Edmonton Canada began the home stretch of one-eyed aviator Wiley Post’s record setting round the world flight in 1931. And the Edmonton stop nearly put an end to it.
Link to another story “Bush Pilots in Canada”
He and his navigator had crossed England, Russia, Siberia, and Alaska. Edmonton, number 12 of 14 stops, seven days into the 8 day trip, represented a return to civilization.
Hope Morritt’s dad loved to tell the dramatic story of the pilots’ takeoff from Edmonton and she shared it in her book Land of the Fireweed.
The day before “Winnie May”, Post’s Lockheed Vega, arrived in Edmonton, heavy rain soaked the only runway at the airport into gumbo muck. Post could land on it, but “a takeoff was impossible.”
The airport manager picked one of the few paved streets in Edmonton and talked the power company into dropping the electric lines that lined it. They even dropped the wires of a trolley line.
“The Post landing and takeoff put Edmonton in world news.”
Like almost everybody else in Edmonton, Hope’s dad stood on the sidewalk along the avenue at dawn on July 1. It is no wonder the memory stayed vividly with him for the rest of his life.
“The big white plane roared down the street.” Its wingtips all but grazing the light poles, straddling the streetcar tracks. “Its propeller spinning faster, faster until…” the plane lifted into a wide arc and flew toward the sun.
That night the radio reported that the “Winnie May” had arrived back where she started eight days earlier at Roosevelt Field in New York.
Post returned to Edmonton in 1935 taking his friend Will Rogers north. Landing and takeoff presented no problems in 1935, but sadly Edmonton proved the last civilization the men would ever see. They crashed near Point Barrow, Alaska the next day, and both men died.