Encyclopedia Dubuque
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
OLESON, Clifton P.
OLESON, Clifton P. (Oley). (McGregor, IA--Dubuque, IA, Feb. 13, 1969). Oleson, at fourteen, was the world's youngest pilot when he soloed a Curtiss flying boat and earned license No. 67 in the Federation Aeronautique Internationale. Afraid that her son would be killed without proper instruction, he had been enrolled by his mother in the Curtiss Flying School. While still a teenager, Oleson toured the nation as a stunt pilot and barnstormer. He once had to bail out of a burning plane with his pants on fire. During WORLD WAR I, he trained other pilots at Kelly Field in Texas.
Following the war, Oleson became a barnstormer. Thrilled audiences saw him parachuting, standing on the wing of one plane and stepping onto the wing of another plane, and jumping from a speeding mototboat into an airplane.
In 1921 Oleson was one of the first pilots hired to fly the United States mail when the Postal Service began testing the practicality of airmail delivery. During WORLD WAR II, he was placed in charge of all Lend-Lease airplanes sent to the British in North Africa.
Dubuque's first municipal AIRPORT manager, Oleson served from 1948 until 1951. As secretary of the DUBUQUE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Oleson recorded interviews with pioneer Dubuque residents. He was compiling a history of Iowa aviation for the Iowa Aeronautics Commission at the time of his death.
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Source:
"Dubuque Pilot Still Flying High," Telegraph Herald, January 31, 1960, Dubuque News, p. 1