Wiley Post

This tumblr is dedicated to Wiley Post: Legendary One-Eyed Pilot, Adventurer, and Space Suit Pioneer

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Swoon-worthy portrait of Wiley Post.

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Wiley Post & Will Rogers on Flickr.

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1934 photograph of Wiley Post with his Winnie Mae and a crowd of admirers at Logan Field

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Wiley Post, Bill Parker, Carl Squier, and Dick von Hake with the fuselage of a Lockheed Vega in 1929 in Los Angeles.

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1934 … Wiley Post- first operational pressure suit (by x-ray delta one)

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Wiley Post poster by Dick Gilpin (behind glass). Illustrated in 1984.

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Today in History: December 14

"Today in History: December 14," from the Tulsa World:

1936 - Wiley Post honored

Aviation's highest award - the Federation Aeronautique Internationale medal - was presented to Mae Post, widow of Oklahoma pilot Wiley Post, by Frank Phillips at a banquet at Hotel Tulsa. Post, who was killed in an Alaska plane crash in 1935 as he and Will Rogers were on an around the world flight, won the award for his "outstanding accomplishments in aviation" in 1933. Phillips, president of Phillips Oil Co., was chairman of the banquet committee. Post was the second American honored by the 35-nation federation; the first being Charles A. Lindbergh who received the medal in 1927. Mrs. Post's response was short and simple: "Thank you." 

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From NASA:

NASA has published a colorful, picture-filled book that details the development and use of the protective clothing worn by test pilots, astronauts and others as they soar high above Earth. 

"Dressing for Altitude: U.S. Aviation Pressure Suits -- Wiley Post to Space Shuttle" provides a 526-page survey of the partial- and full-pressure suits designed to keep humans alive at the edge of space since their first use during the years before World War II. Pressure suits are not the spacesuits worn by spacewalking astronauts. 

The book explores the challenges the clothiers-turned-engineers faced in designing a garment that could be relatively lightweight, flexible, inflatable, and still keep an ejecting pilot safe at high altitude and in the water. 

"This work is designed to provide the history of the technology and explore the lessons learned through the years of research in creating, testing, and utilizing today's high-altitude suits," said Tony Springer of NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington. 

There's a free ebook version available online!

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From the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum blog:

The significance of Post’s 1933 [solo flight around the world] is inestimable. In July 1938, Howard Hughes and his crew successfully circled the globe in a Lockheed Super Electra fitted with the most advanced radio and navigation gear. When asked how his flight compared to Post’s, Hughes responded “Wiley Post’s flight remains the most remarkable flight in history. It can never be duplicated. He did it alone! … It’s like pulling a rabbit out of a hat or sawing a woman in half.”

Read more.

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From "Why Lake City has a Will Rogers Monument":

Tucked behind the Lake City library is a memorial that many people – even some who have lived in the neighborhood for decades – don’t realize is there.

The man it was created to honor played his last polo game near Lake City 77 years ago this week. His death roughly a week later was front-page news nationwide, and he received praise from President Franklin Roosevelt and Charles Lindbergh. Top celebrities from around the globe mourned the loss....

Rogers came to Seattle on Aug. 5, 1935, and the following day he met with his friend Wiley Post, a fellow Oklahoman who was the first pilot to fly solo around the world.

When Rogers arrived at Boeing Field, a crowd of reporters and onlookers waited, and his arrival was front-page news in Seattle’s three newspapers... Read more.

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July 22, 1933:  Wiley Post, Around the World in 7 Days

On this day in 1933, American aviator Wiley Post returned to New York as the first person to fly solo around the world in 7 days, 18 hours, and 49 minutes.

Check out other aviation milestones in this American Experience timeline!

Photo: Library of Congress

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Wiley Post and Braniff Airways:

Famous aviator Wiley Post made the Braniff hangars his home in the early 30's. In 1933, Wiley decided to fly around the world in a Lockheed Vega called "Winnie Mae." On the initial flight, the aircraft cracked up in flight over eastern Oklahoma. Neither the Braniff pilot flying the plane or Mr. Post were hurt. The "Winnie Mae" was trucked back to OKC by Braniff. With Paul's and R.V. Carelton's help, the aircraft was repaired, and Wiley Post made his 'round the world flight. He re-payed every cent he owed Braniff for fixing the "Winnie Mae." 

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Aviator Wiley Hardeman Post, looking quite dashing. 

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I went out to Floyd Bennett Field today hoping to see the recreation of Wiley Post's Winnie Mae, but a raccoon had gotten loose in the hangar and it was closed! Another time, perhaps, although the train to the Rockaways and then a bus in this heat was brutal. 

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Today in History

From the Washington Post: "In 1931, aviators Wiley Post and Harold Gatty took off from New York on a round-the-world flight that lasted eight days and 15 hours."

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I guess Wiley Post didn't travel everywhere by plane!

Wiley Post, seen above, was a very famous and skilled aviator in the 1930s.  He is shown in Oklahoma City, on 15th Street and Lincoln, with his new 1932 Ford V-8 three-window coupe (the state capitol building can be seen in the background). 

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30 days of biking: Will Rogers and Wiley Post flew here

Boaters and rafters must consider these snags where the Cedar River flows into Lake Washington the same way that bicyclists view tacks or broken bottles in the road. Maybe worse.

While a chard of glass can puncture a tire, a limb from one of these trees can poke a hole in a fiberglass boat or rubber raft and sink it.

These trees have likely taken a long trip to get here. The Cedar River picks up plenty of fallen trees as it meanders through its flood zone to the river channel that cuts through Renton. The occasional flood pushes the snags downstream and eventually out into Lake Washington.

This pleasant spot nestled between the Boeing plant and the end of the Renton Airport runway can be reached via Sixth Street in Renton, heading west. It’s 13-mile round-trip from my home.

Until today, I didn’t know that this is the spot where famed American humorist Will Rogers and pilot Wiley Post left the United States for their ill-fated trip to the Alaska Territory in 1935... read more