Cody mechanic being inducted into the aviation hall of fame

Posted 9/12/19

The late Elmer Faust of Cody is set to become the 28th inductee into the Wyoming Aviation Hall of Fame.

Faust’s major contributions to Wyoming aviation included his role in the development …

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Cody mechanic being inducted into the aviation hall of fame

Posted

The late Elmer Faust of Cody is set to become the 28th inductee into the Wyoming Aviation Hall of Fame.

Faust’s major contributions to Wyoming aviation included his role in the development of aviation in Cody and the exceptional aircraft maintenance he provided to pilots throughout the Big Horn Basin and beyond, hall of fame officials say.

Faust will be formally inducted into the aviation hall of fame during a Saturday, Sept. 28, ceremony at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody.

Born on Nov. 29, 1900, in the community of Otto, Faust grew up in Meeteetse and Cody and graduated from Cody High School.

He began flying in the 1920s in a Curtis Jenny. While working as an auto mechanic in Cody, Faust built his first airplane in his spare time, a Corben Junior Ace. Rather than purchase the entire kit, he obtained a set of blueprints and an engine and relied on his mechanical skills to build the craft.

During the late 1920s and continuing into the 1930s, Faust and several other Cody residents cleared a pasture of rocks and brush and smoothed the surface into a landing strip. Later, he constructed two hangars. They were some of the first structures at what would become the Cody airport.

Faust began providing aircraft maintenance in the late 1930s. In 1949, he formally established Cody Aero Service, and for many years was the only mechanic in the Basin and surrounding area.

Faust was awarded the Federal Aviation Administration Aviation Mechanic Citation for contributing to the safety and increased reliability in aviation maintenance and for his efforts toward improved maintenance practices. Though aircraft maintenance was his primary business, rebuilding older aircraft was Fault’s passion. A 1933 Waco Aircraft Company UIC that he restored in 1976 for use in the oil pipeline industry in Casper eventually was donated to the Smithsonian’s Paul E. Garber Storage Facility — the National Air and Space Museum’s reserve collection of historically significant aircraft. Faust also built and modified a late-1940s Piper PA-12. When it was completed in 1954, the heavily modified airplane became known as the Faust 301. It was still flying this year.

During World War II, Faust served his country as an instructor at Hancock College of Aeronautics in California, where he taught aircraft mechanics and engines. That included being the lead instructor for a new program designed to train young women to be aircraft mechanics.

Faust died in Cody on March 24, 1989. In honor of his efforts to help establish an airport, the Yellowstone Regional Airport terminal was named the E.E. Faust Terminal in 1992.

The Wyoming Aviation Hall of Fame is a non-profit, publicly supported, tax-exempt organization dedicated to honoring individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the establishment, development and/or advancement of aviation in Wyoming. The organization has a board of directors and operates in conjunction with the Wyoming Aeronautics Commission, which is part of the Wyoming Department of Transportation.

For more information about the hall of fame or to nominate an individual, contact Board Chairman John Waggener of Laramie at 307-766-2563.

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