Suddenly, the American public became “air-minded”, the future was here and it was now. Nation wide, municipalities began a rush to build airports, hoping that transient flyers would use their new facilities to confirm that their city was part of the future.

Aviation was on the brink of becoming a new religion: one that would bring people closer together and solve many of societies problems. A world in which mankind would bask in awe of the majesty of flight.

The Curtiss-Wright Corporation, who at that time was the largest manufacturer of airplanes and aircraft engines in the world, began a search for cities, who in their judgment were “air-minded”, progressive, and who understood the practical impact that a well developed aviation industry could have on a community.

In 1928, the Curtiss-Wright Corp., invested $115,000 for an airport on the north side of Oklahoma City. The 160 acre airport was heralded as “Oklahoma City’s model airport,” complete with a beautiful art-deco hangar and a fleet of Curtiss-Wright airplanes.

The purpose of the new facility was to promote and support the development of general aviation in Oklahoma, and to provide an outlet for the sale and maintenance of Curtiss-Wright products.

Oklahoma’s world famous aviator Wiley Post used the hangar extensively from 1929 to 1934 to design and modify airplanes he used on several intercontinental and two around the-world flights. As one of the most distinguished pioneers in aviation history, his achievements comprised some of the greatest accomplishments in aviation.

In 1931, Post flew around the world in a record time of 8 days, 15 hours and 51 minutes. In 1933, he become the first person to make a solo around the world flight. It was on this flight that he used a new automatic pilot system which steered the airplane while he rested.

Much of the development and testing of the auto pilot took place at the Curtiss-Wright hangar.

Wiley Post discovered the jet-stream while setting a new altitude record of 50,000’ in his Lockheed Vega. Post is considered the first “astronaut” because the high altitude pressurized flight suit he developed is a forerunner of the equipment worn by present-day astronauts.

Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, Will Rogers and other notables of the day were regular visitors at the hangar to visit with their mentor and friend, Wiley Post. Upon completion of Wiley’s solo around the world flight, he received the largest ticker tape parade ever, in New York City.

The “Winnie Mae, Post’s famous Lockheed Vega, was based at the Curtiss-Wright Hangar until his untimely death in 1935. The “Winnie Mae” was then taken to the Smithsonian where it resides today.

From 1932 to 1937 hangar was home to Braniff Airlines. The origins of Braniff Airlines, all flights and all maintenance of the airplanes were conducted at the Curtiss-Wright hangar during the airlines early days.

The Wiley Post Biplane was produced in the same hangar during the early ‘30’s. The hangar was sold to John Burke in 1940 and was used to train Army and Navy pilots till the end of WWII. Burke closed the airport in 1955 and developed the area into a residential addition. In 1960 the hangar was surrounded with an exterior structure creating first a shopping center and then later a church.

Auto dealer Jackie Cooper purchased the land and the hangar for his adjacent dealership. Fearing that the hangar had become a fire hazard, Cooper planned to demolish the building when a group of Oklahoma City pilots prevailed on Mr. Cooper to have the building taken down and stored until a suitable organization could be found to reconstruct the hangar at an airport.

Mr. Cooper donated the hangar to Oklahoma City University, who in turn awarded the hangar to A.S.T.E.C. (Aerospace Science and Technology Education Center) an Oklahoma charter school in Oklahoma City. The hangar was to become part of an education center.

Requirements for their new campus changed, and AeroSpace America became the recipient of the Curtiss-Wright/Wiley Post legacy.

With the support of the aviation community, corporate interest, local and state support, the hangar is to be reconstructed at the present day Wiley Post Airport. The current Wiley Post Airport is known as one of the best general aviation airports in the country.

The reconstructed hangar is not to be a relic of the past, but a pro-active facility for public education and promotion and support of general aviation, providing a link to the past and a bridge to the future.

The Curtiss-Wright/Wiley Post Hangar will be a convenient facility for organizations to hold their conventions, staging for the Civil Air Patrol operations, aviation field trips for schools, EAA and AAA projects.

The hangar will be located on the east side of Wiley Post Airport.

No aviation structure in Oklahoma is more historically significant than the Curtiss-Wright Wiley Post hangar. Dreams of world wide air travel were born under the steel trusses of that hangar...dreams that sprung from the minds of Wiley Post and Tom Braniff. Unlike the railroads, or the old cattlle trails that criss-cross Oklahoma, the passage of an airplane leaves no mark on the earth.

Any tribute to Oklahoma’s aerial pioneers must be made through the preservation and continuance of their dreams and those facilities which supported them.