Volume 13 , Issue 33

Summer of 1935 Airplane Crash - Will Rogers & Wily Post

During the Summer of 1935, 15 August, humorist Will Rogers and aviator Wiley Post were killed when their airplane crashed near Point Barrow, Alaska. This is the newsreel from 1935 when Will Rogers and famed aviator Wiley Post were killed in a plane crash in Alaska.



On August 15, Rogers and Post were flying from Fairbanks to Barrow when they encountered fog and low-visibility. The two friends located a hole in the fog at Walakpa Bay, landed, spent some time with a small party of Alaska Natives and received directions for the short distance remaining to fog-shrouded Barrow. The final flight was barely airborne--perhaps 50 feet--when the motor failed. The aircraft plummeted into the lagoon and overturned. The Post-Rogers crash was the first fatal air accident Barrow had known.

The airplane that Post and Rogers were flying in 1935 was an advanced version of the Winnie May, designed by Post. It was a low wing cantilever monoplane of wood and fabric construction using a 55-horse power, pratt and Whitney Wasp Engine. The fuselage was Lockheed Orion and the wing Sirius. In addition to landing wheels, it carried interchangeable skis and pontoons, and was described by the Army Signal Corps radio out of Barrow to Seattle as a "Red, Arctic Sky Crusier." CLICK HERE for more information.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

---