A Moment in Another Time |
August 16, 1935
Marlow, OK--The oscillating fan on top of George Carter's office roll-top stirred the
close afternoon air. Sitting with Mr. Carter was his 20-year old daughter Pearl, Keith Kalhe
and Burrell Tibbs.
Kahle, the publisher and editor of the TAXI-STRIP, had flown in from Oklahoma City to
Carter's strip at Marlow, OK to interview the young Pearl Carter about being only 13-
yearsold when Wiley Post taught her to fly. With out a doubt the youngest solo pilot and
aircraft owner in America.
She had been Wiley's second passenger after he had soloed, her blind father had
been the first.
“George,” Wiley said after that first fight, “I think half-pint wants to learn to fly.”
“Wiley always called me ‘shorty’ or ‘half-pint,’ being that I’m only 4’11,” Pearl recalled
with a wistful smile..
It was Burrell Tibbs, a WW l fighter pilot, who hired Wiley Post as a parachute jumper
for his Flying Circus. He soon became Wiley’s aviation
mentor, and flight instructor.
Wiley had convinced Mr. Carter that as an oil lease man, that he could beat out the
competition if he had his own airplane. Pearl had been handling the Durant Sports
Roadster he bought her when she was eleven, in a safe and fine manner, so why not an
airplane?
Wiley and Burrell flew to St. Louis to pick up Pearl's new Curtiss-Robertson Robin that
Wiley had picked out for her. Wiley delivered the new airplane and Burrell flew Wiley's
plane back to Marlow.
Marlow, OK--The oscillating fan on top of George Carter's office roll-top stirred the
close afternoon air. Sitting with Mr. Carter was his 20-year old daughter Pearl, Keith Kalhe
and Burrell Tibbs.
Kahle, the publisher and editor of the TAXI-STRIP, had flown in from Oklahoma City to
Carter's strip at Marlow, OK to interview the young Pearl Carter about being only 13-
yearsold when Wiley Post taught her to fly. With out a doubt the youngest solo pilot and
aircraft owner in America.
She had been Wiley's second passenger after he had soloed, her blind father had
been the first.
“George,” Wiley said after that first fight, “I think half-pint wants to learn to fly.”
“Wiley always called me ‘shorty’ or ‘half-pint,’ being that I’m only 4’11,” Pearl recalled
with a wistful smile..
It was Burrell Tibbs, a WW l fighter pilot, who hired Wiley Post as a parachute jumper
for his Flying Circus. He soon became Wiley’s aviation
mentor, and flight instructor.
Wiley had convinced Mr. Carter that as an oil lease man, that he could beat out the
competition if he had his own airplane. Pearl had been handling the Durant Sports
Roadster he bought her when she was eleven, in a safe and fine manner, so why not an
airplane?
Wiley and Burrell flew to St. Louis to pick up Pearl's new Curtiss-Robertson Robin that
Wiley had picked out for her. Wiley delivered the new airplane and Burrell flew Wiley's
plane back to Marlow.
| Mrs. Pearl Carter-Scott inducted into the Oklahoma Aviation Hall of Fame in 1995. |
“I was in school and heard the airplane,” she said. Unable to
contain her excitement she left school and headed for the airfield
where she first saw her maroon and yellow Robin.
“It’s mine!” she exclaimed as the excitement swept over her at
the sight of such a wonderful machine.
“I was a cheerleader at Marlow High School,” Pearl recalled.
“So, I had MARLOW H.S., painted on the bottom of the wings. I
would fly to an opposing school for a football game, circle around,
land in a field, go do my cheers and then head back to the plane.
When I took off, I would fly low over them so they could see the
bottom of my wings.”
“It was one of the biggest thrills of my life,” said Pearl. There was
a celebration at the Curtiss-Wright Field on the North side of
Oklahoma City. The event was to honor several famous visiting
French aviators, with Wiley as the keynote speaker. Pearl had flown
her Robin to the Oklahoma City Municipal Airport at 29th & S. May
Ave., early that morning, catching a hop with a friend up to Curtiss-
Wright Field.
