Ely Air Lines

Ely Air Lines is a trove of articles connected by a single thread: aviation. These stories first appeared in the Liberty Gazette, a local Texas community newspaper, as an ongoing column written by the authors.

What I enjoyed the most about this book was how it brought to life a small community that exists near many of us, but remains invisible. Aviation does not just include large air lines and large airports. The community brought to life in these stories is the other side of aviation – the smaller airplanes, air lines and airports. The love of flight is very prevalent throughout.

The stories are mostly unrelated, but there are some exceptions. For instance, in several stories, we get to see how a local airport grew from literally a dirt-road landing strip into a fair sized community airport. Those were among my favorite stories.

Something else that piqued my interest was the change in technology over the course of several stories. For example, one story discusses using airplanes to sow rice fields in South Texas. In the beginning, there were flag holders on the ground to show the pilots exactly where to drop their load. As technology improved, the flag bearers were no longer needed.

“Their airplanes took to the air before sunrise, working the fields until well after dark.”

My review is for volume one of this two-volume set.

In many of the stories, authors Mike and Linda each gave their own opinions. It was interesting how for some of the stories, one would write for several pages, and then the author would offer a single paragraph.

Without a doubt, the love of flying soars throughout all these stories. Further, the love and commitment the authors have for flying, as well as for others in small-scale aviation, is very apparent.

I think this book offers a very unique and personal glimpse into this side of aviation.