Early balloonists called aeronauts traveled across Oklahoma from fair tofestival to exhibit their feats of derringdo. Some parachuted from theirballoons while o... » 

Early balloonists called aeronauts traveled across Oklahoma from fair tofestival to exhibit their feats of derringdo. Some parachuted from theirballoons while others would slide down to the ground on cables attached totheir balloons from heights upward to 1000 feet. Soon after the Wrightbrothers proved the possibility of powered controllable flight local Oklahomainventors were building their creations and hoping to be the first to be calledpilot in the state. Once oil was discovered in the state aviation literallytook off. The earlyday oil barons quickly seized on the utility of aviation.They could be the first on the scene in western Oklahoma or the Texas panhandleto sign a mineral lease or have a brokendown drilling rig back in action inshort order by flying in the parts needed. From these humble beginnings sprangthe aerospace industry that would carry Tulsa and northeast Oklahoma into the21st century. «