44

44 : Jimmie Wedell's Racing Planes and the Wedell-Williams Air Service in Huey P. Long's Louisiana

An untold story of cutting edge aircraft, golden age air racing, and the early days of commercial aviation set in the unique environment of interwar New Orleans.

Wedell-Williams Air Service Corporation provided passenger flights and mail service in the deep south during the 1920s and 1930s. Wedell-Williams is far more remembered for its success in air racing. 

The business was the creation of James "Jimmie" Wedell and Harry P. Williams. Williams was a fixture of New Orleans high society; his family were lumber barons, he collected sports cars and lived in a mansion on St. Charles Avenue, he was married to the silent film star Marguerite Clark. Jimmie Wedell's upbringing was decidedly less genteel. Jimmie had little formal education, he taught himself to repair, fly, and eventually build his own aircraft from scratch.

Wedell-Williams aircraft, designed by Jimmie Wedell, won trophies and acclaim with famous pilots such as Roscoe Turner and Jimmy Doolittle at the controls. Among the more prolific of these pilots was Wedell himself. In 1933, he achieved a world record speed of 305 mph at the Phillips Trophy Race in Chicago in his Model 1944, better known as "44".

This is the history of the Jimmie Wedell, Harry Williams, and their brilliant, but short and ultimately tragic aviation venture. The story takes place during a time of rapid aeronautical development, but also in the unique setting of interwar New Orleans. The development of Wedell-Williams ran in parallel with the rise and fall of the populist demagogue Huey Long, who, holding the posts of governor and senator simultaneously, ruled Louisiana in autocratic and controversial fashion. Neither Long, Wedell, or Williams were destined to die of old age. 

Size: 6.0in x 9.0in  |  Pages: 256  |  60 b/w & color images