Katherine M. Smith

CLICK on image for enlargement.

Katherine Smith was a petite Canadian lady who was the first person to run the United 'station', as the terminal in Burbank, CA was then referred to. She had moved over from Grand Central Airport with her boss, Tom Hamilton. It was 1930 and he had just opened up in the new Hamilton Aero Mfg. Company hangar off Winona St. at United Airport in Burbank, Ca. 'Lady' Smith ran the switch board and used the red and green lights to signal airplanes whether it was safe to land or not. If the mail run was small she'd hop in and take a ride to another station just for an adventure. She recalled helping Mr. and Mrs. Lindbergh as they readied their Lockheed 'Sirius' in the Hamilton Mfg. hangar on Hollywood Way. She also worked for Paul Mantz in Hangar #1 east of the terminal building. That's where she met Amelia Earhart, who gave her rides around the airport on her motorcycle. Mr. Mantz gave 'Smitty' flying lessons in return for her doing paperwork for his business. She had her license by the start of WWII (her log book is a collection of famous names) but then all civilian flying was stopped for the war effort; she never got back into flying herself. She spent many years working for Flying Tigers at Lockheed Air Terminal, both in the office and as editor of their company newspaper.

I traveled to Payson, Arizona in 1993 to interview Katherine. She was active and informative and a great joy to know. She was 98 years old at the time and still going strong. She was sad that she had lost most of her photos years ago when she loaned them to a newspaper man here in the Glendale area and never got them back. Below are copies of the few that remain in her possession.

United Airport....with snow!

Katherine Smith and friend with the first air mail flag at Burbank, Ca.

The first airmail flight from United Airport, Burbank was on Nov 17, 1929.

The Southwest Chapter of the 99's at Union Terminal, Burbank, CA

The sign reads "Union Air Terminal" so this photo is between 1934 and 1940.

Roscoe Turner in front of Hangar #1, Burbank, CA

The major portion of this hangar remains at Burbank today; the low stucco office part with the destinctive brick edging at the top of the wall is gone.

Wedell Williams, autographed to "Smitty".

The sign reads "United Airport" so this photo is between 1930 and 1934.

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