AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - 43

Things to see and do
99s Museum of Women Pilots-The 99s
Museum of Women Pilots, on the grounds
of Will Rogers World Airport, exhibits
artifacts spanning the history of women
in aviation, including Louise Thaden's
Travel Air, in which she won the 1929
Transcontinental Race for Women.
museumofwomenpilots.org
The National Cowboy and Western
Heritage Museum
The National Cowboy and Western Heritage
Museum exhibits Western art and historic
artifacts of cowboy culture.
nationalcowboymuseum.org
American Banjo Museum
The American Banjo Museum celebrates
the music and history of America's favorite
stringed instrument, with more than 300
banjos on exhibit.
americanbanjomuseum.com
Stockyards City
Experience the cowboy life by attending
a cattle auction, rodeo, or the annual
Stockyards Stampede at the historic
Stockyards City.
stockyardscity.org
Oklahoma City National Memorial
and Museum
Visit the Oklahoma City National Memorial
and Museum to remember and learn
about America's worst case of domestic
terrorism: the bombing of the Alfred P.
Murrah Federal Building in 1995.
memorialmuseum.com
Stafford Air and Space Museum
Named for Apollo astronaut and native
Oklahoman Thomas Stafford, the Stafford
Air and Space Museum exhibits items
spanning aviation's history, including
Stafford's Gemini VI spacecraft, his Gemini
and Apollo spacesuits, and a moon rock.
The museum is in Weatherford, Oklahoma.
staffordmuseum.org
for which he received enough money in compensation
to buy a Canadian Curtiss " Canuck "
biplane. His eye patch made him an easily recognizable
figure.
Post became the personal pilot of a wealthy
Oklahoma oilman, F.C. Hall, who sponsored Post
in the 1930 National Air Races. Hall purchased a
Lockheed Vega for Post to fly, which they named
after Hall's daughter, Winnie Mae. Post won the
race from Los Angeles to Chicago that year. In
1931, Post and Harold Gatty flew Winnie Mae
around the world in eight days, beating the previous
record by the Graf Zeppelin of 21 days.
Post flew it around the world again in 1933, this
time solo. He became interested in high-altitude
flying and worked with the B.F. Goodrich
Company to develop the first pressure suit.
Suited up with a tin-can helmet, Post resembled
a deep-sea diver. During flights using the
suit, Post reached as high as 50,000 feet and discovered
the jet stream.
Post became friends with Rogers, America's
most beloved humorist, social commentator,
and movie comedian. Rogers was an aviation
enthusiast and frequently wrote about Post's
accomplishments in his newspaper column. In
1935, Rogers accompanied Post on a flight from
Seattle to Russia in an airplane built by Post, who
mounted the wings of a Lockheed Explorer to
the fuselage of a Lockheed Orion and attached
floats. The combination was nose heavy and
ultimately dangerous. On August 15, 1935, Post
and Rogers died when the aircraft crashed on
takeoff from a lagoon near Point Barrow, Alaska.
The loss of two icons of U.S. culture during the
Great Depression sent the nation into a state of
mourning that was rarely seen for private citizens.
Flags were lowered to half-staff and movie
screens went dark for two minutes in tribute.
Post was buried at Memorial Park Cemetery
in Oklahoma City, and Rogers lies at the Will
Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore,
Oklahoma, 30 miles northeast of Tulsa.
The Winnie Mae is displayed at the National
Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.,
along with other Post artifacts, including his
pressure suit and a cracked compass recovered
from his 1935 crash. Dennis K. Johnson
is an aviation writer and frequent contributor
to AOPA media.
Will Rogers and Wiley Post before
their flying expedition to Alaska.
Wiley Post (left) and Harold Gatty
(right) in Germany in 1931.
Getting there
Wiley Post Airport (PWA)
is a general aviation airport
eight miles northwest of
downtown Oklahoma City
and 10 miles from Will
Rogers World Airport.
The airport offers three
runways with lengths up
to 7,200 feet. 100LL and
Jet A fuel and full aircraft
services are available from
three FBOs. The airport has
a part-time control tower.
wileypostairport.com
AOPA PILOT / September 2022
43
http://www.museumofwomenpilots.org http://www.nationalcowboymuseum.org http://www.americanbanjomuseum.com http://www.stockyardscity.org http://www.memorialmuseum.com http://www.wileypostairport.com http://www.staffordmuseum.org
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022

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