The Speed King of the South: Jimmie Wedell and the Golden Age of Aviation

Jimmie Wedell, a former barnstormer with little formal schooling who had been rejected from flying in WWI due to total blindness in one eye, was the designer and pilot of some of the most celebrated and successful racing planes in the Golden Age of Aviation during the 1930s. Jimmie partnered up with Harry P. Williams to form Wedell-Williams Air Service Corporation in the late 1920s, based out of Patterson. Harry’s funding and business acumen allowed Jimmie’s engineering genius to flourish and during the early 1930s, Wedell-Williams planes dominated the air racing circuits. Please join us as Dr. Kellie Hedgers hosts an informative discussion of Jimmie Wedell’s life and career and an exploration of how Patterson was at the cutting edge of technology and innovation during aviation’s storied Golden Age.