Published: September 28, 2009 06:40 am      

John Watson: Monument recognizes Vernon Castle

The Wright brothers, Wilbur and Orville, started toying with the idea of powered flight in 1899 after writing to the Smithsonian Institution requesting information about flight experiments.

After experimenting with gliders for a while, they were finally ready to try a powered flight. On Dec. 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, N.C., culminating four years of experimentation, they achieved the first successful airplane flight.

They spent a few more years perfecting the controls for the airplane.

By 1910 flying had become a popular pastime for many.

Some of you may remember the 1965 British comedy “Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines, Or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes.”

The story was set in 1910, when Lord Rawnsley, an English press magnate, offered a prize of £10,000 to the winner of the Daily Post air race from London to Paris to prove that Britain was “No. 1 in the air.”

It seems that the years 1910-25 were known as the golden age of aviation.

The 1920s were the barnstorming era. This was a popular form of entertainment where stunt pilots would perform maneuvers with airplanes, either individually or in groups called a flying circus.

These stunts were usually performed in a Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny” biplane.

These were sold as government surplus after World War I, and the servicemen who flew them during the war could pick them up for pennies on the dollar.

In the early part of World War I, General John J. “Blackjack” Pershing invited the Royal Canadian Flying Corps to establish its training fields in Texas to take advantage of the mild weather.

After checking several locations three sites were selected in 1917 in the Fort Worth area. They were North Fort Worth, Everman and Benbrook — known as the Flying Triangle.

The Canadians used the fields from October 1917 to April 1918.

With this background, let’s get to the subject of this article, Vernon Castle.

Caslte was born May 2, 1887, in Norwich, Norfolk, England.

Castle, formerly Vernon W. Blyth — Castle was a stage name — married Irene Foote, who was also his dance partner, at New Rochelle, N.Y., on May 28, 1911. He was a nightclub dancer and performed starring roles in early silent movies.

Vernon and Irene became very popular in Europe and America as a dance team.

He is credited with the invention and choreography of dances such as the one step, two step, foxtrot, turkey trot, castle walk, cake walk, hesitation waltz, Argentine tango and many other dances.

He began a dance school called Castle House in New York, co-authored a book titled “Modern Dancing” in 1914, and taught his students how to create their own variations of the dances he created.

While a WWI fighter pilot he flew 300 combat missions over enemy lines and shot down two German warplanes, for which he was awarded the French Croix de Guerre.

Later as an instructor pilot and commander of the 84th Canadian Training Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, he was stationed at Camp Benbrook to teach American, British and Canadian pilots.

At 10:30 the morning of Feb. 15, 1918, while at about 75 feet high, his Curtiss JN4D stalled during an Immelman maneuver while trying to avoid a collision with another aircraft.

Because Castle made a practice of giving the “safe” rear seat to his student, he died gallantly of multiple injuries when his aircraft fell nose first into the ground. The other pilot, his student cadet, and Vernon’s pet monkey, Jeffrey, were not seriously injured.

A movie of their life, “The story of Vernon and Irene Castle,” was released in 1939.

Both Vernon and Irene are buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, N.Y.

All the structures at the airfield were demolished in the 1920s, and the land sold to private individuals.

At the corner of Vernon Castle Avenue and Cozby West Street in Benbrook stands a monument to Vernon Castle.

The monument, complete with a replica of a Curtiss Jenny on top, was put in place in 1966 near the crash site.

The monument was restored by Eagle Scout Jerret Martin and rededicated in 1997.

To get to the monument go to Cresson and take U.S. 377 into Benbrook.

Once in Benbrook turn right on Sproles Drive then left at the third intersection onto Vernon Castle Avenue.

The monument is on the left in front of the large water tank.



History discussions

Starting October 15, I will begin a series of discussions titled “Take a Stroll Through Texas History.” They will be at the Cleburne Public Library and start at 6:30 p.m. and last an hour.

The topic for the first meeting will be “Early Indians of Texas and the United States.” Later topics will include “Early Spanish influence on Texas,” “Early English settlers,” “Early forts of Texas,” and “The Outlaw Era.”

If you plan to attend please call 817-517-5395 to register because the seating is limited. The discussions are free to attend.



John Watson is a Cleburne resident who can be reached at texastraveler@sbcglobal.net.