The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-08-16


end, N. Y, provides a paradoxical
, extensive maneuvers of United
territory.
lvice, and an almost entirely rebuilt
engine.
Gasoline tanks of greater capac-
lily were placed in the ship, and
larger oil tanks. Post, cautious and
leaving nothing to chance, hoped
off for Mexico and returned to
announce the automatic control
) was functioning perfectly.
Like Game of Golf
July Is, 1893, was a Saturday
and long before most of Manhat-
tan had risen from its beds or
jumped into them, Post scared up
into a gray dawn. The Winnie
to the hilt levelled off from Floyd
Bennett Field at $50 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 to
!. circumnavigate the globe. Each
hop-the longest, from New York
to Berlin, was $500 miles-was
like the hole of golf course
and 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 fight had
been watched, the world demanded
minute by minute news of the
cocky flyer with the white patch
over one eye.
Seven days, IS hours and 4sz
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 magnifled. 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 1894, Post and the Winnie
: Mae-the latter with new white
: paint job-collaborated on a 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
J 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 a divers suit. Wiley took
5 off. His disappointment was great
: when he learned from the United
5 States Bureau of Standards that
/. he had failed to reach 49,008.36
feet, necessary to excel the A.
> 352.O2 feet record of Lieut.. Renato
/. Donati of Italy.
Sub-Stratosphere Flights
On Feb. %, 1895, Wiley left Los
Angeles in an attempt to fly
: through the sub-stratosphere to
I New York in eight hours or less.
Hardly in the air, he was forced
down by a. leaky oil line and coast
ed into Muroc dry lake, 125 miles
from his starting point, without
the aid of landing gear.
A week later charges of sabotage
: were made when it was learned
g that foreign substance" pos
S sibly emery dust had been placed
L in the intake manifolds of the
e plane engine.
t Post, Enthusiastically, ordered
: the Winnie Mae repaired and
3 planned another try at the cross
country record.
A second attempt to lower the
T cross country record failed on
I March Is when the flyer streaked
! out of Burbank, Calf, in the early
morning, but was forced down at
$ Cleveland, o., approximately 700
3 miles short of his goal, eight hoArs
4 and 13 minutes later.
: Wiley Post was born on the turn
of the century in Grand Plains,
Texas. He was a youngster when
the family moved to NARROW, Okla.
!. With "a kids turn of mind for
: mechanics he drifted to a Kansas
City automobile school.
I He enlisted in the aviation Sec
l ton of the Signal Corps when the
: United States entered the war, but
! was discharged when authorities
: learned he had tackled several
4 years on to his actual age.
) Life of viii Rogers
Will Rogers, famed screen and
Y stage comedian and newspaper
columnist, was born at Claremore,
4 Oklahoma-then Indian territory,
on November 4, 1879. The crude
: homespun philosopher who became
> famous for his homely comments
, on national and international
events was the son Of Glenn v. and
Mary (Schrimpsher) Rogers, both
, of whom were part Cherokee In
; dams.
, Rogers father owned a horse and
cattle ranch and was member of
!. the convention that drafted the
, present Oklahoma constitution. The
boys early years were spent on the
ranch where he became an expert
cow-puncher and lariat thrower
He received a scanty education by
? attending the Kemper Military
: Academy at Boonville, Mo-, for part
of two terms.
, Gifted from the beginning with
unlimited good nature and a sense
of humor. Rogers became the chief
, entertainer for the surrounding
, countryside. His hobby consisted in
, working out unusual and difficult
, feats with his lasso. Deity twirling
! a rope, he cracked jokes at his own
and his pals expense.
His reputation as a humorist and
] entertainer spread and he finally
accepted an offer to become a pub
. lie entertainer. First he Travelled
with a circus and wild west show.
Then he entered vaudeville. He
first appeared In New York at
Keith's Union Square theater IN
! 1905. Flo ziegfeld, producer OF the
Follies. Witnessed the rise Of the
! young humoriss, and In 1915 made