Laurel Bill on Alaska Story Time with Aunt Phil, Wiley Post and Will Rogers crash 1935

Описание: In this episode of Alaska Story Time with Aunt Phil, Alaska author/historian Laurel Downing Bill shares the story of how one of America’s most beloved humorists and his famous pilot friend crashed and died near Barrow in 1935. Will Rogers and aviator Wiley Post were on their way to circle the globe that year.

Post had beefed up a plane to his specifications for the long journey. The hybrid had large pontoons, a Lockheed Orion fuselage and Lockheed Explorer wings equipped with a 550-horsepower engine. He also fitted it with oversize 260-gallon gas tanks.

Will Rogers jumped at the chance to make the trip with his friend, whom he called “the best flyer I know.” The pair took off from Seattle on Aug. 7, eager to explore a new route to Europe over Alaska and Siberia.

They stopped in Juneau long enough to visit Walter Hall, Rex Beach and Joe Crosson at an airplane hangar. They also stopped off in the Matanuska Valley to check out the new agricultural colony. True to his nature, Rogers left the colonists laughing when the plane took off and headed to Fairbanks.

They took off from Fairbanks on their ill-fated leg to Barrow on August 15, even though weather reports were not conducive to flying that day due bad weather and dense fog.

After a few hours, they were lost. When they spotted a reindeer herder on the tundra, Post landed the plane in a lagoon and asked Claire Okpeha if he knew the direction for Barrow. The herder explained that Barrow was only 12 miles away.

Post and Rogers thanked him and then took off. However, something went horribly wrong with the plane. It went up about 500 feet, then the engine sputtered and died. The plane went into a nosedive and hit the shallow lagoon like a rocket. It turned over so that the engine and fuselage were buried under three feet of water.

Okpeha ran the 12 miles to Barrow to get help. But to no avail. Both men had perished in the crash.

The airport in Barrow was named in their honor, and a memorial was erected that reads: “Will Rogers and Wiley Post, ‘America’s ambassadors of good will,’ ended life’s flight here August 15, 1935.”

The stone used for the tribute was taken from the same quarry that supplied material for Oklahoma’s memorial to Will Rogers at his hometown of Claremore, Oklahoma.

This segment of aired on CBS Anchorage affiliate KTVA Channel 11 Daybreak on Aug. 15, 2016.

Alaska history
http://www.ktva.com/category/daybreak/
http://www.AuntPhilsTrunk.com
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