The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1935-08-16
POSTS CONTRIBUTION
TO AVIATION WAS
AMONG GREATEST
CONTINUED from page one)

PiloI , performance tnaI ne gave
him the "Winnie Mae"-named in
honor of the oil mans daughter,
and $4,000 of the prize money.
JEST BECAME REAL FLIGHT
I'm case like that" Post said
when he recovered from the shock,
l think I'll fly around the world"
1t was jest brought to fulfill
ment less than a year later when
Post and Gatty in a reJuVenated
Winnie Mae took off from Roose-
welt Field on June %, 1881, scoot-
ed to the north and across the
Atlantic to Berlin; through Russia
and Siberia, and set down again
at Roosevelt Field eight days, ID
hors and 81 minutes later.
Newspapers were scanned WV,
idly for each bulletin of the tilers
progress. Column after column III
the newspapers of city, nation and
world told of their flight day-by-
day. Thousands thronged to the
field hours before they were due
to return from their round the
world jaunt.
Both men climbed stiffly from
the plane. Wiley's grin, witnesses
said, was the wider. Both were
subjected to the wild adulation of
the city with round of banquets,
parades and celebrations. The
flight to which Hall contributed
$4,000 had ended in success.
LONE WOLF FLIGHT
| Post remained out of the head
lines for almost two years. He
flew to this air show, to that city
for an address, or a conference,
but that was all. Then with dra-
matte suddenness he announced.
almost casually, that he would fly
around the world alone. He would,
he said, fly it in the Winnie Mae,
and he would take along a robot
pilot to spell him at the controls
and to keep the ship in the air
just in case he should happen to
doze off.
Zone man never can fly around
the world alone" the skeptics
chorused. Besides he's only got
one eye-and two eyes are i'm
perative for such a venture"
Post-then 33-paid scant at
ton to the harbingers of dis
aster. Methodically, he worked
over the Winnie Mae, supervising
the installation of the robot pilot
and an army-developed radio de-
vice, and an almost entirely re-
built engine.
Gasoline tanks of greater ca
pacity were placed in the ship, and
larger oil tanks. Post, cautious
and leaving nothing to chance,
hoped off for Mexico and re-
turned to announce the automatic
control was functioning perfectly.
LIKE GAME OF GOLF
| July Is, 1888, was a Saturday
and long before most of Manhat-
tan had risen from its beds or
! jumped into them, Post scared up
into O gray dawn. The Winnie
Mae. loaded with gasoline and oil
to the hilt levelled off from Floyd
Bennett Field at $40 a. m.
Like a golfer shooting against
par, Post had but a single objec-
tive in view. He wanted to lop off
three days, if possible, from the
time it had taken him and Gatty
Co circumnavigate the globe. Each
hop-the longest, from New York
to Berlin, was 5000 miles-was
like the hole of a golf course-aSd
to be made in the shortest pos
sible time.
| One time he would be behind
the former record; then ahead.
Just as avidly as the first flight
had been watched, the world de-
manded minute-by-mirute news Of
the cocky flier with the white
patch over one eye.
Seven days, IS hours and 40 "
minutes after the Winnie Mae
took off from Floyd Bennett she
was back. Post set the ship down
on the runway half minute be-
fore midnight.
GREAT FANFARE
If Post and Gatty had been ac-
claimed, Post, alone, was wor-
shipped. His homecoming was like
the earlier one two years before,
but greatly magnified. When the
fanfare and the excitement had
died down, Post went back home
to Oklahoma. Public adulation, it
appeared to friends, was amusing
only for a time.
In 1884. Post and the Winnie
! Mae-the latter with a new white
paint job-collaborated or num-
Der of test flights. Then early in
December he took the Winnie Mae
way up in the air-he wanted to
reach $4,000 feet-and announced
that the next day he'd try it again,
seeking to reach $4,000 feet.
Dressed in warm, heated flying
clothes and wearing an oxygen
helmet that resembled the head
piece of divers suit, Wiley took
off. His disappointment was great
when he learned from the United
States Bureau of Standards that
he had failed to reach 49,00S.36