of American's corporate image doesn't mean that it's not interesting. After all, the story of the Fort Worth-based airline parallels the evolution of the airline industry.

According to United Airlines, commercial airline service in the U.S. began on April 6, 1926. That's when its parent company, Varney Airlines, started airmail service out of Boise, Idaho. Nine days later, Robertson Aircraft Corporation, a parent company of American Airlines, carried its first bag of mail from Chicago to St. Louis with Charles Lindbergh at the controls.

In 1930, four air transport companies consolidated and started the first transcontinental passenger flights from Atlanta to Los Angeles with a 12-passenger Fokker aircraft. Texas-born and educated, C.R. Smith, for whom the museum is named, became president of this joint venture in 1934. Eventually, more than 80 small airlines were merged to create the American Airlines of today. Smith led the company for 34 years, from the days of biplanes to the era of jumbo jets.

And that is what the museum is about. This is an airline museum, not an aircraft museum. American Airlines was certainly a leader in industry innovations, and the exhibits show early versions of radios, reservations machines that look like old adding machines, meals that looked more like restaurant fare than TV dinners, and a progression of flight attendants' uniforms over the years.

Aircraft buffs can get their thrills by peeking inside the cockpit of a Boeing jet or standing by a jet engine that is taller than a man or an aircraft wheel taller than a 4-year-old boy. Besides memorabilia from the heyday of commercial air travel, the exhibits offer simple explanations of how a propeller and a jet engine work. The museum has a few interactive displays but could use a few more exhibits that engage young visitors.

The centerpiece of the museum is the shiny silver DC-3 aircraft. Delivered new to American Airlines in 1940, the rugged airplane flew passengers and cargo and was a crop duster before it was retired to field in South Carolina in 1987. Restored to its passenger-flying days by American employees and retirees, the ship is a look back to the infancy of air travel. When you see what constituted luxury air service 70 years ago, you'll wonder how the idea ever got off the ground.

The American Airlines C.R. Smith Museum is almost exactly halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth at the intersection of Highways 183 and 360, three miles from the south gate of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10am to 6pm. Admission is $4 for adults and $2 for everyone else. For information, call 817/967-1560 or go to www.crsmithmuseum.org.

993rd in a series. Day Trips, Vol. 2, a book of "Day Trips" 101-200, is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling, and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, PO Box 33284, South Austin, TX 78704.