One Man’s Mission To Save A Historic Wyoming Airstrip

Just a few weeks ago I posted a story about a pilot and YouTuber who has fallen in love with one of Wyoming's least-known, yet most historically important, airstrips.

Now he wants to restore this crumbling landmark, light tower and all.

As some of you know, I've been working diligently on saving a historical airmail airport in the heart of Wyoming.

This place is very special to me.

We recently met with the city council and have been approved to start forming a plan to save this nearly 100-year-old airport.

Stay tuned as we dive into restoring this amazing airport. (Sir Drifto).

Watch him explain 

The little dirt and grass airstrip in Medicine Bow, Wyoming was once one of the most important crossing and landing points in early aviation.

It has a lighted tower and an arrow on the ground which was used as a ground navigation point for pilots.

There were two little cottages on site to take care of pilots who needed to spend the night during their long cross-country trips in open biplanes.

Just like the town itself, you might go there and think there is nothing to the place. But a lot of important history happened in this "blah" looking town out in the middle of nowhere Wyoming.

Medician Bow was a stop for the first intercontinental railroad.

The famous novel The Virginian takes place there. 

It was a stop along Lincoln Highway, America's first intercontinental highway.

Its grass strip airport was an important stop for America's first airmail. 

Today, what is left at the little airstrip is fading away to the elements, along with much of the rest of the town. But there are efforts underway to preserve what has happened here.

So who is this guy from Colorado who wants to save this tiny, historical, Wyoming airport?

His name is Nathan James.

You'll enjoy his many adventures on YouTube.

He is an aviator, among other things, from Colorado.

He's a pilot from Colorado that I met in Wheatland, Wyoming when he flew his custom-made plane into a local air show.

In his latest video, he was flying back to Wyoming on a historic mission.

He and 6 other pilots were exploring the original air-mail route across the west.

That meant a stop in Medicine Bow Wyoming at a little grass airstrip that was once one of the most important hubs in America.

Watch the video below as he flies from Colorado to Laramie, Wyoming then to Medicine Bow where he joins his friends.

We held the 1st annual Great Airmail Aviation Gathering. Some incredible friends showed up to one of the last complete airmail airports.
Enjoy the journey as I fly my vintage open-cockpit airplane between two states to this amazing little grass strip. (Sir Drifto).

This humble little grass airstrip helped shape America.

Medicine Bow has always been a humble little town. But at one point it was an important stop on America's first coast-to-coast railway, its first coast-to-coast highway, and the nation's first airmail service.

The town was even made famous in the best-selling novel The Virginian. 

As if the Pony Express wasn't daring enough, next came the brave and slightly foolhardy men who first took the mail to the sky.

Using old and not-so-reliable World War I surplus planes, the United States Postal Service was determined to figure out how to fly mail from coast to coast saving up to a month of travel time if they were successful.

At the little Medicine Bow airport there is a cement arrow, pointing the flyers to their next stop. These arrows were placed across the nation for the pilots to see and follow from the air.

The only way to navigate was to fly low and follow the Union Pacific railroad tracks across the country and across Wyoming.

Cheyenne, Medicine Bow, Rock Springs, and other towns along the route were refuelling and repair points on the map.

Many planes crashed. Some men died.

The book "Wyoming Air Mail Pioneers" chronicles the men who were legends, heroes, and celebrities of their time. They had several stories written about them in newspapers across America.

"Wyoming Air Mail Pioneers" was co-written by Starley Talbott and Michael E. Kassel with a foreword by local Cheyenne flight school owner Doniv Feltner of Wings Of Wyoming. 

Ask for it at your local Wyoming bookstore or order it online.