The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-02
WORLD filters
I WON FAME BY
| OIL ACCIDENT
MiShap to Post Brought
About Globe Girdling
Record Journey.

NEW EOfLE, July IA man WIZ
didn't give a hang" about anything
but aviation and another whose
earliest life had been bent towarc
charting difficult courses were II
the worlds spotlight today-and al
because Of an oil we'll accident.
Wiley Post and Harold Gatty-
born on different sides of the worlc
and to different modes Of living are
pals mainly through the fact thai
both have lived and suffered
through the cause Of aviation IN the
last few years.
Wiley Post lost an eye in ar
Oklahoma oil field accident. That
gave him $4,000 compensation ano
his first airplane-the start OF his
flying career that brought on the
famous world-girdling flight.
Harold Gatty trained in the Aus
tranan Naval academy as navi-
gator, charted courses on the South
seas as a youth in his teens, be-
came interested in aviation and
after one unsuccessful trans-oceanic
attempt, joined Post in their record
smashing around the world under
taking.
Post Born in Texas
Post was born at Grand Plain
Tex. In his youth he moved with
his family to Maysville, Okla, where
the elder Post built up farm. But
Wiley wasn't much good on the
farm. He disliked it. His father
remarked that Wiley "just didn't
give hang.
That was in the day Of the Okla
homa oil boom. Jobs beckoned from
the rich oil fields. Wiley tried them
He worked on q number of such
jobs, the while completing his early
education.
Even as boy he became in
terested in parachute jumping. He
was adept at it even though his
father did not care particularly for
it.
= Then on one oil job there was an
accident. A piece of metal struck
Wiley in the eye. He lost the sight
Of that member. The oil company
gave him $4,000 compensation and
with that Post bought a "crate" and
started transforming.
Demanded Pilots Job
For three years he was a barn
stormer' and his adventures and
experiences were many-just as they
were with other transformers OF
that period, including such famous
fliers as Colonel Charles A. Lind
bergh.
F. G. Hall, hacker of the sturdy
Oklahoman, takes up Wileys story
from there:
"One day he came into my Office
with leather cap in his hand and
said he wanted to be my pilot" Hall
remarked. "He said he'd be heart
broken if he didn't get the job.
What was I to do but let him have
itP"
Wiley got the Job. Subsequently
through Hall he got the plane now
the Winnie Mae. It was named the
Winnie Mae after Halls daughter
and cost $22, 900. And in that plane
he won the Los Angeles Chicago
air derby in 1880 with an average
speed Of 1872 miles an hour.
World Flight Goal
But world flight was his goal
His young wife-May Lane of
Sweetwater, Tex, whom he married
in 1927-when he was 28-was in
favor Of it. Hall agreed to the
flight and established refueling
bases. And so the start was made
in a search for navigator with
Post coming back to Oklahoma one
day with Harold Gatty, from Los
Angeles.
Hall didn't know who Gatty was
but said:
eff Wiley wants him, all right"
The navigator was born at
Campbell town, Tasmania, Jan. 5,
1903. At 10 he entered the Jervis
Bay naval school, the Royal AUS
tralian school which corresponds to
the United States Naval academy.
For four years Gatty studied
navigation. He served four years
as a merchant marine navigator
and then went aboard a private
yacht as a navigator.
Three and one-half years ago he
went to Los Angeles in 1927. once
here his interest in aviation was
thoroughly aroused and he studied
under Lieutenant Commander
Philip Van H. Weems of the United
States navy. WeemS later went to
Annapolis and Gatty opened a
training school at Los Angeles.
Among his students was Mrs. Ann
Lindbergh and of his navigation
ability, Colonel Lindbergh re-
marked:
'He is one Of the greatest navi-
atorS in the world"
Last summer he went to Japan to
be tae navigator for Hard Brom-
ley's flight across the Pacific. They
took of toward Seattle Twenty