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| Wiley Post |
Wiley Post is remembered today as the pilot who flew the beloved Will Rogers on his last journey. But Post was famous throughout the late 1920s and 1930s as a dashing aviator who was the first to solo around the world -- and he looked the part, a tall, handsome man with a pencil mustache and a devil-may-care smile. His gallant appearance was enhanced by an eyepatch he wore after losing his left eye in a crash. But he was also a respectable spokesman for the practical application of advanced engineering to the new business of flying. He himself was particularly interested in high-altitude flying and developed an early pressure suit design. His work in aviation was practical; he trained as a pilot in WW1 but the war ended before he reached the front, and he spent several years in traveling airshows. He began winning important air races by 1930.
In those days, money for experimental designs of aircraft had to be raised privately, so competitions were held all across the country, a combination of fund-raising for actual development and ballyhoo. Post was a regular competitor, and also worked directly as a personal pilot for Oklahoma oilmen Powell Briscoe and F.C Hall, who put up the funds for Post's famous plane, the Winnie Mae (named after Hall's daughter). These air races had cash prizes, which served as salary for the pilots and money for equipment and development.
And throughout the 30s, Post took advantage of his personal fame and went on occasional fundraising tours, where he would appear at local airfields and offer to take anyone up in the Winnie Mae for $5.00 -- which was big money in those days. For that kind of money, he could pretty much count on eliminating the more frivolous joy-riders.
So one day in the spring of 1935, Wiley Post arrived in Bridgeport, Connecticut. And one of his passengers was a 14 year old high school student -- in fact a future valedictorian and winner of Bridgeport's famous Barnum Prize -- who had been saving his paper-route money for months. And up he went, sitting in back of Wiley Post in his eyepatch, leather helmet, and white silk scarf.
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| The Winnie Mae |
What has this to do with family history? The teenager was my father, Carl Sandahl, and for an extremely nearsighted, bookish type of kid -- he was a straight-A student from the moment he hit school -- he was pretty darned fearless. In his future were more adventures with skiing, skin-diving, surfing, mountain-climbing, and even folk-dancing with Baroness Maria Von Trapp. Despite growing up during the Great Depression, he had an amazing ability to take advantage of every amazing opportunity that came his way.
