Wiley Post
| Wiley Post | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Wiley Hardeman Post November 22, 1898 Van Zandt County, Texas, US |
| Died | August 15, 1935 (aged 36) Point Barrow, Alaska, US |
| Occupation | Aviator |
| Spouse(s) | Mae Laine (m. June 27, 1927) |
| Parent(s) | William Francis Post and Mae Quinlan Post |
Wiley Hardeman Post (November 22, 1898 – August 15, 1935) was a famed American aviator during the interwar period, the first pilot to fly solo around the world. Also known for his work in high-altitude flying, Post helped develop one of the first pressure suits and discovered the jet stream. On August 15, 1935, Post and American humorist Will Rogers were killed when Post's aircraft crashed on takeoff from a lagoon near Point Barrow in the Territory of Alaska.
Post's Lockheed Vega aircraft, the Winnie Mae, was on display at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center from 2003 to 2011. It is now featured in the "Time and Navigation" gallery on the second floor of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
Post was born to cotton farmer parents, William Francis and Mae Quinlan Post. His family moved to Oklahoma when he was five. He was an indifferent student, but managed to complete the sixth grade. By 1920 his family settled on a farm near Maysville, Oklahoma.
Young Wiley's first view of an aircraft in flight came in 1913 at the county fair in Lawton, Oklahoma. The plane was a Curtiss-Wright "Pusher type". The event so inspired him that he immediately enrolled in the Sweeney Automobile and Aviation School in Kansas City. Seven months later, he returned to Oklahoma and went to work at the Chickasaw and Lawton Construction Company.
During World War I Post wanted to become a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Service (USAS). Joining the training camp at the University of Oklahoma, he learned radio technology. Germany surrendered before he completed his training, the war ended, and he went to work as a "roughneck" in the Oklahoma oilfields. The work was unsteady and he turned briefly to armed robbery. He was arrested in 1921 and sent to the Oklahoma State Reformatory. Serving more than a year in the Oklahoma State Reformatory, he was paroled in the summer of 1922. .
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