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San
Benito Chronicles
Patrolling
the Mexican Border by Air
Government
and Private Enterprise Working TogetherCruse
Aviation in the late 40s and early 50sby
John Troesser
Photos courtesy Cruse Aviation |
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Primitive
hangar and plane in Presidio, Texas |
| Shortly
after World War II, the threat of invasion from Mexico
was far different from the perceived threat today. Then the menace was disease.
Mexican cattle infected with the dreaded hoof and mouth disease could easily wander
(or be herded by smugglers) across the shallow, drought-stricken Rio Grande. Already
rampant in Mexico, if the disease were to get a foothold in the U.S. it would
be a huge economic disaster for Texas and the other border states - as well as
the entire country. If you think of how serious the threat of Mad Cow disease
is taken today, you'll have an idea of the seriousness of the problem back then. |
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King
Cruse in Houston, Texas, 1959 |
| Former
WWII pilot King Cruse of San Benito read where the cost of patrolling the border
on horseback was $900 per mile per year. It was half that if the patrol were made
by vehicle, but King knew flying and he knew that planes were far more efficient
and cost effective than any vehicle. Cruse approached the U.S. Department of Agriculture
and it sounded to them like an idea with wings. The best part about the proposition
was that King came with his own fleet of planes. |
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| Flying
into San Benito, 1946 | |
The
Ultimate Cattleguard
King
Cruse and his brother John ran San Benito Flying Service. While their fleet of
Piper Cubs was less swift than the warplanes they flew during WWII, it was still
flying - and to pilots - flying is living - even if it's just giving lessons or
doing occasional aerial photography. The contract was written for San Benito Flying
Service to furnish planes and pilots and the Bureau of Animal Industry would furnish
observers. When cattle were spotted the pilots would dip as low as five feet to
enable the government inspectors to read the brand or observe the animal's condition.
If the animal was identified as diseased, a note would be dropped to a nearby
government vehicle and the animal would be killed and burned where it stood.
The
2,400 mile U.S. - Mexico border was patrolled by seven of the Cruse Brothers'
planes. These were stationed at their headquarters at San
Benito and local airports at Laredo,
Del Rio, Presidio, El
Paso and Yuma, Arizona - many of them former U.S. airfields. Each plane had
a range of 200 miles and a cruising speed of 75 miles per hour. It was estimated
that at the peak of the program, Cruse planes logged 1,000,000 per year. Later
in the program four-seater Cessna 170s replaced the two passenger Pipers. |
| Hoof
and Mouth disease was contained in Mexico by 1952 and the program ended. The brothers
continued operations as Cruse Air Inc. John Cruse died in 1976 and King ran the
business until 1985. He passed away in 1996 but the name lives on. Cruse Air Parts,
run by son Steve Cruse, exports airplane parts and equipment worldwide from their
office in The Woodlands, Texas. |
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| Cruse
Aviation, Houston, Texas, 1959 | |
| Steve Cruse has preserved
his father's substantial photographic collection of the South Texas region and
has supplemented it with vintage postcards - many of which he is now sharing with
our readers in our Coastal town pages. | | |
