Two events will mark the anniversary of the day Will Rogers and Wiley Post died in an Alaskan airplane crash. Will had just finished filming “Steamboat Round the Bend,” when he and Wiley flew to Alaska. Wiley was looking for a mail and passenger air route between the United States and Russia with the destination across Siberia. It was in the takeoff Aug. 15, 1935 from a little river inlet near Barrow, Alaska, the plane went down and the two were killed.
For more than a dozen years, pilots of aircraft ranging from vintage to new, ultralights and helicopters have been a part of the annual Will Rogers-Wiley Post Fly-In, landing on a 2,000 foot grass strip just a lawn away from the house were Will was born Nov. 4, 1879. Dale Frakes, retired Tulsa corporate pilot and longtime Fly-In chairman, said between 50 and 75 pilots each year have participated in the event, showcasing their planes and renewing friendships with kindred aviation enthusiasts.
A wreath-laying ceremony will be Wednesday, Aug. 15 at the museum sunken garden, where Will Rogers and his family are buried.
Bring your own lawn chair Sunday and enjoy watching planes drop out of the skies over Oologah and taxi a few yards from the birthplace ranch house. Fly-in spectators will have an opportunity for a close-up look at planes and visit with pilots.
Pilots start landing early with a program planned at 9 a.m. featuring a welcome by Will Rogers Memorial Commission Chairman Jim Hartz and posting of the colors by members of the Civil Air Patrol, led by Charles Keitzman. Mary West, longtime Oologah civic leader and a tradition at the Fly-In, will sing a medley of patriotic music.
Family members, led by Bob McSpadden, who will fly in with a Vinita pilot, will form a delegation of family members including nieces and nephews. Herb McSpadden, whose father, the late Trent McSpadden, was also born in the house, will gather with his sisters and their families and cousins.
Representatives of the Cherokee Nation, which has joined the Museum and Will Rogers Heritage Trust in sponsoring the Fly-In, will be on hand.
Heartland Express bluegrass band will play before and after the morning program.
Frakes will unveil a large photograph of Wiley Post and the Winnie Mae, which was displayed for years in the corporate flight offices of Phillips Petroleum at Phillips Field in Bartlesville, before it is moved to the Will Rogers Museum for permanent exhibition.
William Mead of Claremore, a retired Phillips employee, made arrangements for the photo by a Bartlesville photographer to come to the Claremore Museum.
Former Museum directors Joe and Michelle Lefebvre-Carter will be honored at a dedication of benches donated and located under shade trees between the ranch house and barn by Joe Henderson of Talala.
An airplane rocker, which has been on display at Reasor’s Supermarket, will be given away at the conclusion of the program to a youngster attending the fly-in. The give-away is open to children under 12 (must be present to win).
Concessions will be available.
On the anniversary of Will’s death, family members including great-nieces and nephews, will share in placing a wreath at the Rogers’ tomb at 10 a.m. Bob McSpadden of Vinita and Clem McSpadden of Chelsea, sons of Herb McSpadden and grandsons of Sallie Rogers McSpadden, who grew up on their great-uncle’s ranch, are expected along with Coke Lane Meyer, of Claremore, daughter of James Gunter Lane and granddaughter of Maude Rogers Lane, and Tom Milam of Oklahoma City, son of Maud McSpadden Milam and grandson of Sallie Rogers McSpadden.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Steve Kirby will fly over the Museum prior to the program.
Participants in the Cherokee Nation Talking Leaves Job Corps, led by Stanley Johns, will present the colors. Johns will say the Lord’s Prayer in Cherokee to the pounding of the drums.
There is no admission for either of the events, open to the public.
(For information call 918-341-0719.)
Anniversary of Will Rogers-Wiley Post Death Sunday, Aug. 12
Wednesday, Aug. 15
(Call 918-341-0719 for information) |