Career
Born Lake Nebagamon, Wisconsin, Wien learned to fly from Ray Miller in 1921 and became a barnstormer in Clarence West. Hinck"s Federated Fliers Flying Circus. In 1924, with his pilot license Number. 39 signed by Fédération Aéronautique Internationale Official Orville Wright in hand, Wien brought his Hisso Standard biplane to Alaska and began servicing the gold-rich territory.
A legend among legendary pilots, when Wien first arrived in Alaska he had 538 hours of barnstorming and aerial circus stunt flying.
He went on to build up a long list of firsts: he was first to fly from Fairbanks to Seattle, Fairbanks to Nome, and beyond the Arctic Circle, across the Bering Strait and was first to make a round-trip flight between Alaska and Asia. He died on July 19, 1977, in Bellevue, Washington.
The Noel Wien Public Library in Fairbanks, Alaska is named after him. Weeks Field Park, adjacent to the library, was previously called Wien Park.
Noel Wien was inducted into the Minnesota Aviation History Museum Hall of Fame in 1989, the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum Hall of Fame in 2000 and the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2010.