Ties To Past Heroes
Recently super pilot Randy Sohn sent me to a web site which described in photos and words a trip Kent Wien took with his father Merrill over some beautiful scenery in the American west.
The site was fascinating, the photos beautiful, the aircraft was a DC-3. That’s enough to make any aviator drool, and there’s more…
In 1935, when Will Rogers and Wiley Post were killed in an airplane in Point Barrow, Alaska, northernmost point in the U.S.A., there were no satellites to beam news to the rest of the world. The public clamor for news of the crash was nothing short of desperate. There were pictures of the crash but no way to get them to the outside world. Or so it seemed…
A bush pilot/businessman named Noel Wien flew the pictures through/over weather, betting his life that when he descended over what he hoped was Seattle, the ceiling would be high enough for him to land. It was. He was well paid for the endeavor, and that’s just the beginning of the story.
With the money from the trip, Noel Wien made a large down payment on a newer, bigger airplane which became an important part of the early years of Wien Air Alaska, which became Wien Alaska Airways and operated into the mid 1980s, well into the jet age.
Noel had two sons, Richard and Merrill. Merrill had two sons, Kent and Curt, who became American pilots. Wife Gail and I once spent a delightful time in Richard Wien’s hangar in Fairbanks and last week—via the Internet—I met Kent.
In what other industry can you meet today the people so closely connected with the so-distant past?
(To see the photos of the trip go to www.kentwien.com and then click on “trips”.)
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Capn Randy–
For those who don’t know Capn Randy, he can and has flown everything and he knows everybody in aviation.
I appreciate his efforts, but Capt Randy, when you set out to cover up all my goofs, you’ve signed on for a big job!
Thanks for writing,
Ralph Hood
Well heck, we gotta figure out someway here quickly to make Sir Ralphus correct on what he wrote! Lem’me see, GOT IT, hows’about a bi-plane and thus one with two wings - but in this case - a left one and a right one? There, would that work “mo-bettah”?
Anyhow and seriously, both great guys!!!!!!!!!!
Best, Randy
Rob–
Right you are, and I have the changed the BLOG accordingly. Funny I would make a goof like that. My father was an ardent Will Rogers fan. During my younger years he often complained that Wiley Post had “cobbled up” the airplane and it was dangerous to start with. Daddy was known to be leery of airplanes–though he was an early Delta Flying Colonel–so as I grew older I figured that was just Daddy talking. Decades later I spoke at the Oklahoma Airport Operators Conference. A Will Rogers expert spoke, and he pretty much confirmed Daddy’s belief. After all of that, you’d think I could remember how many wings the danged thing had!
Thanks for writing,
Ralph Hood
Thank you for the article! My how times have changed. One small correction - Wiley Post and Will Rogers were killed in a single-wing plane with floats, not a bi-plane.