Post was an incorrigible daredevil, always on lookout for adventure. He never shied away from danger and many Americans had been greatly inspired by the way he overcame his severe impairment and became a celebrated pilot.

What can a pilot with only one eye do? Plenty, if he happened to be Wiley Post. Born on November 22, 1898, in Grand Saline, Texas, USA, Wiley Hardeman Post longed to be an aviator even as a teenager. When a barnstormer needed a substitute for his injured skydiver, Wiley volunteered, although he had never parachuted before. In two years, he made 99 jumps. But piloting is what he craved and he kept his dream alive despite his humdrum job in a Texas oilfield. In 1926, an industrial accident lodged a splinter in his eye. A serious infection developed that threatened his vision in both eyes. So he reluctantly agreed to the doctor’s proposal to remove the injured eye in a desperate attempt to save the other. The operation worked, but it left him seriously handicapped. However, the silver lining was a compensation cheque of $1,800 with which he bought his first plane, a Curtiss Canuck. He quickly became proficient enough to teach others to fly, ferry oilmen to their rigs, and barnstorm on the side. Since depth perception was a problem, he learned to use telephone poles and buildings to judge the height while coming in to land.

Post’s big break came when his employer, the wealthy Oklahoma oilman F.C. Hall bought a highwing, single-engine Lockheed Vega. Named the Winnie Mae, after his daughter, he gave Post a free run with it. The beautifully streamlined plane was actually a six-passenger transport aircraft, with a crew of two. Lockheed built only 130 Vegas and they acquired a reputation for rugged reliability and airworthiness, becoming one of the most famous aircraft of the period. In 1930, Post flying the Winnie Mae won the Men’s Air Derby, a race from Los Angeles to Chicago, and part of the US National Air Races.

Wiley Post was an incorrigible daredevil, always on the lookout for adventure, and he next set his heart on breaking the record for flying around the world. The existing mark had been set by a Graf Zeppelin airship, with a time of 21 days. On June 23, 1931, Post and his navigator, Harold Gatty, left Long Island, New York, in the Winnie Mae. Post had made several modifications including an improved instrument panel, adjustable seats, and a special navigation station. Despite over a dozen halts and many emergency repairs, they arrived back after covering 24,903 km in a record time of eight days, 15 hours and 51 minutes. The two became heroes overnight. However, in an ironical twist to the tale, some people began to talk about the Post’s rural background and limited formal education and claim that Gatty, a wellknown Australian navigator and aviator, had been the real brains behind their trans-global feat.

That did it. Post began planning a solo trip around the world. In those days of rudimentary instruments, flying longdistance without a navigator was a huge strain for the pilot, who had to determine the position and maintain the desired track while flying the plane. Many aviators believed a solo trans-global flight was well-nigh impossible. Post took off from New York on July 15, 1933, in the Winnie Mae. He had two new flight instruments—a Sperry gyroscope and a radio direction finder. The gyroscope automatically corrected the plane if it deviated from its heading, while the radio direction finder helped him navigate towards selected radio transmitters. Although Post experienced problems with his gyroscope and suffered a bent propeller, he repaired both items and maintained his planned pace. The result was a new around-the-world record of seven days 18 hours and 49 minutes. He had slept just 20 hours during the entire journey. Fifty thousand people greeted him on his return and his detractors were silenced.