Monthly Archives: March 2010

Albuquerque International Airport at 70 – New Video

The Albuquerque International Airport 70th birthday video is finally finished and uploaded to YouTube. It turns out it is really the story of four airports: Oxnard Field, Western Air Express Airport, Albuquerque International Airport, and Kirtland Air Force Base.

And when you throw in the Santa Fe Railroad, a New York air transportation promoter, Charles Lindbergh, Mayor and Governor Clyde Tingley, the WPA, WWII and the Manhattan Project, and you end up with  a fascinating eight-minute narrated video.

Albuquerque International Airport at 70 Video

I hope you enjoy it, and look forward to comments or suggestions you might have on how to improve a possible second version, and please feel free to let others know about it, too.

DAR Community Service Award for creating The Albuquerque Tricentennial Timeline

I was greatly pleased and honored last Wednesday, to be given the DAR Community Service Award for creating  the Albuquerque Tricentenial Timeline.

Casandra Meyers-Warner, New Mexico State 1st Vice Regent and Past Regent of the Charles Dibrell Chapter presenting the certificate.

From the program notes: “The Charles Dibrell Chapter of the Albuquerque DAR is pleased to present Tom Miles the DAR Community Service Award for his creation of the Albuquerque Tricentennial Timeline. The timeline itself depicts 600 years of Albuquerque history in a large 4 foot x 16 foot poster-format piece mounted in the East Wing of the Albuquerque Convention Center and the Passenger Waiting Lounge at the Sunport. It depicts and relates interesting historical events throughout the world as well as describing the many and varied ethnic and cultural arrivals and contributions to Albuquerque over this 600 year period. The Timeline Project took two years to complete and required Tom to meet repeatedly with the University of New Mexico History Department, the State Folklorist, the State Historian, the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, the Spanish Colonial Research Center and the National Hispanic Cultural Center. For graphics, Tom worked with Sandia Labs Graphics Department. The timeline was considered to be sufficiently interesting and valuable that the Tricentennial Committee contracted for the printing of a number of smaller, 2 foot x 4 foot, copies which were given to the Albuquerque Public School, Parochial and selected private high school and middle schools throughout Albuquerque to facilitate teaching Albuquerque, New Mexico, US and world history and Social Studies. It is impossible with a photo to show the importance of this work. You may want to  view on line two very informative YouTube videos produced  by Tom:  “5 Perspectives on Albuquerque, NM” and “Mexican Immigration Through New Mexico and the Southwest.”