This has been a topic close to my heart since the earliest days of my hobby. This nostalgia was triggered yesterday again by the observation that PABR (Wiley Post-Will Rogers Memorial Airport) is one of the so-called "Bespoke" (aka Asobo hand-crafted) airports of MSFS. Anyway, I see this "Bespoke" reference every time I open MSFS and have always wondered about how the (English) term "Bespoke" came about in this context. It (apparently) means that these airports have received more detailed attention in MSFS. PABR airport is located in the city of Barrow (Alaska), current name of it being "Utqiagvik", derived from the language of the (native) Iñupiat people who populate the region. It's one of the northernmost cities in the world, and the northernmost city in the U.S. (nearby Point Barrow is the country's northernmost point, period...!).

Now, who is Wiley Post...? He may not be that well-known outside of U.S. but was indeed one of the most remarkable (fearless) aviation pioneers and aviators of the world, of the 1930s. It's said that he not only lived life to the fullest, but he took risks that others would not take, pushing the frontiers of aviation and aerospace technology to the cutting edge. The (One-eyed Wiley; he had lost one eye to an oil-field accident) Texas-born Oklahoma-settled Post broke every flight record he could find, and he did it all with just "one" eye (reduced eyesight and lack of true depth perception were never much of a problem for him). Consider just a few of his remarkable feats and achievements:

1. In 1930, he set the record for the fastest flight between from Los Angeles to my hometown Chicago...🙂...
2. In 1931, with Australian navigator Harold Getty, Wiley completed the fastest trip "Around the World in Eight Days" described in a book of the same name. This would mark the first ever round the world trip by a "fixed wing" aircraft. Coincidentally, last week, when I was cleaning up my basement a bit, I came across a Children's edition (abridged and with big typeface...🙂...) of Jules Verne's novel "Around the World in "Eighty" Days", which I promptly re-read in an hour. Wiley Post's trip was 10 times faster.
3. For Wiley Post, just been once around the world, was not enough. In 1933, he did it a 2nd time, "solo" this time, replacing a human (navigator) by a compass, breaking his own record, completing the trip in less than 8 days (7 days 18 hrs 49 mins, to be exact), in his legendary Lockheed Vega "WINNIE MAE" (I've had chance to see this (preserved) a/c a couple of times during my several visits to Washington DC, at the Space Museum there). For his solo trip, Post had a most rudimentary autopilot, and apparently had rigged a system by which a wrench tied to his finger would fall if he fell asleep, hopefully waking him, during the hours and hours, he flew by himself. Today, I'm thinking about all this a bit, as I fly my (advanced) Swiss Army Knife of an aircraft, the PC-12, retracing the final flight over Alaska, where Wiley Post (and his friend Will Rogers) would perish in 1935. PABR Airport is named after these two legends.
4. Post was a pioneer in high-altitude flying, and helped develop the first practical pressure suit. In September 1934, he flew his Winnie Mae at an altitude 40,000 ft above Chicago, eventually reaching as high as 50,000 ft. In the process of these experiments, he discovered "Jet Stream", an effect that seasoned (oceanic) travelers, yours truly included...🙂..., and the jetliner pilots, flying east and west across the oceans, have now taken for granted.

So, on the afternoon/evening of August 15, 1935, Wiley Post and Will Rogers would leave Fairbanks (Alaska), just as I do here, with my origin airport (PAFA) of this post (see below), headed for Point Barrow (Alaska), which is also my destination airport (PABR) in Barrow, Alaska (see below). The makeshift (hybrid) aircraft that Post had built (from the fuselage of a Lockheed Orion, combined with the wings of a Lockheed Explorer) for surveying purpose, would crash into a lagoon 11 miles southwest of Barrow, at the mouth of Walakpa River (see shot # 16), with no survivors, thereby ending the legend of Wiley Post.

Post, with access to the most rudimentary navigation techniques of the day in his a/c, after been lost, had landed there to ask the natives for direction to Barrow, and then had lifted off again (what would be his final takeoff). Here in my post, with worlds apart technology at my fingertip, while overhead of the same Walapka River mouth, it was as simple as setting the PROC on the GPS, for an ILS Approach to PABR Airport Rwy 08 (see cockpit shot and VFR MAP). As dusk was falling in my case, just as it would have been the case on that fateful evening of August 15, 1935, my mind naturally drifted out into the same (and beautiful) Alaska skies, which would have witnessed the final takeoff for Wiley Post and Will Rogers, only to terminate instantly, and never make it to Barrow. There is now a Rogers-Post Memorial Site that marks the location of the plane crash.

Thanks for viewing this collection of (nostalgic) images...including those of a few en-route mountains and iced lagoons (see shot #s 9-12) that I witnessed on this trip...while flying across some of the coldest, most desolate, and unforgiving regions of northern Alaska...! 

Thanks for viewing...!

Edited September 18, 20241 yr by P_7878

Another fine set - thanks for showing !

cheers 😉

Thanks for the Wiley Post and Will Rodgers remembrance.

Great set of shots! 😉 

Really interesting post and great set of shots.

Every day's a school day!  Cheers,

Calum

On 9/18/2024 at 10:38 AM, pmplayer said:

Another fine set - thanks for showing !

cheers 😉

Thanks for the comment, pmplayer...!

 

On 9/18/2024 at 2:03 PM, jmdriskell said:

Thanks for the Wiley Post and Will Rodgers remembrance.

Much appreciated the note and for chiming in, Jim. I see you're a history fan too ...🙂 ...Take care...!

 

On 9/18/2024 at 10:31 PM, Alaska738 said:

Great set of shots! 😉 

Thank you, Will. Glad you liked these screenshot...!

 

On 9/19/2024 at 5:09 AM, CBass said:

Really interesting post and great set of shots.

Every day's a school day!  Cheers,

Calum

....🙂... Me, in the same school too...🙂... Thanks and cheers...Calum...!

Very nice Set P_7878 and interesting to read about Wiley Post. Is that the Carenado PC12? 

If so does your altitude preselector work? Is not 100% ok in mine...

13 hours ago, andiflyit said:

Very nice Set P_7878 and interesting to read about Wiley Post. Is that the Carenado PC12? 

If so does your altitude preselector work? Is not 100% ok in mine...

Thanks for the comments, Andreas ...!

Yes, this is the Carenado PC-12. As I'd indicated in the past, due to some reason the avionics screens on this a/c, in my Xbox, always is blank or goes blank in flight. So, I don't fly it much, though I like it a lot. Fortunately, this was one time, the avionics display worked w/o any issue. And I believe I used both the Autopilot Panel and the Altitude Selector Panel controls to set ALT/VS...and found no issue...but need to check again, I cannot recall exactly, maybe I'm mixing up with another Carenado a/c...