On Saturday Logan and I headed up to Oolagah, Oklahoma to check out the annual Will Rogers and Wiley Post Fly-In at the Will Rogers Birthplace Ranch. The event is held every year to commemorate the deaths of Rogers and Post in a plane crash in Alaska on August 15, 1935.
Will Rogers is the favorite son of Oklahoma, a humorist, movie star, newspaper columnist, and movie star. Although later in life he moved to California, Oklahoma regards him as their own.
Wiley Post, from Maysville, Oklahoma is less known but was an aviation pioneer. He was the first person to fly solo around the world, discovered the jet stream, and developed the first pressure suit.
I didn’t know what a fly-in is but through the magic of google I found out that it is a pre-arranged meeting of aircraft. Beyond that anything goes. This one seemed to feature vintage airplanes. They also had a helicopter and some vintage cars. We got there a little late. But there were still several interesting aircraft.
I loved the one above for its batlike paint job and its wooden propeller.
Son Logan perked up at this. It appears to be an ex military observation plane with a cool paint job. It had the biggest crowd of kids. I have found that you need to follow the kids to see the coolest stuff.
One by one they taxied to the fare end of the grass strip and took off.
Even the medevac helicopter.
Logan and I checked everything else out. They had inflatables, food trucks, face painting, lots and lots of stuff. We found this conestoga wagon in the barn.
I love this view of the old ranch house. It may be the prettiest house in Oklahoma.
Next Year we’ll get there earlier!
I am linking with Our World Tuesday
What fun! A high school classmate of mine posted some photos on facebook about this. I gotta start making a calendar of events for next year, and this needs to be on the list. Thanks for sharing Yogi.
Awesome vintage autos and airplanes ~ great photos too!
Happy Day to you,
A ShutterBug Explores,
aka (A Creative Harbor)
So nice to see all these vintage vehicles!
I never heard of a” Fly-In” before, Yogi, but it looked like an interesting event at the Will Rogers estate.
I’m crushing on the classic cars. Lately I’ve been wanting to test drive them.
I’d love to visit this beautiful home. Love your photos of vintage cars and planes.
Wow amazing. Thanks a lot for sharing.
Hello, love the vintage cars and planes. I have seen the medivac up close, my son rode in one when he was young. Enjoy your day and week ahead!
Cool vehicles – but that ranch house is my favourite!
What a great father-son event. I love the old cars and have never seen an ‘old plane’ event like that, although we’ve toured a military plane museum in Arizona that Bill loved….. I can’t imagine anyone thinking of Will Rogers as from anywhere but from Oklahoma. (I hope people keep remembering him…he was my parents generation entertainment, and so that is a loooong time ago.)
I liked your advice about following the kids. Great photos of the planes.
I used to live near a small airport that had fly-ins. And we’ve been to the Will Rogers Ranch in California. It’s a state park.
WOW. Amazing cara and planes.