Archive for the ‘Pensacola Regional Airport’ Category
Liberace and Friend … Updated ……
I posted this photo years ago and I did not know who the lady is. Someone had mentioned a name for her when I posted this on the first blog that I had on Blogger six or seven years ago. But I cannot what they said her name was and when I “googled” it nothing came up. So I did not pay that much attention to it. Recently, I have been reading a book by author Steve Fischer entitled ” When The Mob Ran Vegas “. On page 113, there is a photo of Ruth Gillis and it said that she was one of Liberace’s show girls when he played the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas. I am not going to bother trying to get permission to see if I can post it here, you are just going to have to take my word for it. On the web there are several photos of her with various other entertainers, one being Ernie Kovacs and here is a link to the photo. I have tried ( not very heard though ) to find some other photos and information on Ms Gillis, but have not turned up much. I do not know a date for the above photo and if I had to guess I would say that it would be 1955 or 1956. In the book it says that she started as a show girl with Liberace on April 20, 1955 at the Riviera. I was hoping that someone might have remembered seeing Liberace in Pensacola when he came here, but I have not received any comments from anyone. I might have to go down to the PNJ and see what it takes to go through there microfilm files. If anyone has any thing to share, please let us hear from you. Thanks again for looking and please check back … Frank
Ronald Reagan Aboard Leadership 80 at the Pensacola Regional Airport …
Even though I posted these here on my father’s site, I made these photographs back in September 1980 when then citizen Reagan swung through Pensacola on a campaign tour for President. With Citizen Regan, you could walk-up to the plane without being hassled ( too badly, but that is another story ) and take photos and wave at the future President of The United States. Since I made these, I am posting them over on my photography site. Here is a link to my site. Read what I posted and you will see that there is much more to come. Thanks for looking and please click on the link to take you over to my site. Thanks for lookinga nd please check back …
Maureen O’Hara and Dan Dailey Arriving in Pensacola Florida …
Dan Dailey and Maureen O’Hara are shown arriving at the Pensacola Airport. They were here in Pensacola to film a movie with John Wayne, Wings of Eagles , in 1956. I had posted this image on the other blog site that I had of my father’s images five or six years ago and had hoped that some locals who were around when they were in town making the movie would have made a comment, but no one ever did. Maybe this time around it might jar someone’s memory and I will get a few comments. I have often wondered who the guy is that looks like he is directing everyone … maybe he is someone that the airport hired and dressed up to give a more “Hollywood” / “Los Angles” appeal to the movie stars. Also, the look on the little lady’s face watching all of this is priceless … you wonder what is running through her mind as she is watching this production.
The lady who runs Maureen O’Hara’s blog, Ms June Beck, saw my first post and graciously sent me a photo that some Navy photographer had made of John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara and members of the movie out on the Pensacola Naval Air Station. Here is the photo along with Ms Beck’s notation of the crew members and their relationship to the actors …
“On the running board is stuntman “Good” Chuck Hayward (that was his nickname) and, of course Maureen and Duke…then just to our right of Duke’s cap is “Bad” Chuck Roberson (John Wayne’s stunt double for over 30 years and a good actor himself). Roberson has a great book he published in the 1980’s called “The Fall Guy” that is absolutely great if you can find it – all about the stuntman’s colorful life. To our left of Duke’s cap is Ken Curtis, who was in many of Ford’s movies. He was an excellent singer and musician as well. Don’t know the name of the guy in the uniform – but he’s a redhead I’ve also seen in a lot of Ford’s films as an extra, etc.” … June Beck
That was very nice of Ms Beck to send the photo to me and to take the time to write the copy identifying all of the individuals in the photo. The guy in uniform in the back is very familiar, but I could not put a name to him. I went on the IMDb site, but could not match a name to the face. For some unknown reason, I picture him playing a German in some of the old WW II movies. The man that Ms Beck mentioned named Ken Curtis played Festus in Gunsmoke – now I know that everyone knows Festus. If anyone has any memories of these actors or of Ms O’Hara being in Pensacola, please feel free to share them with us. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
Several more things …. If the people out at the Pensacola International Airport decide to dress someone up a tux / dinner jacket as a greeter to all of the incoming flights at the airport, please give me credit for the idea and not to anyone down at City Hall. I can use all of the free publicity that I can get. Also, I went back and added a link to IMDb for Ken Curtis ” Festus ” after I read his bio. I am trying to give the readers some more information that what little I know or have on these photos in future posts. I do not know if it will get me any more viewers or readers, but at least you will be ready with some new trivia when Jeopardy comes on the tube, I mean TV. Thanks again for looking …
Pensacola Regional Airport Runway Construction …
Back before the Pensacola International Airport became ” International “, it was called the Pensacola Regional Airport. Sometime in the 1950’s, the airport runways were resurfaced and extended. This series of images shows the construction resurfacing process … I wish I new more about them, but I do not. I know that there is a lot more to it than just mixing up a batch of concrete and making sure that it is level. The strength of the concrete is determined by the ratio of sand to rocks and water, the amount of cement mix is a big factor and I am sure there are many other things that I have not mentioned, since I am not an engineer or claim to be. I always enjoyed this type of photographic work, since it was something that I knew nothing about but was interested in how things work. Hey, that could be the title of a tv show explaining how things are built and constructed … I might be on to something! Most all of the images are pretty self-explanatory, so I am going to dispense with the running commentary and stupid comments. Here we go:
