Archive Record
Images
Additional Images [1]
Metadata
Catalog Number |
2019.001.010 |
Object Name |
Clipping, Newspaper |
Title |
Old-Timers Recall Pioneer Aviators |
Collection |
Wiley Post Collection |
Creator |
Andy Rieger |
Scope & Content |
Daily Oklahoman article that discusses an interview with an 80-year-old Lexington woman, widow of J. Bart Scott who flew with Wiley Post back in the 1920s and 1930s. |
Date |
08/11/1995 |
Transcription |
[Left Caption] [[handwriting under caption the bottom that reads: "Oklahoman 8-11-95."]] Aviator Wiley Post stands beside the Winnie Mae in which he set an around-the-world record. [Middle, a Ticket] THIS TICKET GOOD FOR ONE AIRPLANE RIDE At airport service station Lexington, Okla. Date _________ [?] ___________ By ___________ [Right Caption] J. Bart Scott, rear seat, and Wiley Post prepare to fly in one of Scott’s planes in 1927. They gave rides for $2.50. [Lower-Right Caption] Oklahoma aviator J. Bart Scott flew with Wiley Post. [Article] Old-Timers Recall Pioneer Aviators By Andy Rieger Special Correspondent The buzz of a small airplane near her riverside home still draws the attention of Nadine Scott. The 80 year-old Lexington woman remembers the early years of Oklahoma aviation when daredevil pilots barnstormed through small towns introducing passengers to aerobotics and the relatively new world of flight for a mere penny per pound. One of those pilots was J. Bart Scott whom she would marry years later. Another was Wiley post, the one-eyed Oklahoma farm boy roughneck turned aviator whose courage and determination would lift him literally to the top of the world. "They would take passengers for $2.50. Wiley would come out here on weekends, she said. "Several of the young boys would all come out here and hang around. I didn’t know they were that interested in flying." Post, who died in an Alaska plane crash with Will Rogers 60 years ago this month, flew with Nadine Scott’s late husband, J. Bart Scott, in the late 1920’s. Scott died in 1923 at the age of 73. The two pilots became acquainted after Post crashed a Curtiss Canuck airplane while on a hunting trip to Mexico. Post brought the plane back to Ardmore but he couldn’t afford the repairs. Bart Scott bought the plane for about $350 and hired Post as a "barnstormer" and instructor for $3 per flying hour. "I just thought he had to be special," [black line through the text] would all come out and hang around the airport." One of those kids was Miller Pearson, 74, of Purcell. His family lived near the small airstrip and he was "fascinated" by planes. "It took two or three {planes} just to keep one flying," he said. "When they’d get one that they thought would fly, old Wiley and Bart would leave the stick (rudder) in there and let me fly with them while they tested it out. "I didn’t know any better. I thought I was really flying the thing," said Pearson, who would later fly military planes in World War II. Post and his Texas bride, Mae, lived in Purcell just across the Canadian River. The short, grass landing strip used by Post and Scott is overgrown and nearly washed into the river today. Scott’s husband, a Purcell area businessman could taxi his plane to their home. "If they weren’t working or flying they were sitting down there talking about flying." she said. "Flying was very popular in the Purcell area. I don’t know what it is about airplanes but when I hear one, especially if they fly low, I look up and wonder if I knew them." Born in Texas in 1898, Post’s family moved north and farmed in southwestern Oklahoma. He saw his first plane at a Lawton fair midway in 1913 and vowed to leave the farm behind and enter the world of aviation. He got closer in 1915 while working to build a Lawton airport. In the summer of 1917, with World War I well under way, he moved to Norman and joined the Student Army Training Corps which used University of Oklahoma buildings. He studied radio communications with hopes of using it in the air. His unit was dismissed when the war ended. Jim King, 78, of Noble, remembers the Post family. He worked with Wiley’s youngest brother, Gordon, in Oklahoma City. "I remember the propeller on the front porch at his parent’s place in Maysville," King said, recalling the story that Post’s father, William Francis Post, disliked flying so much that he hid his son’s parachute, forcing him to postpone a much-promised jump over Maysville. Like Nadine Scott, King remembers the plane crash that killed Post and humorist Will Rogers on Aug. 15, 1935. "I remember going out to the Capitol where they brought his body back here. The planes would fly over and drop the colorful flowers. We followed them to the cemetery that day. "Guys like Bart Scott and Wiley Post-- the poor guys-- they didn’t get any credit until long after they died," King said. After World War I, Post went to work in the booming oil fields of southern Oklahoma. It was near Seminole in the fall of 1925 where an iron chip from the bolt struck by a roughneck’s sledgehammer flew into Post’s left eye. He used the insurance settlement, about $1,800, to buy his first plane. With some extra cash, he got married. Robert C. Steele, a former Maysville resident, remembers Post landing on the family farm north of town. "We’d ride with him for a dollar. He’d be tickled to death to get a dollar," Steele said. "I was fascinated by his flying. He was special. We used to take 5-gallon gas cans and stand on the wings and pour the gas into the tanks for him. "He was as friendly as can be. One time he landed his plane next to the bank in town. I still don’t know how he did it." Steele, a retired mechanic now living in Moore, hopes to see a Maysville memorial established. "His home is still in good shape," he said. |
People |
Andy Rieger J. Bart Scott Wiley Post Nadine Scott Robert C. Steele |
Search Terms |
Article Aviation Daily Oklahoman Lexington Pilot Spouse Andy Rieger J. Bart Scott Wiley Post Nadine Scott Robert C. Steele |