FYV
1965
Arkansas - Texas Football Game

It was one of the busiest days ever at FYV, Fayetteville's Drake Field Airport. A temporary tower was set up but it was very chaotic in traffic control. The stage was set the year before in 1964 when Arkansas beat Texas 14-13 on October 17th at Austin and went on to be undefeated. They were not scored on the remaining five games of the regular season. Arkansas beat Nebraska 10-7 in the Cotton Bowl for a national championship. Texas won the rest of their regular season games too then beat Alabama 21-17 in the Orange Bowl. In 1965 both teams went into the October 16th game at Fayetteville undefeated. It was a sellout game and aircraft were parked at every available location at FYV. Arkansas won 27-24 and finished the season undefeated for the second straight year. However, they missed another national championship when they lost to LSU in the Cotton Bowl 14-7.

Photos by Jake Lamkins (9/03) from old 35mm slides recently re-discovered.


Looking out the terminal door toward long term parking - the field beyond the Ford

CN DC-3 on approach for R16

Same DC-3 closer in - both shots from the Airport Motel

CN CV240 parked on north side of ramp


Another shot of the 240

Same 240 seen from under TT CV240

Trans Texas 240

TT's 240 up close


A BN DC-6 flew the Texas team in

BN's DC-6 filled up the south side of the ramp

The DC-6's tail stuck out over the fence toward the FAA building

Probably the largest aircraft to come into FYV up to this time

Looking north from the ramp

Still looking north - aircraft lined the taxiways

Aircraft were also parked in the infield between the ramp and the runway

It was a busy day for the refuelers

Planes were also parked along the farside of the runway

Southern had a DC-3 charter in with fans

The SO DC-3 parked in the grass

Looking south from the ramp

Aircraft lined the entire taxiway

The Connie at the very end brought in the Texas band
COMMENTS

I enjoyed the pictures. I flew a flight from MKC through FYV probably 2 years before when Texas played Arkansaw at FYV and it was kinda scary. No temporary tower that year but there was one not too long after. Walt Whitlock was coming from STL in a Convair with a bunch of folks for the game but after getting cut out of the pattern a couple of times, he went on to FSM and they bussed the folks in. I was in a DC-3 and went around 3 times because of traffic but the third time I left it dirty and flew it real slow all the way around and close in so the light planes couldn't cut me out anymore but there were still 2 aircraft rolling out on that short runway when I touched down! Lots of cussin' and carryin' on on the FYV FSS radio that day. If I hadn't had some of the network Radio/TV announcing crew on board that day, I'd have followed Whitlock on to FSM. It took a long time to find a big enough slot to take off again. Not too long after that, the F/O quit and went to Pan AM.
- Capt. Frosty, CN/FL pilot

I really enjoyed the memories of the 1965 Tex-Ark airport parking. Frosty's additional comments also brought back memories. I also remember the year before when Ark beat Tex and the team arrived from the game late that night. Florence, Tom, Betsy and I drove to the airport (I happened to be off that time, not sure how that happened) to see the team fly in. The aircraft the team flew in on was swamped by fans which barely let the props (believe it was a DC-6 also) wind down before climbing over the fence on to the wings. That was the game where a young player by the name of Ken Hatfield was instrumental in the win. Another memorable time was (daytime) when Arkansas played Texas at FYV and President Nixon flew in by helicopter, barely making the kick-off due to low ceilings. Also another one when VP Lyndon Johnson flew into FYV from FSM on one of our CV580s. It became Air Force One that day when the 707 was too large for good ole Drake.
-Ken Stewart, CN/FL FYV station agent

I was out there that night in 1964 too, Ken. What an experience! I recall people up on the beacon at the white hangar. Isn't that the night the lady punched Bob Keigley when he tried to keep the crowd back from the arriving BN DC-6? I remember a pregnant woman getting dizzy and being propped up against the DC-6's wheel. I think that's also the time Hank, the mechanic, whacked some guys because someone or something hit him in the back. He had one of those huge DC-3 screwdrivers. People were definitely on the aircraft's rampside wing before the props stopped. It was about 1a.m. and the radio DJs had been encouraging everybody to meet the team when they flew in from AUS. So, when the bars closed at midnight they all came to the airport. The newspaper estimated the crowd at 5,000. It left the place a shambles and next day the city brought prisoners out for cleanup. They found a few folks still passed out in the grass between the runway and ramp.
-Jake Lamkins, CN/FL FYV station agent

Just pulled up the pictures from FYV, that brought back memories. I was working for Beech Aircraft out of ICT at the time and took a group of 3 guys from Garden City, Ks. where I was living at the time. We could'nt get in either and went to FSM, no rental cars available within a 100 miles. They hooked a ride with a gentleman that was headed for the game also. I didn't see them again until about 6 the next morning - they were still just a bit on the side of a rather large hang-over. In July I got hired at FL and in Oct we merged with CN. My next visit back to FYV was in Dec of 67 - fortunately, don't remember the captains name, he was Denver based as I was. Loved the pictures, especially the D-18's, got about 300 hours flying those on a mail run out of LBF down thru MCI-JLN and some strange airports at night. Scary way to make a living, luckily, I was only furloughed from FL for 2 months in 69.
-Skip Pennyweight, CN/FL pilot

Back in about 1968( I think) I was on a DC3. We lost an engine on take off out of FYV. My crew tried to get the tower's attention but because Ark was playing UT there were a lot of small airplanes calling the tower. I ran to the cockpit and as I opened the door the captain was yelling "May Day May Day". That got their attention! We did not have enough power to make it back around so we did a 180....one wing I swear was hitting limbs of trees. That was the only time I ever stayed overnight in FYV. I was not too keen on getting back on the plane they sent us the next morning!
-Janey Bailey Swanson, CN/FL flight attendant


Jake Lamkins