Montana Aviator: Great Grandfather Bob Westover and Charles Lindbergh in Montana

In May 2008, my band The Lascivious Biddies will be heading out to play in Loveland, CO (near Denver), Helena and Billings, MT. To help with publicity, I typed up this article about my Great-Grandfather Bob Westover, and his barnstorming friendship with the legendary Charles Lindbergh in 1920s Billings. After we finally get there, look for some travel wisdom (and eats) from the area right here on The Tiny Guide!

***

BILLINGS AVIATION PIONEER REMEMBERS EARLY FLYING DAYS WITH C.A. LINDBERGH IN MONTANA

Issue 200, The Billings Gazette
Sunday, December 14, 1958 (!!!)

By Al Funderburke

Flying today is a far cry from the "seat of the pants" method of the past, according to one of the first pilots in the Billings area. Bob Westover, who first took up an Army surplus J I Standard in the early twenties, made the observation while visiting in Billings last week.

Great-Grandfather Bob, Great-Great Granfather "Pop" and Lindy!----->

According to the old timer, "We used to not have anything to fly by, except a compass that was not dependable. Now fliers use instruments and don't care if they ever see the ground."

Westover, who not operates and automobile agency and tune-up shop in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, came to Billings in 1911 as one of the first garage mechanics in the area, but soon switched to flying. Following World War I, he bought two surplus Standards from the Army, and took to the air.

Learning to fly in the 20s was not the complicated business it is today, Westover observes. "We just got in those old planes and started flying just like you get in a car and learn to drive." With no licenses required, he was soon on is own as a pilot.

Lindy Made 'Chute Jumps
One of his first ventures was a barnstorming trip through Montana and Wyoming. Traveling with Charles Lindberg, of transoceanic flying fame. Westover gunned the fragile plane low over a small town. With the town residents gaping, Lindbergh would "bail out" by parachute. Westover would then land in a nearby field and wait for business. It soon came, with Lindbergh leading the curious townspeople to the field for a ride over town at $10 a head.

<---Great Grandad poring over his scrapbooks

Lindbergh had joined forces with Westover, working part time around airplanes, and the balance of time as an auto mechanic. Westover reminisces that the famous aviator, who won worldwide attention in 1927 with his history-making flight to Paris in the "Spirit of St. Louis," earned the money to pay for flying lessons by making the dangerous parachute jumps.

Built Landing Field
Following the Lindbergh episode, Westover took over the agency for Eagle Rock Planes for Montana and Wyoming. Lack of airports was a problem then, so Westover solved it in his own way. Using a 12-foot steel blade scraper, he cleared off a section of sagebrush to form a landing field. The field was located just west of Billings, near the present site of Mountview Cemetery.

In 1927 Westover expanded his flying business, taking the name of National Park Scenic Airways. Plans called for charter trips over Yellowstone Park, but fell through when the small single engine ships, equipped with a single magneto, proved unsafe for the rugged park country.

Operated Schools
Not to be stopped, Westover turned to operating flying schools, and one at a time had schools in Billings, Sheridan and Glendive, with a staff of six pilots.

Like a lot of other promising businesses, Westover's operation was hard hit by the depression. Passenger fares dropped from the usual $10 a head for a short flight, to one cent a pound. Westover was forced out of the flying business.

Although his flying days were over, Westover was soon called on to use his experience. After the outbreak of World War II he took the job of teaching crew chiefs about aircraft engines at Long Beach, Calif., helping the mechanics to make the transition from B17s to the later models coming out.

Today, the ex-flier has some strong feelings about flying. "There's no future in flying, for a young person," he claims, "The only future is with the airlines and there's too much competition. Pilots are a nickel a dozen."

And to back up his belief, he traveled to Laurel to visit his son, associated with the Yellowstone Bank, and plans to continue on to Florida to visit another son. His mode of travel – a small European car.