Monument to the Flying Paper Boy

Near the center of the Queen, New Mexico community is a ten foot stone memorial to Frank A. Kindel, The Flying Paper Boy Of The Guadalupes, a pilot who crashed here in 1964. As a boy, Frank A. Kindel herded sheep in the Guadalupe Mountains of New Mexico, where his family had migrated to in 1898. In his later years, he was a member of the Carlsbad City Council, a director for the Chamber of Commerce and a leading promoter the nearby Carlsbad Caverns.  But this greatest love was flying his single engine, two-seater aircraft all over the country, he flew to Mexico, Canada and Alaska on lone trips, and had over 5000 hours of flight time logged.Retired from his business as an oil products distributor in 1963, Kindel spent most of his time dressed in his orange flying suit. A small man, barely more than five feet tall, Kindel in recent years sported a white mustache, he was the chief promoter of Carlsbad's Diamond Jubilee Celebration in 1963, which celebrated Carlsbad's 75th anniversary of the town's founding.A Captain in the Civil Air Patrol, he had flown many mercy missions, and in mid-May of 1964, he was honored by the Carlsbad Realtors Association as the outstanding citizen.  He was also commonly know as Carlsbad's "Mr. Welcome".