Wiley Post was only 35 years old when he died. But the folks in this area had an opportunity to see the celebrated aviator and his plane, the ‘Winnie Mae’, when Post was forced to land at Mexico Farms in 1933. Scores of people gathered at the airfield to observe the famous pilot and his craft.
The following article was filed in 1933 by J. William Hunt of the Cumberland Times-News:
While on duty as a reporter for the Cumberland Times News, one night in August 1933, I was much interested in newspaper accounts for the great ovations given to Wiley Post in New York and Washington, following his record-setting solo flight around the world in the Winnie Mae, a Lockheed Vega and wishing I were one of the newspaper men fortunate enough to talk with him. There was a ring on the phone and expecting a news item, an ad or inquiry, I was amazed to hear, ‘This is Wiley Post’. The man who had piloted a monoplane around the world over Siberian waste and through all varieties of weather, had been forced down in the Winnie Mae, his Lockheed Vega, at Cumberland’s Mexico Farms airport, on his way from Washington to Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio and thence to Oklahoma City, his home. Post was at the Fort Cumberland Hotel with a fellow Oklahoman and called to ask the Times News to secure for him, from the Associated Press, an hourly report through the night of weather conditions between here and Pittsburgh. He retired before 9 o’clock and although accustomed to leaving the office between 3 and 4 am, I stayed on until 6 am to get the hourly data on weather and flying conditions. Shortly after 6, a call came from Post’s friend and hearing conditions were favorable for a morning takeoff, he called Post and soon after arising, Post invited me to have breakfast with him at the Fort Cumberland Hotel coffee shop and furnish any later data I might get from the Associated Press. Declaring his night’s rest here had been the best he had been able to get since before his globe roaming flight, Post had a shave in the barber shop and then we had breakfast at the Fort Cumberland dining room, shortly before 8 o’clock. Although he was far from loquacious, he answered many questions about his flight. The three of us drove to the Mexico Farms airport in my car. A couple of hundred people had gathered, as news spread that the world’s most famous flyer was in Cumberland. I used a roll of film getting snapshots of Post and the Winnie Mae. All of the pictures turned out clear and complete. Incidentally, I have the negatives filed and also have the breakfast menu autographed by Wiley Post.
Wiley Post walking in front of interested observers, and his famed ‘Winnie Mae’ at Mexico Farms during his 1933 stopover.
POST, WILEY (1900-1935), was the first man to fly alone around the world. He made his historic flight in 1933 in the record time of seven days, eighteen hours, and forty-nine minutes. Post was born in Grand Plain, Texas and worked first as a farmer. In 1924, Post suffered an accident that resulted in the loss of his left eye while he was working at oil drilling. With part of his insurance money collected as a result of the accident, Post bought an old airplane and learned how to fly. In 1930 he won the Los Angeles to Chicago air derby and the following year made a record round-the-world flight with Harold Gatty. Wiley Post and Will Rogers, the famous comedian, were killed in a plane crash near Point Barrow, Alaska as the world lost two of the most famous personalities of the time.
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Wings Over Cumberland 