Wiley Post and Harold Gatty
Wiley Post worked in the Oklahoma oil fields. He began flying in 1926 but he had lost his
left eye to a metal chip flying off a workman's hammer. He used the nearly $1,700 in
workmen's compensation to buy his first airplane.
In 1928 Wiley became oilman, F. C. Hall's personal pilot. Hall had hoped to use an
airplane for quick transportation around his oil fields. Hall purchased a new Lockheed Vega,
naming it for his daughter, Winnie Mae. This was Winnie Mae (#1), not the airplane that Post
later used in his record-breaking flights. The stock market crash of 1929 forced Hall to sell
Winnie Mae (#1) to Nevada Airlines and dismiss Wiley. By June 1930, Hall had rebuilt his
empire and called Wiley back to work. Post returned to Oklahoma and to Winnie Mae (#2), a
Lockheed Vega 5-B with a 420 horsepower supercharged Pratt and Whitney Wasp engine (NC-105W).
Wiley initially wore a glass eye, but turned to a patch when the eye became cold when
flying at high altitudes causing him severe headaches. The patch became his trademark. Wiley
and Hall entered the Winnie Mae in the 1930 National Air Race's Nonstop Air Derby, a "timing
race" from California to Chicago. Wiley supped-up the Winnie Mae stripping her of all excess
weight, adding extra fuel tanks and installing a more powerful supercharger. They added a
special fuel tank for high octane gas to be used only for take-offs. Wiley and the Winnie Mae
won the race, flying 1,760 miles in 9H 9M 4S for an average 192 mph, beating their nearest
competitor by just seconds for a prize of $7,500. Ironically, second place was taken by Art
Goebel, flying Winnie Mae (#1).
Wiley was now famous. He talked with Hall about flying round-the-world. They choose an
Australian, Harold Gatty to be the navigator for this global run. They reconfigured the
Winnie Mae adding a rear nav-station and two extra hatches in the plane's fuselage. Post and
Gatty left California for New York on May 17, 1931, stopping in Washington DC to pick up
letters of permission for landing in the countries they planned to fly over.
They took off from New York's Roosevelt Field on their round-the-world run on June 23,
1931. When they returned to New York on July 1st, Wiley Post and Harold Gatty circled the
globe in 8D 15H 51M.
Itinerary:
Departed Roosevelt Field, New York 06/23/31
Harbour Grace, Newfoundland 6H 47M
Royal Air Force's Sealand Aerodome, Liverpool, England. 16H 17M 06/24/31
Hanover, Germany
Berlin, Germany 06/25/31
Moscow, Russia
Novo Sibirsk, Russia 06/26/31
Irkutsk, Russia 06/27/31
Blagoveshchensk, Russia 06/28/31
Khabarovsk, Russia
Solomon, Alaska
Fairbanks, Alaska
Edmonton, Canada
Cleveland, OH
Arrived Roosevelt Field, New York 07/01/31
