Tuesday, January 28, 2025

A pilot is on a mission to save a nearly 100-year-old airmail station near Medicine Bow, Wyoming, which may be the last of its kind in the United States.



Nathan Finneman, a Colorado pilot and historical aviation enthusiast, has taken to the skies and the internet  https://www.airmailaviator.com/index.html with his grassroots effort to save the airport before it's lost to history.

Intermediate landing fields were established every 25 miles on the SLO route, marked by a 50-foot tower with a rotating beacon at the top, powered by acetylene gas kept in a “weather house” at the tower’s base. In clear weather, the beacon could be seen up to ten miles away.

The SLO-32 Medicine Bow Airport was established in 1929 as the 32nd airstrip along the SLO route. Finneman said that between 1929 and 1935, this middle-of-nowhere airport in Wyoming “really shined” as one of the most technologically advanced stops along the route.

the rapid advancement of airplane technology quickly made the Woodrow Wilson Airway obsolete. SLO-32 continued operating as an airmail airport until the 1950s when the federal government transferred the land and infrastructure to the state of Wyoming.

“It’s in wonderful shape for how old it is,” he said. “The tower and shed are still standing, and the beacon is still in place. The main airstrip is one of the nicer dirt strips for landings at any of these sites I've been to, even if the cross runway is full of badger and gopher holes.”


2 comments:

  1. Once again, my thanks for your efforts to bring American history to the fore that is unknown to most of us. Fascinating. The dream of rapid communication is not unique to The U.S. Yet, we have many pioneers in this field such that as a country we have excelled.

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    1. you are sure welcome! I'm glad to be able to keep looking for and finding, and sharing such cool stories

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