Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
2019.001.069 |
Object Name |
Clipping, Newspaper |
Title |
Folks Continue Farm Work as Wiley Post Speeds on to New Air Record |
Collection |
WIley Post Collection |
Scope & Content |
A newspaper clipping showing the main headline with pictures of Wiley Post and his parents, and captions running throughout the bottom. |
Date |
06/25/1931 |
Transcription |
[Top] ‘Folks’ Continue Farm Work As Wiley Post Speeds On To - New Air Record [Below the title there are pictures of Wiley Post and his family. On the left is his mother; to the right are pictures of his father; and in the middle is Wiley Post.] If Wiley Post’s parents had had their way six years ago, Wiley would have been digging pota- toes and calling for the hogs today on his father’s farm two miles north of Maysville, Okla. But he chose the air route instead and today was flying across the Old World followed by the eyes of every nation. Above are some scenes taken at the 90-acre farm near Maysville where Wiley’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Post, live and en- joy themselves. In the center is a recent picture of Wiley; on the left, his mother, who was 58 years old yesterday, and right, his 62-year-old father; Just to the right of Mrs. Post is a photo showing her filling the trough for her pet pig, "Billy Sunday," and just above that, their neat home surrounded by trees and a well-kept yard. The next panel, lower, shows Mrs. Post feeding her flock of chickens recently depleted by 50 hens by a chicken thief, and above, Mr. Post with his favorite work pony. Wiley Just Wouldn’t Stay Planted on Farm, Parents Say —————— By FRANK HOUSTON Oklahoma News Staff Writer MAYSVILLE, Okla., June 25.—"We tried to make a farmer out of Wiley but we couldn’t do it." Wiley’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. W.F. Post, who live on their 90-acre farm two miles north of here, used to make that statement with a tone of grievance in their voices. They thought it a shame that a son of theirs refused to follow the trade they had worked at for over 40 years. But today as they said the words, a joyful gleam from their eyes revealed that they are happy their son insisted on pursuing the course of his own desires. If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t be winging it over Russia today followed by the eyes of the world. Tried to Stop Flying "He didn’t have our blessings when he started out in this flying business," the father said. "I did every- thing I could to keep him out of the air and stay on the ground farming." Wiley began his flying career by making parachute jumps when he wasn’t working in the oil fields near Holdenville. That was about six years ago. "One time when he came home to Maysville to make a jump before a big crowd of farmers who had gath- ered for a cotton meeting, I told him I wouldn’t let him make the jump," the father recalled. "Wiley was always very careful about his parachute, always folding is himself and never letting anyone else touch it. But I was afraid he would get hurt so I did the only thing I could to keep him from jumping. Father Hid Parachute "I hid his parachute." The elder Post gets a big kick out of telling the story now but it wasn’t so funny then. When Wiley missed his parachute, be stomped into the cotton meeting in full swing and demanded his father go out and find that para- chute. "He raised the devil but he didn’t Jump," Wiley’s father chuckled. Mrs. Post, who, according to her husband is the best chicken and hog raiser in the southwest, wasn’t so sure her husband did the right thing by hiding the parachute, and she said so. "Well, he got kinda sassy when I told him he couldn’t jump and that’s partly the reason I hid it," Post said and grinned again in a manner bely- ing his 62 years. Parents Are Happy And while the happy couple quib- bled goodnaturedly over an incident five years ago which might have di- verted Wiley to some other vocation, their son roared westward over Rus- sia on his flight around the world. An injury in the oil fields furnished the funds for Wiley to buy his first airplane. A piece of flying steel blinded his left eye and the com- pany employing him paid him $2,000. He bought an old "crate" and be- gan brainstorming. After three years of this he joined F.C. hall to pilot the operator’s ship to and from his widely scattered holdings. After winning the air race. Just summer from California to Chicago, talk was started of an around-the- world flight. Hall put up the money and away Wiley and Harold Gatty went in the "Winnie Mae," named after Hall’s daughter, Mrs. Winnie Mae Fain. Was a ‘Good Worker’ "He was always a good worker here on the farm," Wiley’s father said today, "but he just wasn’t interested. He could cultivate and plow and sow but never until after I had fixed everything for him. "He never could learn which harness went on which horse or how," Post said as if he couldn’t figure out how a smart son of his could be so dull in such a simple thing as that. So despite all efforts, Wiley went away to a mechanics school and learned the intracacies of machinery. The things he learned there are largely responsible for his success this far on his journey. His parents have five other chil- dren. They are James, 39, Arthur, 37; Joe, 35: Mrs. I.A. Junell, 29, Bryan, 29, and Gordon, 21. Wiley is 32. —————————————————— world flight, and I hope we cut it in two." Inspect Plane [I stopped here.] He said they used their radio trans- mitter very little because there was no occasion to send messages. Post also added that their return after taking off from Hannover was to get more fuel as well as to ask about the route. After a short rest the Americans went back to inspect their plane. The crowd pushed at them and they would have been caught in a stampede if police had not aided and fought off the enthusiastic mob. The two spent about 15 minutes tinkering with the plane and ordering preparations Working Men of Air to Receive New Hall Award Continued From Page One since the start of aviation, these stunt fliers are now rapidly drop- ping from public notice once their stunt is completed. "While we are praising a particular flight, a group of men day and night, year in and year out, are flying mail over 77,000 miles and passengers over 185,000 miles daily," Hall said. "My acquaintance in aviation has proved to me that these veterans who are entrusted with hundreds of thousands of passengers and millions of dollars of cargo face daily Obstacles which far surpass the hazards of stunt flying. "I appreciate that certain flights in the past have been of great importance to aviation by awakening the laymen, and I do not wish to detract from any of the boys or their equipment," Hall said. At the same time, Hall canceled plans for another around the world flight. In the future the present "Winnie Mae," purchased for the new flight will be used only in routine business or an emergency "act Of mercy" Hall will present his plan to every governor, flying associations and Airline operators before making final arrangements. Plow Clears Pass Huge Augur Tosses Snow Over 150 Feet By United Press Washington,--Fall River Pass, in the Rocky Mountain Park of Colorado, which has annually been blocked by snowdrifts during the greater part of the summer, will be opened for tourist traffic, Director Horace M. Albright of the National Park Service said. Snowdrifts from 13 to 30 feet deep and often as long as 2000 feet have annually blocked the high pass in the national park and the only means of clearing the road has been with steam shovels and ordinary snow shovels. This, however, has given way in the present spring to a 125 horsepower motor worm augur snow plow, which drives right into the drifts, drawing in the snow and then tossing it 150 feet. On the road leading up to the big drift, Albright said, it formerly took two weeks for men and shovels to clear a two-car passageway. But the new plow cleared the highway in half a day. |
People |
Frank Houston Mae Quinlan Post Wiley Post William Francis Post |
Search Terms |
Article Aviation Barnstorming Farm Flight Holdenville Maysville Parachute |