Roger Wilco Wear does its flying out of Chicago Executive Airport (KPWK), formerly known as Palwaukee Municipal Airport. So when we started this site the first shirt we designed was the throwback to our local airport, Palwaukee Airport.

We did some research and found out how little we knew about our home airport. The airport was originally founded in 1925 with the name of Gauthier’s Flying Field. It was renamed Pal-Waukee in 1928 due to the airport’s location near the intersection of Palatine Road and Milwaukee Avenue. The airport was privately owned up until 1986 when it was sold by the Priester family to the cities of Wheeling and Prospect Heights, at which point the name was slightly modified again to Palwaukee Municipal Airport, which is the version of the name we have selected for our t-shirt. In August of 2006 the airport when through its most recent identity change, selecting the name Chicago Executive Airport.

The airport caters heavily to general aviation and corporate traffic and is the fourth busiest airport in Illinois. Over 90% of the traffic is general aviation based which makes us happy.

The most interesting tidbit we learned about Palwaukee is its tie to the 10 litu’ banknote of Lithuania. The currency, which is one of Lithuania’s most widely circulated, features two Lithuanian pilots, Steponas Darius and Stasys Girenas. The two pilots, who had ties to Chicago and then-named Pal-Waukee airport, attempted to break Lindberg’s non-stop distance record across the Atlantic with a flight from New York City to Kaunus, Lithuania. Unfortunately, the pilots did not succeed and were lost in a crash at Soldin, Germany. The pilots are honored on the 10 Litu Banknote. The image depicts Darius wearing a hat he was known to wear often that included a Pal-Waukee Airport Patch. You learn something new every day.

We currently offer two Palwaukee t-shirts; a short sleeve t-shirt for $27 and a long sleeve t-shirt for $30. We hope you will enjoy our Palwaukee Municipal Airport T-shirts that can be found in the online store.

Leonardo da Vinci said “When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.” Every pilot knows this to be true. Celebrate earning your private pilots license with this custom t-shirt from Roger Wilco Wear.

The front of the T-Shirt says “General Aviation Pilot”. Customize the back with your Airport Identifier to share with others where you learned to fly. Available in both short and long sleeve. Check out the shirts today.

There are few moments in life as rewarding as a pilot’s first solo. Pilot and Blogger Av8rdan does a great job of expressing what it is like to take that first solo flight, “Non-flyers will never understand the wonderful sensation a new student pilot feels upon achieving lift for the very first time…SOLO! At that precise moment when your landing gear breaks free from the crust of this troubled planet, a pilot’s soul begins to soar. And when your wings win their battle with gravity and the houses get smaller, it is then that we can proudly state that as members of a most elite family of licensed aviators, we are the luckiest SOBs on the face of the Earth”

Roger Wilco Wear has created designed a t-shirt to commemorate your solo achievement. Available in both short and long sleeve. Customize the back of the t-shirt to have the airport identifier for their airport where you flew your first solo. Check out the shirts today.

Congrats on the great achievement!

Today we added a new General Aviation t-shirt design to the store. The T-shirt features a “General Aviation Pilot” graphic on the front and a customizable airport identifier on the back. When you select this shirt you will be given the opportunity to enter your own three-letter airport identifier for your home airport or favorite airport. The T-shirt sells for $28. Customize your own today!