The History of "The Flying Fletchers"

 

James Lawrence (Larry) Fletcher and Maybelle Montgomery Fletcher have been continually active in the aviation business since the early 1940's. Larry received his pilot's license in 1941 while training for the service in Virginia. Maybelle, a native Texan, learned to fly in 1941 and received her license in 1943. They were married in 1945 and flew their first aircraft, a Piper J-3 "Cub", on their honeymoon trip.

Their first aviation business was established on the Eastern Shore of Virginia later that year. The operation, just outside the town of Parksley, Virginia, consisted of flight training, area tours, crop dusting, and charters. They started a family and soon their daughter Sandy logged 200 hours before her second birthday.

In the 1950's the Fletchers moved to Waco, Texas. Larry began his career as a corporate pilot and Maybelle became ChiefPilot at Waco Aviation. She worked at instructing, teaching acrobatics, and flying charters.

After a move to Houston, Texas, in 1956, Maybelle founded and promoted the Southwest Flying Club at what was at the time Hull Airport in Sugarland (now Sugarland Regional Airport). She took over a small flight school on that airport where she handled flight training for the VA students and also started one of the early Cessna Pilot Centers. And, Fletcher Aviation had begun! It was here that Larry and Maybelle's son, David, soloed on his 16th birthday. This was the beginning of another career in aviation! Maybelle formally founded Fletcher Aviation in 1968. In 1972 she relocated the business to Hobby Airport.

The FAA designated Maybelle as a "Private Pilot Examiner-Airplane, Commercial and Instrument Rating Examiner-Airplane, Flight Instructor Examiner-Airplane, Flight Instructor Instrument Examiner-Airplane and a FAA Written Test Examiner."

Up to the present time Maybelle has accumulated 30,000 hours in approximately 175 various types of single and multiengine aircraft (she no longer keeps a record of the hours). She is a CFI, CFII, MEI Instructor, with a seaplane rating and was a FAA Designated Examiner for over 30 years, giving over 10,000 check rides. She is active in the 99's, a women's aviation group founded by Amelia Earhart, and has participated in cross-country races, as well as, many other aviation related projects. Larry had (at last count in 1955) 17000+ hours in various types of single and multiengine aircraft and an ATP rating. He has also participated with Maybelle in cross country and international air races. In 2001 Maybelle was inducted into the Texas Aviation Hall of Fame located in the Lone Star Flight Museum on Galveston Island, Texas. In 2004 she was the first woman honored with the Master Pilot Award.

Located on the South Ramp of Hobby, the business included a flight school, parts department, maintenance department, aircraft storage, and FBO - Chevron Aviation Fuel Center, later an Exxon Aviation Fuel Center. They operated on 14 acres with over 140,000 square feet of hangar space. Fletcher Aviation was sold to Wilson Air Center in 2005.

The latest development for the Fletcher family is a new 200 acre airpark on the fabulous Guadalupe River in the middle of the beautiful Texas Hill Country! Fletcher Airport sports a 4500 foot runway and brings with it -- a long history in aviation!