The last two images maybe should have been shown earlier in the process, but it is what it is. The images of them unloading the equipment off of the barges was no where near where the airport runway is located, so my only guess that either they were taken at the Port of Pensacola or somewhere else in Pensacola Bay. But as usual, I do not know. If you look close in some of the photos you see the airport tower and the airport itself way in the background. I wish that I had some other photos of the airport itself, but I have pretty much posted everything that I have found taken at the airport. If any of you have anything of the Pensacola Airport from back in the 1950’s and 60’s, I would be interested in seeing what you have. Thanks for looking and please check back and don’t forget that I have my personal blog that you can get to by clicking on a link on the right side of the screen. Wishing everyone a happy New Year … Frank
Southern Normal School …
I ran across this negative years ago and it did not do much for me, but when I ran across it the other day it looked more interesting. I think that it the old Eastern Airline prop plane in the photo got my attention this time around. The Southern Normal School is located in Brewton, AL, about 60 miles north of Pensacola. I googled the school and found some history about the school. I could not tell if it was still open, but I got the impression that it might be closed down. I have no idea who the people in the photo are or what their purpose for the photo is other than capturing a memory of a trip. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
Guest Blogger at ” Airports Made Simple ” …
I want to thank Deborah over at the blog Airports Made Simple for allowing me to be a guest blogger. She had seen this blog and was interested in the airport / airplane images from the 1950’s that I have shared with everyone. I apologize for the title of this post, I could not think of a title that had a better ring to it than the lame one that I wrote in the headline bar. I am sure that I will change it when I give it some thought. Her blog has a lot of information for people that fly on a regular basis … various airline pluses and minuses, airport tips … too much for me to write here. I included a link to her post on my Liberace photos, so once you get to her site, you can navigate around and see what she has and is interesting to you.
The photo above is one of several that my father made of an Eastern Airline plane on the tarmac at the Pensacola Airport back in the 1950’s. I have posted a few other images from this ” set ” before, but I never got around to working this image until recently.. So this is a new image and for those of you who used to fly into Pensacola back in the 1950’s, I hope that it brings back some fond memories. If anyone that reads this has some photos of the interior of the Pensacola Airport from back in the 1950’s and 1960’s, I would be interested in seeing them. Especially the restaurant and the check in counter for Eastern and later National Airlines. I ran across some photos that I had made from back in the 1970’s when then had remodeled the airport and I will post them later. The thing that sticks out the most to me are all of the cigarette ash tray holders through out the airport … pretty considerate! Thanks again for Deborah for asking me to be a guest blogger and please check out the link that I included in the first paragraph … she has a large readership with experienced travelers, so if you have any questions, this would be the place to ask them. Thanks again for looking and please check back … Frank
Cordova Park 1959 …
Here are some more panorama prints that I have stumbled across recently. I believe this is the house that was next to our house at 3715 Dunwoody Drive. If you look real close, you will see a boy standing on the back porch … that was me. I was 5 at the time this photo was taken. Our house was built next door to the left of this house. Dunwoody at this point was still a dirt road. The next photo shows Gerhardt Drive, one block to the north of this photo … it was paved. Here is a photo showing Mr. Lautner in front of a home he had built on Gerhardt …
Mr. Lautner was the man who built my parent’s house on Dunwoody. Gerhardt is one block off of Bayou Blvd and was paved at this time … for some reason, I do not believed that Bayou Blvd was paved at the time this photo was taken. You turned into Cordova Park off of 12th Avenue back in these days. 12th Avenue was paved and took you to the airport. There was no Airport Blvd or PSC Blvd in 1959, so 12th Avenue became a dead-end at the National Guard Amory. You turned right and you were in the airport parking lot. Well, that is your Pensacola history lesson for the day … no quiz on this stuff, so don’t worry. If anyone ever runs across any old photos of Cordova Park or of the Pensacola Airport from back in the late 1950’s or 1960’s, please let me know because I would love to see them. Even old snapshots that someone in your family made … they do not have in great shape, just clear mostly. Let me hear from you and thanks again for looking … Frank
Leaving on a Jet Plane …
This was the “Main Gate” at the old terminal at Pensacola Airport back in the 1950’s through the 70’s. I can remember this very vividly. I wish I had some photos of the interior of the airport to share with everyone. If anyone has any, please feel free to email them to me and I would be happy to share them with you. This is a new post from this wedding … I posted a photo of this couple standing at the back of the plane on the old site, so I will find it and post it later. Thanks for looking …
By the way, I believe that the old airport was named ” Haigler Field ” after our state legislator, Jack Haigler. If I am wrong on this, please correct me. I did not think of it until after I had written the top part and was getting ready to post this.
Pensacola Regional Airport …
Back in the 1950’s, Pensacola’s airport was known as a regional airport and you only had two airlines servicing the airport – Eastern and National Airlines. Now, both airlines are out of business and Pensacola is known as an ” International ” airport, even though there are no international flights out of the airport. I can remember sites like this very well at the airport and I can remember the airport looking like this. If anyone has any memories that they wish to share about their experiences at the Pensacola ” Regional ” Airport, please be my guest. Thanks again for looking …
Liberace Arriving in Pensacola …
This is Liberace arriving in Pensacola back in the 1960’s. He used to come to Pensacola to buy antiques from several dealers in the area. One of them was my father’s friend, Ada Wilson, who would always tell my dad when Liberace was coming to town so that he could take some photos of him. I will share a story that my father shared with Liberace about seeing him in Chicago in the late 1930’s when I have more time. Thanks for looking …
Frank Hardy Made My Photographs Two 
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