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Wiley Post

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Wiley Hardeman Post was born in Texas in 1898 but his family moved to Garvin County in south central Oklahoma when he was about 10 years old. He saw his first airplane at an air show in nearby Lawton at the age of 15 and decided right then he wanted to fly for a living.

First, though, he needed a job.

He lost his left eye in an oil field accident in the mid-1920's, and used the $1800 settlement to buy his first airplane.

In 1925, he first met his fellow Oklahoman, Will Rogers, who needed to get to a rodeo. Post obliged by flying the famed cowboy humorist there. 10 years later they were to die in a plane crash in the Alaskan wilderness.