While celebrating Columbus Day, Ralph Wein, the brother of Noel Wein and co-founder of Alaska’s first airline, Wein Air Alaska, crashed in full view of onlookers in Kotzebue on October 2th, 1930.

Aboard his aircraft, a Bellanca, that day were Fr. Philip Delon, Superior General of Alaskan Catholic missions, and Fr. William Walsh, a diocesan priest from Oakland, California. All three perished in the crash.

In recognition of the unfortunate event, the airport was dedicated and named after Wein in 1951 by Governor Ernest Gruening.

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