After the airport ceremony, she and Wiley were walking to the
Winnie Mae, when Wiley said, “Shorty, it’s yours. You fly it over to
Municipal to get your plane and I’ll pick up the Winnie Mae later”.
“I am only the third pilot to ever fly the Winnie Mae, Pearl said,
The other was Wiley’s mechanic, Mr. Mallenkoph.”
For most of the next decade she was part of “Air Circuses,” as
air shows were called at the time. Performing aerobatic
maneuvers, she was showing the world that a Chickasaw women
could fly an airplane as well as any one.
contain her excitement she left school and headed for the airfield
where she first saw her maroon and yellow Robin.
“It’s mine!” she exclaimed as the excitement swept over her at
the sight of such a wonderful machine.
“I was a cheerleader at Marlow High School,” Pearl recalled.
“So, I had MARLOW H.S., painted on the bottom of the wings. I
would fly to an opposing school for a football game, circle around,
land in a field, go do my cheers and then head back to the plane.
When I took off, I would fly low over them so they could see the
bottom of my wings.”
“It was one of the biggest thrills of my life,” said Pearl. There was
a celebration at the Curtiss-Wright Field on the North side of
Oklahoma City. The event was to honor several famous visiting
French aviators, with Wiley as the keynote speaker. Pearl had flown
her Robin to the Oklahoma City Municipal Airport at 29th & S. May
Ave., early that morning, catching a hop with a friend up to Curtiss-
Wright Field.
After the airport ceremony, she and Wiley were walking to the
Winnie Mae, when Wiley said, “Shorty, it’s yours. You fly it over to
Municipal to get your plane and I’ll pick up the Winnie Mae later”.
“I am only the third pilot to ever fly the Winnie Mae, Pearl said,
The other was Wiley’s mechanic, Mr. Mallenkoph.”
For most of the next decade she was part of “Air Circuses,” as
air shows were called at the time. Performing aerobatic
maneuvers, she was showing the world that a Chickasaw women
could fly an airplane as well as any one.
| Pearl's Curtiss-Robin |
"We were in a happy mood. Burrell was always teasing me
and joking with my father," Pearl recalled.
"Mr. Kahle was a nice man, but I didn't know him as well
Burrell and Wiley."
"I was a little nervous about being interviewed for a magazine,"
Eula Pearl said. "I was afraid the authorities would find out my
age and I'd be in trouble."
The interview was going well that afternoon of mid-August, in
spite of the strapping Oklahoma sun. The red brick of Carter's
office building was holding much of the sun's heat to be released
later on in the cooler evening air.
Mister Carter answered the ringing phone. After a long silence
he turned to the three and said,
"They just announced on the radio that Wiley and Will were
killed yesterday in Alaska."
Pearl starred through the blades of the oscillating fan which
are so much like a whirling propeller. She cried.
and joking with my father," Pearl recalled.
"Mr. Kahle was a nice man, but I didn't know him as well
Burrell and Wiley."
"I was a little nervous about being interviewed for a magazine,"
Eula Pearl said. "I was afraid the authorities would find out my
age and I'd be in trouble."
The interview was going well that afternoon of mid-August, in
spite of the strapping Oklahoma sun. The red brick of Carter's
office building was holding much of the sun's heat to be released
later on in the cooler evening air.
Mister Carter answered the ringing phone. After a long silence
he turned to the three and said,
"They just announced on the radio that Wiley and Will were
killed yesterday in Alaska."
