Air aviation news – TULSA, Okla. — A local aviation club celebrated their 70th anniversary with a Bedlam watch party and plane giveaway Saturday in Tulsa.
The event was put on by the Oklahoma Airmen Flying Club and took place at the Tulsa Riverside Airport.
Raffle coordinator Justin Little said the club has several planes members have access to, with the goal of making of aviation affordable and accessible.
“It allows us the opportunity to share the cost and burden of owning an aircraft and maintaining aircraft,” Little said.
Little said while they don’t know the exact day the club was formed, they do know it was formed 70 years ago in 1953.
Holding the day’s events on the last Bedlam game Oklahoma would see seemed appropriate given Oklahoma’s rich aviation roots, Little explained.
“We got OU fans, we got OSU fans, it’s real cordial, pilots are some of the greatest people in the world, so, it’s got some good rivalry but it’s, everybody at the end of the day is just having fun,” Little said.
Part of the days events included the raffle of a small plane.
We’re just basically having a big party with the entire aviation community and we’re also tying this in with our raffle plane, so we’re giving away this 2017 J-3 Cub here, we’ve been selling raffle tickets as a way to support some of our financial operations,” Little said.
Little said they sold more than 3,000 tickets across the country for the raffle.
To anyone interested in aviation, Little said the community is very welcoming.
“We’re real open, we really love having people come, and especially new people, so if it’s something that interests you, I would recommend you just kind of reach out and we’ll open this world to you,” he said.