Editing Will Rogers (section)

==Aviation and death==
[[File:Will Rogers and Wiley Post cph.3b05600.jpg|thumb|upright=1.8|Rogers on the wing of a Lockheed floatplane belonging to famed aviation pioneer [[Wiley Post]], hours before their fatal crash on August 15, 1935]]

Will Rogers became an advocate for the aviation industry after noticing advancements in Europe and befriending [[Charles Lindbergh]], the most famous American aviator of the era. During his 1926 European trip, Rogers witnessed the European advances in commercial air service and compared them to the almost nonexistent facilities in the United States. Rogers' newspaper columns frequently emphasized the safety record, speed, and convenience of this means of transportation, and he helped shape public opinion on the subject.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Roach | first1 = Fred Jr. | year = 1979 | title = Vision of the Future: Will Rogers' Support of Commercial Aviation | journal = Chronicles of Oklahoma | volume = 57 | issue = 3| pages = 340–64 }}</ref>

In 1935, the famed aviator [[Wiley Post]], an Oklahoman, became interested in surveying a mail-and-passenger air route from the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]] to Russia. He attached a [[Lockheed Explorer]] wing to a [[Lockheed Model 9 Orion|Lockheed Orion]] fuselage, fitting floats for landing in the lakes of [[Alaska]] and [[Siberia]]. Rogers visited Post often at the airport in [[Burbank, California]], while he was modifying the aircraft. He asked Post to fly him through Alaska in search of new material for his newspaper column.

After making a test flight in July, Post and Rogers left [[Lake Washington]] in [[Renton, Washington]], in the Lockheed Orion-Explorer in early August and then made several stops in Alaska. While Post piloted the aircraft, Rogers wrote his columns on his typewriter. Before they left [[Fairbanks, Alaska|Fairbanks]], they signed and mailed a [[burgee]], a distinguishing flag belonging to the [[South Coast Corinthian Yacht Club]]. The signed burgee is on display at South Coast Corinthian Yacht Club in [[Marina del Rey, California]]. On August 15, they left Fairbanks for [[Point Barrow]].

About 20 miles southwest of Point Barrow, having difficulty figuring their position due to bad weather, they landed in a lagoon to ask directions. On takeoff, the engine failed at low altitude, and the aircraft plunged into the lagoon, shearing off the right wing, and ended up inverted in the shallow water of the lagoon. Both men died instantly. Rogers was buried August 21, 1935, in [[Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)|Forest Lawn Memorial Park]] in [[Glendale, California]];<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/176095088|title=Will Rogers' Burial|date=September 19, 1936|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|access-date=March 8, 2017|page=6|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> it was a temporary interment. He was re-interred at the [[Will Rogers Memorial]] in [[Claremore]], Oklahoma, in 1944.

Experts have studied the accident and still disagree about its cause. Bobby H. Johnson and R. Stanley Mohler argued in a 1971 article that Post had ordered floats that did not reach [[Seattle]] in time for the planned trip. He used a set that was designed for a larger type of plane, making the already nose-heavy hybrid aircraft even more nose-heavy.<ref>Johnson, Bobby H. and R. Stanley Mohler, ''[http://www.sil.si.edu/smithsoniancontributions/AnnalsofFlight/pdf_lo/SAOF-0008.pdf "Wiley Post, His Winnie Mae, and the World's First Pressure Suit".]'', ''Annals of Flight'', Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1971.</ref> But Bryan and Frances Sterling maintain in their 2001 book ''Forgotten Eagle: Wiley Post: America's Heroic Aviation Pioneer'' that their research showed the floats were the correct type for the aircraft,<ref>{{cite book| last =Sterling| first =Bryan and Frances| title =Forgotten Eagle: Wiley Post: America's Heroic Aviation Pioneer| publisher =Carroll & Graf Publishers| year =2001| location =New York| isbn =0-7867-0894-8| url =https://archive.org/details/forgotteneaglewi00brya}}</ref> thereby suggesting another cause for the crash.