"Did you ever remember seeing an airplane?"

This is an excerpt of an interview my father did with his mother in the early 1980s.  My grandmother was born in 1900 and was raised near Wilmot and Grand Summit, Cowley County, Kansas.


“CLT:  Did you ever remember seeing an airplane?


PBHT:  Yes, I remember an airplane that landed in the meadow south of the house and that was quite a curiosity.  I don’t remember whether he had airplane trouble or why he landed there.  I just remember seeing him land and, of course, it wasn’t too long before he had a group of sightseers around him.  I didn’t go down there because I was just a little ole kid.


CLT:  Did Grandpa say (ALH) say anything about it?


PBHT:  Well, he went down there.  He went down to see what was going on, but I don’t recall what happened or why he (the pilot) landed his plane.  It’s a wonder he ever landed it because that was rough ground.


CLT:  It did have some gullies down in through there.


PBHT:  Yes.  That’s the first airplane I can remember.  Very few airplanes flew over that part of the country.  That was such wide open spaces out there.”

* * * * * * * * * *

When I think of my ancestors I think of them growing up in black and white or sepia tones, but, of course, I know that isn’t true which brings me to this little piece.  All the pictures in the film are real, either taken by me or in my possession, it’s just how they are used that is the fiction.

Airplanes were a curiosity at the turn of the 20th century.  Birds and kites, and maybe the occasional hot air balloon were the only things that were flying high in the sky during that time.  Now we are accustomed to satellites, airplanes, jets, helicopters and space shuttles leaving earth’s surface.  In fact we are so accustomed to flying that I will always remember the eerie quiet that filled the skies in the three days following Sep. 11, 2001. 

Old photographs have been passed down to me from both sides of my family tree.  The lightning shots and single shot of an airport (ca 1916) were taken by my maternal grandfather while he lived in Omaha, Nebraska.  He dearly loved his camera.

The picture of the group of people standing around an airplane in a pasture is from my paternal side of the family tree.  The picture includes my great grandfather.  This picture was taken close to Grand Summit, Cowley County, KS.  The house shot is of my great grandfather’s house in Grand Summit.   

The motion shots were filmed by me in the 21st century in Oklahoma.  The strange light photographs are actually of the moon and Venus taken by me last year (2009).  I didn’t realize I had my camera on an incorrect setting, but I liked the outcome anyway!

The song, “Come Take a Trip in my Airship” by J. W. Myers was recorded on a wax cylinder in 1904.  It is in the public domain and can be found at www.archive.org.

Airplanes overhead were so rare between 1900 and 1920 that a sighting of one would be written about in newspapers. The article clip is from the July 2, 1919 Emporia Gazette which can be found at www.genealogybank.com.   In full, it reads:

“Airplane Flew Over Emporia.  An airplane flew over town about 8 o’clock yesterday evening.  It came from the east and was seen over Melvern before it came to Emporia, according to Santa Fe officials.  The pilot flew near the ground while he went over Emporia but did not stop.”

When researching my family tree, I actively try to imagine what it must have been like for my ancestors when they walked this earth.  This little film is a result of my imagining.