WORLD FLIGHT

Southland Times, Issue 22076, 25 July 1933, Page 7

WORLD FLIGHT

POST’S NEW RECORD AIRMAN NOT YET SATISFIED ROBOT PILOT WORKS WELL (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright.) New York, July 22. Wiley Post landed at 12 midnight on Saturday at the Floyd Bennett Field thus completing his round-the-worlc. flight in 7 days 18 hours 50 minutes, bettering Post and Gatty’s time two years ago by 21 hours 1 minute. Post landed almost an hour earlier than he was expected and was not seen until he came down almost in the centre of the Floyd Bennett Field, startling the huge crowd. He landed from the north and taxied the plane to the end of the field and then around in front of the administration building. Post is far from satisfied with his performance. “I could take the Winnie Mae with the same equipment and good weather and make it in four days and a-half,” he said. But he added that he had no definite plans for a world or other flights. He said Alaska was the hardest part of the flight. There he was unable to locate himself and dozed several times while en route from Edmonton to New York on Saturday. The robot pilot was working well and piloted him five minutes after leaving New York until thirty minutes from Berlin, also from Edmonton to Newark (New Jersey). Questioned "regarding a world refuelling flight, Post said refuelling in the air was senseless. “What would be the point?” he asked. “It only takes a short time to land and take on fuel.” A medical examination found him to be in good condition.

Wiley Post is an American Indian. He was born at Maysville, Oklahoma, where his father had a farm. Seeing more money in the development of Oklahoma’s oil resources, Mr Post left farming and became an oil-driller. An accident deprived him of the sight of one eye, and he received £4OO as compensation. With this he bought a sec-ond-hand aeroplane and after going on a “stunting” tour applied for a commercial flying licence. This was refused at first owing to his disability, but, promptly convincing the authorities that he' was a better flyer than many two-eyed airmen, he was given the licence as a special case. Joining the United States mail service, Mr Post set up several records for long-distance flying. Then Mr F. C. Hall, a friend, “struck it rich” in the oilfields and became a millionaire. Mr Post told Mr Hall of his ambition to fly round the world, and in 1930 Mr Hall bought him a Lockheed Vega monoplane with a 425-horsepower Wasp engine. In this Mr Post flew from Los Angeles to Chicago (1760 miles) in 9 hours 9 minutes—a record. Mr Hall undertook to finance the round-the-world scheme, and Mr Harold Gatty agreed to go as navigator. From New York the two men flew to Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, on June 23, 1931, and thence to Chester, England, beating by a few minutes the record of 16 hours 12 minutes set up by the British airmen Adcock and Brown in 1919 on the first non-stop Atlantic flight ever made. After a stay of only 20 minutes for lunch, Post and Gatty flew on to Berlin. With as brief delays as possible they continued to Moscow, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Blagovestchensk and Khabarosk. A 16-hour flight across the Behring Sea, through belts of dense fog and bitter cold, followed. Landing at Solomon, Alaska, they made for Edmonton, Alberta, and thence reached New York. This feat won the airmen a prize of £4OOO from Mr Hall. They had only about 15 hours’ sleep during the flight.