Lawrence Clifton Elliott

Elliott's work was mostly invisible from the ground. His National Air and Space Museum file, summarized on the Davis-Monthan Airfield Register site, says he resigned from the Army in March 1928 to become airways extension superintendent for the Department of Commerce and surveyed routes including San Diego to El Paso, Los Angeles to Albuquerque and Jacksonville to Atlanta. He also flew research flights on radio range (A-N) beacons. In 1934 he became manager of the Fourth Air Navigation District at Fort Worth, responsible for the lighted and radio-equipped airways of seven states.

What the plaque says

Lawrence Clifton Elliott (November 16, 1901 - May 15, 1970) Aviation pioneer Lawrence C. Elliot was born in Greenville, Texas. During high school, Elliott exhibited early aviation talent when he built an experimental airplane. He attended Texas A&M University, participating in the Reserve Officers Training Corps. After graduating in 1924, Elliott was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army Air Corps and trained at Brooks Field and Kelly Field in San Antonio. He earned awards in air races and became a U.S. Army flight Instructor. In 1928, Elliot began a 35-year career with the Aeronautics Branch of the U.S. Department of Commerce (Later the Civil Aeronautics Administration). Stationed at Southwest Regional Headquarters in Fort Worth for 25 years, he was instrumental in marking domestic flight routes, developing weather communication broadcast techniques, establishing standards for airplane maintenance and inspection, and recommending air facility safety modifications. During World War II, Elliott was regional manager of the U.S. Civil Aviation System. He received awards for exceptional service and impact on international aviation in 1953. Elliott was married to Mildred Leonhart Reiter (d. 1963). Their former home at 3 Chase Court was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1983. (1991)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Kimbell Art Museum — 1.2 mi
  Louis Kahn's cycloid-vaulted museum of 1972, built from Kay Kimbell's bequest and joined in 2013 by Renzo Piano's pavilion for the exhibitions the Kahn galleries could not hold.
• National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame — 1.5 mi
  A hall of fame begun in Hereford in 1975 to honor rodeo women, widened in 1977 to Western heritage, and housed in Fort Worth's Cultural District since 2002.
• Fort Worth Stockyards — 2.1 mi
  The brick-street cattle market where Armour and Swift built packing plants in 1902, now a National Register district with a Coliseum, a museum and a longhorn drive twice a day.
• Tarrant County Courthouse — 2.2 mi
  A pink-granite courthouse of 1895 on the bluff where the Army set up Fort Worth in 1849, in a county named for the man who led the 1841 attack on the Native villages of Village Creek.

More markers nearby

• Ormer Leslie Locklear — 0.3 mi
• Ahavath Sholom Hebrew Cemetery — 0.5 mi
• Oakwood Cemetery — 1.2 mi
• John Peter Smith_Oakwood Cemetery Founder — 1.2 mi