The Miss Veedol hangar at Pangborn Memorial Airport in East Wenatchee recently received updated signage with the help of East Wenatchee Rotary and Rotary District 5060.
The Miss Veedol hangar at Pangborn Memorial Airport in East Wenatchee recently received new signage, being renamed "East Wenatchee Rotary Hangar". The update came about as a joint effort between the Spirit of Wenatchee group and East Wenatchee Rotary, with the help of a Public Image grant from Rotary District 5060.
The Miss Veedol was the first airplane to complete a nonstop flight across the Pacific Ocean, taking off at Misawa, Japan and crash landing at Fancher Field in East Wenatchee on October 5, 1931. Co-pilots Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon were unharmed in the landing.
A group of local flight enthusiasts, the Spirit of Wenatchee, undertook the challenge of building a replica aircraft, which was completed in 2003 and was flown that year to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first flight. The Miss Veedol has flown all over the country to participate in air shows and other special events and is regularly seen flying over the Wenatchee Valley.
Shortly after completion of the plane in 2003, the Rotary Club of East Wenatchee, which had several members who were active in the Spirit of Wenatchee group at the time, purchased the hangar where the plane has been stored ever since. In normal times, more than 60,000 incoming visitors to our valley drive right past the hangar as they exit the airport.