Jimmie Wedell

Texas-born Wedell had engineering skills and a penchant for danger from an early age. Though a motorcycle accident left him blind in one eye, he learned how to fly and sharpened his skills transporting rumrunners and weapons across the Mexican border during World War I. After the war, he and his brother, Walter, worked for Menefee Airways. On a sales trip, Wedell met his future friend, Harry Williams.

Image Courtesy of the Wedell-Williams Memorial Foundation and the Louisiana State Museum