From the historic flight of Charles Lindbergh to frequent visits from Amelia Earhart and Howard Hughes, the Brownsville airport has played a major role in U.S. aviation history. The first jet flight happened here, and the first Air Mail was launched in Brownsville - plus the first U.S. military flight took off from here to monitor Mexican troop movement in 1915... The Rio Grande Valley is known far and wide for its diverse culture, its sweet citrus crop, its sub-tropical climate and the pristine beaches of South Padre Island. But often overlooked are its contributions to aviation history. What is now known as the Brownsville-South Padre Island International Airport was once a focal point of American aviation with such famous aviators as Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, and Howard Hughes frequenting her runways and utilizing her hangars. Pan American Airways once operated a major plant there in support of the U.S. World War II effort. Mexico's only fighter squadron, who partiipated in the Pacific campaign of World War II, trained and were stationed there. The first test flight of a U.S. jet aircraft was staged above Valley skies, and in 1915, the very first U.S. warbird saw action monitoring Mexican troop movements during the Mexican upheaval of Pancho Villa. How such a rich aviation history could go unnoticed is n addition to these rather remarkable moments in aviation history, you might be surprised to discover that Howard Hughes launched Trans-World Airlines from the Brownsville Airport. The airport was also one of the first in the nation to receive color weather radar. In fact, the number of firsts for the Brownsville Airport qualifies the site as a major player in the development of aviation history in the United States. WHEN IT ALL STARTED Perhaps the first time the Brownsville Airport became a focal point for U.S. aviation history was in the year 1915. Tensions were running high along the border as Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa was mounting a campaign to overthrow the Mexican government. The U.S. War Department was concerned that Villa might cross over the Texas border, either to harbor and amass his rag tag troops of mostly peasants and farmers, or to reestablish Mexican control over parts of the Texas. The U.S. Army had just developed the first bi-pane in its arsenal, and dispatched the dual wing aircraft to Brownsville to fly missions across the border to monitor Villa's troop movements. When Villa's revolutionary army spotted the plane, they opened fire, ripping holes in its wings and tail. The plane managed to limp back to the Brownsville airport, but the incident represents the first time an aircraft was used in a war effort, and the first time one was fired upon by aggressor forces. It wasn't that many years later, as aviation was catching on in America, that Brownsville became a focal point for the rich and famous, many of which used the Brownsville airport as a staging area for flights into the unspoiled and newly discovered vacation destinations of Mexico. And in an effort to capitalize on the invention of flight, a group of American investors decided that the U.S. mail could better be delivered by air, rather than rail. In an event that captured the attention of a worldwide media, Charles Lindbergh made the first successful nonstop flight between Mexico City and a U.S. city - Brownsville - to demonstrate just how fast the mail could be delivered by one of the new `flying craft'. The event was attended by some 20,000 people, many of them reporters from all over the world, and Lindbergh had invited Amelia Earhart, another aviation pioneer, to be on hand for the historic event. That same year, 1929, Pan American Airlines leases the entire airport and begins service in its fleet of Ford Tri-Motor aircraft. The relationship would last for 30 years, and the name of the airport was official changed to the Brownsville-Pan American Airport in honor of it. That same year - a very significant year for aviation history, Brownsville airport was back in the news when D.C. Richardson and Edward Snyder, responsible for flight operations in Brownsville, started instrument flying between Brownsville and Mexico City. The city became the pioneer training center for teaching pilots to fly with navigation instruments only, called blind flying. A few years later, in 1932, Brownsville was designated headquarters of Pan American's Western Division. Buildings and equipment were put in place to test and overhaul aircraft and engines. Planes used by Pan American in Alaska were outfitted in Brownsville for cold weather flying. In 1934, Braniff Airways began serving Brownsville. A few years later, on 1939, Eastern Airlines came to Brownsville. Captain Eddie Rickenbacker attended that opening and was the topic speaker at an event held on the airport's main runway. During World War II, a contingent of Mexican aviators trained in Brownsville. They were the first and only Mexican pilots to see action in World War II. Called the Aztec Eagles, the group provided value service to U.S. troops in the Pacific, and until modern times when Germany stationed pilots in New Mexico last decade to train in desert bombing runs, it is the only time - and certainly the first - that foreign military pilots were based on U.S. soil. In the years ahead, the Brownsville Airport would play a major role in U.S. military aviation history. The first U.S. jet aircraft was tested there, and the military opened a renovation center for the B-29 bomber. Aviation history and the Rio Grande Valley have a lot in common. In the years ahead, if a group of investors have their way, an area just to the north of the Valley may house a space port landing facility to accommodate flights into the upper stratosphere. But regardless what may happen in the future, Brownsville will always be remembered as playing an important role in U.S. aviation history.