Volume 13 , Issue 33

Wiley Post & The Winnie Mae of Oklahoma

Wiley Hardeman Post was born in Grand Saline, Van Zandt county, Texas, November 22, 1898, to farmer parents William Francis and Mae Quinlan Post. His family moved to Oklahoma when he was five. It was on July 22, 1933, Wiley Post flew solo around the world and set a record of 8 days 15 hours and 51 minutes. The famed American aviator, Wiley Hardeman Post, came from a humble upbringing in Oklahoma.

In the 1930 National Air Race from Los Angeles to California, Post received international recognition following his unexpected win as an unknown. Wiley Post, holder of two around-the-world aviation flight records, had contributed prominently to the advance of international aviation, including the study of the sub-stratosphere.



Wiley Post was the first pilot to fly solo around the world and known for his work in high altitude flying. Post helped develop one of the first pressure suits. Post's Lockheed Vega aircraft, the Winnie Mae is on display at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

Post's pressure suit is being prepared for display at the same location. Wiley Post's aviation career began at age 26 as a parachutist for a flying circus, Burrell Tibbs and His Texas Topnotch Fliers, and he became well known on the barnstorming circuit.

On October 1, 1926, an oil field accident cost him his left eye, but he used the settlement money to buy his first aircraft. It was around this time, Post met fellow Oklahoman Will Rogers when he flew Rogers to a rodeo, and the two eventually became close friends.

Wiley Post was the personal pilot of wealthy Oklahoma oilmen Powell Briscoe and F.C. Hall in 1930 when Hall bought a high-wing, single-engine Lockheed Vega, one of the most famous record-breaking aircraft of the early 1930s. The oilman nicknamed it, the Winnie Mae, after his daughter, and Post achieved his first national prominence in it by winning the National Air Race Derby, from Los Angeles to Chicago. The fuselage was inscribed: "Los Angeles to Chicago 9 hrs. 8 min. 2 sec. August 27, 1930." Adam Charles Williams finished second with a time of 9 hrs. 9 min. 4 sec. For more information on Wiley Hardeman Post.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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