Mayor Stokley issues order to clear fliers off Fort Brown
By Rene Torres
The hobby of building model planes, especially paper models has been around for decades.
Most of us at one time or other designed and played with homemade models.
The height of the paper toy era occurred during WW II since many other materials were scarce and toys were not a priority.
In order for manufacturers to survive they started making papers toys and games until after the war when plastic models dominated the market.
In Brownsville, model plane builders formed their own club described by the Herald as the "Buzz Boys,” the name given because of the distinct noise associated with whirr of the little planes.
During this period, it all depended on your budget whether you were flying a homemade newspaper plane or a model that flew with electric power.
The fortunate were using the Fort Brown parade grounds to display their flying skills, that is, until they disregarded the “Keep off the Grass” sign…
Trouble at old Fort Brown
Model plane enthusiasts who flew their crafts on the parade grounds at Fort Brown were ordered to leave the tract or else.
Brownsville Mayor, H. L. Stokley, issued the order to keep all model builders off the grass, emphasizing that the area was intended to be a park and not for flying model planes.
G. R. Luna, maintenance chief at Fort Brown, was instructed by the mayor to enforce his order, which he did.
“D” Day for the fliers was on July 3, 1948. It was on a Thursday afternoon when the club was in full retreat as they were ordered to leave the parade grounds.
According to the plane builders the place was ideal for their hobby; it was level, cushioned by grass, and large enough for safe flying.
No other place in the city provided such amenities.
The order only added fuel to the fire as the young and the old who were members of theclub returned to the site two days later flanked with reinforcement.
John Van Mill, E. J. McLean, Morris Clint, Mrs. George A. Houston, Mrs. F. E. Norfleet and Mrs. Raymond Fry were seen making their way to the parade grounds accompanied by their sons.
The mayor went to the extent to fence the area to keep everyone off, but it was not only the plane fliers abusing the grass as the buzz boys were putting on a show for crowds, especially during the weekend.
John Barron, then superintendent of schools, who also attempted to keep everyone off the grounds, laughingly telling Clint that he was in contempt of the mayor’s order.
The mayor had also expressed to Barron to keep the college students off the grass so that it would get maximum benefit from the recent rains.
City officials insisted that the location was a city park and that all efforts were to be made to get the grass to grow and beautify the area as stipulated in the Fort Brown deed.
Later in the morning of question, when the Brownsville Herald called Mayor Stokley, the fliers were still enjoying their hobby in contempt of his order.
The city had offered other areas both in and out of Fort Brown, but none had been acceptable to the club.
The mayor assured everyone that the situation would be amicably settled when both would agree to a suitable site.
No follow-up story was published on whether the issue was settled or not.
In this case, both were flying in the opposite direction.
Photo: Shown in the picture are a group of members of the Brownsville model airplane club gathered around Gene McLean who is trying to get his model plane started while his brother, Gordon, third from right operates the electric starter.
Pictured from L to R: E. J. McLean, Mrs. Raymond Fry, “Ito” Perl, Mrs. F.E. Norfleet, Keenan Van Mill, Mrs. Van Mill, Charles Norfleet, and Mrs. George A. Houston, Morris Clint sr., Susan Norfleet, Nora Van Mill, John Van Mill, Raymond Fry, Ray Moore, Gordon McLean, Alan Clint, and Tommy Houston
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