in 1917. He obtained Transport License Number 690 from Orville Wright. In 1924, he was bought his own aircraft. Braniff founded his own flying company soon after, eventually helping convince Tom Braniff and other investors to bring money and form the Oklahoma Aero Club, in 1927. Reserved for use of the six investors, the company was registered as the Paul R. Braniff, Inc., thus marking the first birth of Braniff Airways. Paul Braniff flew the company's first flight on June 20, 1928, from Oklahoma City to Tulsa, Oklahoma in a 5-passenger single engine Stinson Detroiter aircraft. Records indicate that there were flights between the two cities prior to the June 20 date. However, company records began recording flights on that date. Charles Lindbergh's monumental 1927 Atlantic crossing sparked massive interest in aviation around the nation. In Oklahoma, the interest was manifested in the Oklahoma Air Tour of 1928. Sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce of Oklahoma, it involved aviators flying to various Oklahoma town expressing an interest in aviation. The five-day tour, departing Oklahoma City on May 14, 1928, flew eighteen thousand cumulative miles and stopped at eighteen towns. An estimated 100,000 people turned out to view the twenty two aircraft and hear the pilots, including Braniff, promote the benefits of commercial aviation. The Oklahoma cities of Altus, Miami, and Guthrie, built airports specifically for air tour usage. The tour was operated again in 1929, but the onslaught of the Great Depression ended any further air races. At the time, the airline was involved with the National Transcontinental air race. In November 1929, Paul R. Braniff, Inc. was purchased by Universal Airlines, was renamed as Braniff Airlines, and moved headquarters to St. Louis. In Mexico In 1929, Braniff left the United States to go to Mexico to help someone build a struggling Mexican airline company (apparently this person was Alberto Braniff, but no evidence of this, nor of Alberto Braniff being related to the American Braniff brothers, has ever been reported). Braniff remained in Mexico until 1930. Braniff Airways, Inc. While in Mexico, Braniff gained airline industry expertise. He returned to the United States with innovative ideas for a new Braniff airline, including the use of faster aircraft that he knew would help the airline by bringing quicker turn-around times and, as a consequence, enable the airline to carry more passengers. With that idea, Paul R. Braniff convinced Tom Braniff