Notebook — Oct. 14

Today in history: Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart were involved in the United States’ first coast-to-coast travel venture, and so was eastern New Mexico.

Transcontinental Air Transport took flight on July 7, 1929, providing 48-hour plane-train trips between New York and Los Angeles.

A community just west of Clovis was among a dozen stops on the trip for a little more than a year.

Lindbergh piloted one of the first flights and Earhart was among the first passengers.

Lindbergh also was responsible for selecting sites for airports, and he recommended an airport be established at a community called Portair west of Clovis.

Portair was located where Cannon Air Force Base is located today.

TAT’s west-bound passengers initially flew into Waynoka, Oklahoma, then took a train to Portair, then flew from Portair to California.

East-bound passengers flew into Portair, then took the train to Waynoka.

As the airline industry evolved, the trains became less necessary for coast-to-coast trips.

Beginning 85 years ago today — on Oct. 14, 1930 — TAT passengers began flying into Amarillo instead of Portair.

“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.

TAT eventually became Trans World Airlines (TWA), which was acquired by American Airlines in 2001.

— Notebook was compiled by Editor David Stevens. Contact him at: [email protected] or find him on Facebook.