Wiley Post Autographs, Memorabilia & Collectibles

In 1931, Australian HAROLD GATTY (1903-1957) was the navigator for American pilot WILEY POST (1898-1935) on their record-setting flight around the world in eight days, 15 hours and 51 minutes, the first circumnavigation of the world by a fixed-wing aircraft. The eastward flight of the single-engine Winnie Mae began at Roosevelt Field, Long Island on June 23, 1931 and ended there on July 1, 1931 after ten stops en route. This flight of 8 days, 15 hours and 51 minutes easily bested the 21-day mark set by the German dirigible Graf Zeppelin. For this flight, Gatty and Post became the first civilians to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross. Lindbergh once called Gatty "the best navigator in the country if not in the whole world." During World War II, Gatty served with the US and Australian air forces in the Southwest Pacific, and wrote a survival guide for airmen downed at sea, which was subsequently included in flyers' survival kits. Post, a barnstorming pilot in the 1920s, lost his left eye in an oil field accident in 1926, but used the settlement money to buy his own aircraft. (Post did not wear his famous eye patch in this portrait photo.) In July 1933, after installing prototype autopilot and radio direction finder, Post became the first to fly solo around the world! On August 15, 1935, however, Post and his close friend, beloved actor, writer and humorist Will Rogers, were killed in the crash of their plane near Point Barrow, Alaska.