Ormer Leslie Locklear

(October 28, 1891 - August 2, 1920) (grave site 65 feet east) A native of Greenville, Texas, Ormer Leslie Locklear moved to Fort Worth with his family in 1906. He worked for his father's construction company until 1914, when he and his brother opened an automobile repair shop. Locklear enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Service in 1917, soon after the U.S. entered World War I. He trained in San Antonio and Austin before being assigned to Barron Field near Fort Worth as a flight instructor. He soon became known for his daring feats of precision flying and performed in barnstorming air shows to recruit pilots for military service. Locklear resigned his Army commission in 1919 to fly in the commercial air show circuit. Hired by the Universal Film Company as a stunt pilot for motion pictures, he moved to Hollywood and in 1920 was killed flying a stunt pilot for his second feature, "The Skywayman". The accident, believed to have been caused when the bright lights illuminating the night sky for filming blinded the pilot, was recorded on film and used in the movie's final scene. Thousands of mourners attended Locklear's Fort Worth funeral, which the Fox Film Corporation filmed and released later as a newsreel. (1992)

Ormer Leslie Locklear is a historical marker in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, dedicated in 1992. It is one of 354 historical markers documented in Tarrant County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 458 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 32.7641, -97.3660 near Fort Worth. The nearest cataloged historic site is William John Marsh (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Royal Flying Corps, Greenwood Memorial, and Lawrence Clifton Elliott.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5439003877. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.