Pearl starred through the blades of the oscillating fan which
are so much like a whirling propeller. She cried.
| Wiley Post and his Winnie Mae. Entry and egress wasn't easy when Wiley filled the fuselage with fuel tanks. Harold Gatty sat in the tail of the plane on a sliding seat to help out the balance. Pearl Carter-Scott flew the Winnie Mae shorty after the first around the world trip when the regular interior had been re-installled. The upholstery was purple, Pearl recalled. |
| "I Flew the Winnie Mae Too!" |
I remember feeling the engine struggle in the drizzle as I eased
the Cessna skyward. In my mind I was re-calculating the extreme
heat and higher than expected moisture content of the air with my
heavier than expected cargo, and I was on a special VFR clearance
to boot.
It was August 15, 1995. My passengers were a TV personality,
along with Mrs. Thomas Allen who was a friend of Wiley Post, a
heavy load of large video equipment, plus about twenty dozen
assortment of roses and other flowers. This was to be a memorial
flight to drop flowers over Wiley Post's grave at Memorial Park in
Oklahoma City. What worried me more than the weather and the
anemic 172, was the tower farm next to the cemetery.
I could see the headlines if I didn't get this right: "Pilot Dies
Memorializing Wiley Post." My flight plan was straight north 5-miles
on Rockwell Ave from Wiley Post Airport, right on Memorial Road,
8-miles to the Broadway Extension, a tight circle to the left until Mrs.
Allen dumped the flowers. I never did see the TV towers which are
over in the next section to the east. On short final back at KPWA, I
swore under my breath that I'd never do anything like this again.
The TV people had gotten their news story about the tragic
accident in Alaska, and had talked of what a great man was Wiley
Post . No mention was made of how I avoided another tragic
accident.
I hadn't thought any more about the flight until a month later when I
received a forwarded letter from an editor at the "Daily Oklahoman"
which had an address from a woman in Marlow, OK.
the Cessna skyward. In my mind I was re-calculating the extreme
heat and higher than expected moisture content of the air with my
heavier than expected cargo, and I was on a special VFR clearance
to boot.
It was August 15, 1995. My passengers were a TV personality,
along with Mrs. Thomas Allen who was a friend of Wiley Post, a
heavy load of large video equipment, plus about twenty dozen
assortment of roses and other flowers. This was to be a memorial
flight to drop flowers over Wiley Post's grave at Memorial Park in
Oklahoma City. What worried me more than the weather and the
anemic 172, was the tower farm next to the cemetery.
I could see the headlines if I didn't get this right: "Pilot Dies
Memorializing Wiley Post." My flight plan was straight north 5-miles
on Rockwell Ave from Wiley Post Airport, right on Memorial Road,
8-miles to the Broadway Extension, a tight circle to the left until Mrs.
Allen dumped the flowers. I never did see the TV towers which are
over in the next section to the east. On short final back at KPWA, I
swore under my breath that I'd never do anything like this again.
The TV people had gotten their news story about the tragic
accident in Alaska, and had talked of what a great man was Wiley
Post . No mention was made of how I avoided another tragic
accident.
I hadn't thought any more about the flight until a month later when I
received a forwarded letter from an editor at the "Daily Oklahoman"
which had an address from a woman in Marlow, OK.
The first line of the letter was written with a hint of indignity. It read: "I
flew the Winnie Mae too!"
In the TV interview, I had mentioned that only two people had ever
flown the Winnie Mae...I was wrong. Pearl had set the record straight.
The following weekend my wife Sarah and I drove to Marlow to meet
this little known aviator...to help make her story known.
Bob Kemper editor
flew the Winnie Mae too!"
In the TV interview, I had mentioned that only two people had ever
flown the Winnie Mae...I was wrong. Pearl had set the record straight.
The following weekend my wife Sarah and I drove to Marlow to meet
this little known aviator...to help make her story known.
Bob Kemper editor
| Pearl Carter-Scot was a founding member of the Wiley Post Heritage of Flight Center |
Click hangar for home page
| Through a joint effort of the Chickasaw Nation and the Wiley Post Heritage of Flight Center, an aviation scholarship has been established in the name of Pearl Carter-Scott. more |
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