Will Rogers-Wiley Post Fly-In Weekend
Friday, Aug. 15
10:30 a.m: Laying of wreath at family tomb, Will Rogers Memorial
Saturday, Aug. 16
2 p.m.: Will Rogers Memorial Commission quarterly meeting, Will Rogers Memorial Museum Administration Office
3 p.m.: Will Rogers Heritage quarterly meeting, Will Rogers Memorial Museum Administration Office
Sunday, Aug. 17
Will Rogers -Wiley Post Fly-In
Celebration of civil aviation
Dog Iron Ranch Oologah (Airport Identifier OK37)
8:30 a.m.: Planes land on grass strip at Will Rogers Birthplace Ranch, adjacent to Will Rogers’ birthplace
9 a.m.: Program, including dedication of Clem Rogers Monument
Concessions available
Free and open to the public (bring your lawn chair)
(For information call 918-341-0719 or visit the website www.willrogers.com)
Will Rogers-Wiley Post Fly-In Aug. 17
Will Rogers was perhaps the world’s biggest aviation booster of his time although he never piloted a plane. “My geography comes from an airplane window,” he wrote in 1935. Flying enabled him to fly from coast-to-coast, border-to-border and beyond — with an occasional stop in Oklahoma with his family.
He had teamed with Wiley Post on several adventures and in August 1935 they left on a jaunt through Alaska in search of a mail and passenger air route between the United States and Russia — one that would avoid the hazards of the long flight over the Pacific.
They were barely into the flight on Aug. 15, 1935 when the plane sputtered and fell from the sky and Will and Wiley to their deaths in the icy waters near Barrow, Alaska.
Each year on the anniversary of their death, pilots fly in at the Will Rogers Birthplace Ranch near Oologah to pay tribute to Will and Wiley and renew friendship with fellow pilots. This year, starting about 8:30 a.m. Aug. 17, pilots will drop down on the 2,000-foot grass strip adjacent to the house where Will war born. It will be an opportunity for pilots to showcase their planes and for children and adults to get an up-close look at planes.
Highlighting the day will be unveiling of a monument dedicated to Will’s father, Clem, who settled the Verdigris River bottom ranch in the 1800s and built the house in 1875. Funded by the Oklahoma Centennial Commission it will call attention to Clem Rogers’ role in the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention and the naming of Rogers County for him.
There will be music and prizes for children. Concessions will be available.
(The Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore and Will Rogers Birthplace Ranch near Oologah are open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. 365 days a year. Call 981-341-0719 or 1-800-324-9455 (toll free).