Wiley Post Case

Wiley Post set two major records for around the world flight (Onkst). He was a major innovator and helped to advance the aeronautical world to new levels. He was born to farming parents and he received very little education. He invented many different flight technologies and achieved many records in flying (Onkst).

Wiley Hardeman Post was born on November 22, 1898 in Grand Saline, Texas. His parents were farmers. At the age of five, his family moved to Oklahoma. They moved around a bit until they settled in Garvin County when Wiley was 11. Soon after moving to Garvin County, he went to an air show. There, he saw his first airplane and from that point on he knew that he wanted to be an airplane pilot. His first job was in the United States Army. After the army, he joined a barnstorming, or skydiving, group. He made ninety-nine jumps, sometimes earning up to $200 per jump. But he wanted to be a pilot, not a skydiver, so he went to the oilfields to make enough money to buy his own airplane. In 1926 a stray chip hit him in his left eye. This caused a massive infection to set in and doctors feared he might become totally blind. They removed the left eye in hopes of the infection receding, and thankfully, it did. But with only one eye, his depth perception was severely hindered. He overcame this by judging how tall telephone poles and two story buildings were. He received an $1,800 workers compensation check and with it he bought his first plane, a Curtiss Canuck (Sterling). In 1925 Post met famed comedian Will Rogers. Rogers needed a ride to a rodeo and Post was happy to oblige (Onkst). This was the beginning of a long friendship.

Wiley Post went to school in Garvin County. In the eighth grade, he dropped out of school. He never received any formal education afterwards. He was taught to fly by the pilots of the barnstorming troop that he was a part of (Sterling).

Post invented many different devices that greatly helped the advancement of flight. With the help of Frank Phillips and the B.F. Goodrich Rubber Company, Post invented and developed the first pressurized flight suit, allowing him to fly in the stratosphere. This allowed for faster flight times and made humans able to breathe at up to 40,000 feet. He also used an early Sperry autopilot mechanism. He worked with the United States Army Air Corps on an experimental automatic direction finding (ADF) radio compass, and was a pioneer in the use of liquid oxygen for high altitude flight (Sterling).

Wiley Post set many aviation records of the day. In 1931 he and navigator Harold Gatty broke the around-the-world record that had been held by the Graf Zeppelin. Their 15,000-mile-flight lasted 8 days, 15 hours, 51 minutes and included 13 refueling stops. The Winnie Mae had taken more than 11 days off of the previous record. The very next year he made the trip solo. He equipped the Lockheed Vega with two important pieces of new technology. They included an early autopilot from