The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1936-01-13
Shown That Famed Charac-
ter's Preparations We're
Considered An Obstacle
Race
By BILLY PARKER
Copyright, 1886, BY The As

By BILLY PARKER
Copyright, 1886, By The AS
ISOLATED Press)
After his second world flight
Wiley Post turned to stratosphere
work seriously and began to as
semble equipment.
He used the Winnie Mae sim
ply because she was the only air
plane he possessed, and although
not admirably fitted for such spe-
cialized duties, she still was in
good condition. He felt if he
could demonstrate the possibilities
of this type of flying with the re-
atively ancient Winnie Mae, it
would be a fitting browning
achievement for the ship which
had served him so faithfully on
two 'round-the-world flights.
Equipping the ship for high
altitude flying, however, was not
simply a matter of going out and
buying necessary accessories. He
found that engineers had ad-
vanced a lot of theories, but ac-
tually produced nothing practical.
Before Post was ready for his
first test flight more than a. year
had elapsed, and he had used most
of the money he obtained from
various sources as result of his
last world trip.
Constructed Suit
Wiley realized that while army
and navy pilots had made flights
to considerable attitudes with only
small bottle of oxygen and an
oxygen mask, such flights would
never be practicable over long dis
tances due to extreme differences
in pressure encountered.
The best solution, he knew,
would be to seal the entire cabin
of the ship and maintain a pres
sure nearly that of sea level. This
was not practical at the moment
due to the time and expense in
we'd.
He approached the problem
from the standpoint of suit in
to which oxygen could be pumped
and which not only would give the
pilot sufficient oxygen for nor
NAL breathing. but also would
maintain a body pressure COM
parable to that near sea level.
In designing this suit, Wiley
gave to aviation one of the finest
contributions it has received in
many years.
Even though the sealed cabin
will make its appearance soon in
+, transport planes. such an arrange
| ment would be impracticable fol
military work, especially in one
or two-seater pursuit planes. With
the Post suit. it will be possible
for a military pilot to fly just as
! high as his ship will take him, al
no personal discomfort.
The Supereharger
If the suit should be punctured
during aerial combat, and the
pilot is not seriously injured, he
either can fly to lower levels oil
use a parachute without expert
encing i'll effects, thanks to ar
arrangement worked out by Post
While Wiley was designing anC
, building the suit he also was hav-
ing many other pieces of equip
ment constructed to enable the
Winnie Mae to reach stratosphere
heights.
Most important of these was g
supercharger for the engine which
would enable it to develop its sea
level horsepower at greater eleva.
tons. The supereharger when fin
ished was indeed a marvel. for il
enabled the motor Wasp of the
ship to develop $50 horsepower
at $4,000 feet. without it the
. motor would not have delivered
enough power to maintain flight,
even at much lower levels.
The comfortable pitch propeller
without which shakespeare flying
would have been impossible, al
ready had been developed. The
old fixed pitch propeller would
merely slip and spin in the lighter
air of the stratosphere.