The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-08-16

Towering over the tents OF sold
spire oft his church at Great BE
note in the preparations for the
States troops in SUI
in the airport office, where air
mail and passenger planes are dis
patched.
MRS. POST SHOCKED
Ponca City, Okla, Aug. TO-
(UP).-Mrs. Wiley Post, who
originally intended to make the
Alaskan aerial tour with her hus-
band and Will Rogers, was grief
stricken today at reports of the
death of the two ,Oklahomans.
She was unable to discuss the
tragedy. She left her husband at
Seattle and returned here where
she has been visiting at the home
Of L. E. Gray.
1--WE can't let her talk to any
one, at least not now" Mrs. Gray
said. "She is unable to talk"
Gray, a flyer, has been friend
of Post for years. Mrs. Post came
here when she decided not to &C.
c -mpany her husband and Rogers
Oh LILO AuAllllS anu SIS As-SSSAA5
trip in the far north.
At San Francisco last week she
tearfully denied she mad Post had
differed over the trip.
Will Rogers Jr.
Los Angeles, Aug. 16-(UP)-
Will Rogers, Jr., 23-year-old polo
playing elder son, was reported to
be aboard ship off the Califor-
mia coast today, enjoying vaca-
ton cruise and unaware of his
| fathers death.
| James, the younger son, was be-
| lieved to be with him. j. K. Blake,
Rogers secretary, was attempting
to reach them. He said he did not
know the name of the ship or its
destination.
WILEY POST BIOGRAPHY
Few of Americas ace flyers en-
tered the game with less equip
ment and training, and few have
given more to the development of
modern aviation than Wiley Post.
| None was less impressive in APP
pearance, or better versed in fly
ing knowledge than this short,
portly Oklahoman with bushy hair
and one eye. With a string of rec
ords that paled the accomplish
ments of his aerial contemporaries,
Post usually remained in compare
tive obscurity until some new pro-
ject took him into the air.
| Fellow flyers marveled at his
achievements against physical
odds; the world at large followed
with tremendous interest his every
venture = his flight around the
world with Harold Gatty in 1881;
his hazardous solo flight two years
later over the same course in al
most day less time; his attempts
to penetrate the shakespeare.
Above all they smiled over his de-
votion to the Winnie Mae, the
plane that had made him famous
Beat Veteran Pilots
In September. 1880, white air.
plane flashed across the country
and settled down to earth at Cur
| tiss- reynolds Airport, north OF
Chicago. A stocky figure stepped
the roar of his motor from his
ears, and walked unconcernedly to
the judges stand. He had beaten
the crack flyers of the country in
a nonstop hop from the Pacific
coast. 1t was said that at least one
of the judges had to consult his
schedule to learn the pilots name
| That was Wiley Posts first taste
of fame, and the first time that
news of his flying ability had fill
tered out of the southwest where
he had transformed in a Jenny
since the early '20s. That also was
the start of Wiley's spectacular
career under the sponsorship OF
F. C. Hall, Oklahoma oil man and
the flyers first employer.
| Hall was so pleased with his
pilots performance that he gave
him the winnie Mae"-named in
honor of the oil mans daughter
and $4,000 of the prize money.
jest Became Real Flight
"In case like that" Post said
when he recovered from the shock
81 think I'll fly around the world
| 1t was a 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 30, 1881, scooted
to the north and across the At
lantic to Berlin; through Russia
and Sib@ia, and set down again
at Roosevelt Field eight days, Ii
hours and 81 minutes later.
| Newspapers were scanned avidly
for each bulletin of the flyers
progress. Column after column in
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 a 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 few
to this air show, to that city for
an address, or a conference, but
that was all. Then with dramatic
suddenness he announced, almost
casually. that he would fly around
the world alone. He would, he said,
ny 1t 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.
"One man never can fly around
Che world alone" the skeptics
chorused. Besides. he's only got
one eye-and two eyes are impera-
tive for such a venture"
Post-then 33-paid scant at
| tention to the harblngors of dis