WILEY POST FAILS

Taranaki Daily News, 17 April 1935, Page 5

WILEY POST FAILS

THIRD STRATOSPHERE ATTEMPT. OBJECT TO,CROSS AMERICA. By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. New York, April 14. Wiley Post’s third attempted transcontinental “sub-stratosphere” flight proved unsuccessful when he was forced down near La Fayette, Indiana, in the middle of the afternoon. He left Los Angeles at 8.27 o’clock in the morning. Post said that a defect in the supercharger. forced the landing, which was made perfectly, despite the fact that the landing gear was dropped when he started. He was in the air about eight hours, covering almost 2000 miles. On his first attempt to fly across America in the stratosphere on February 22 Wiley Post 'was forced down in the desert 125 miles from Los Angeles. A second attempt on March 15 ended at 5.20 p.m., when he was forced down through lack of oxygen at Cleveland, Ohio. He had flown 2163 miles in 484 minutes, averaging 270 miles an hour. As on the first occasion, his machine, the Winnie Mae, landed on skids, having dropped her landing gear. For most of the flight the machine’s altitude exceeded 30,000 feet. His last attempt failed by about 300 miles to equal his Los Angeles-Cleveland flight.