Today one can barely find a trace of Wiley Post's great accomplishment in the vast field of concrete at the now-closed airport, save for a small marker on the spot where he landed. Here we see him as he climbs out of the cockpit of his Lockheed Vega monoplane “Winnie Mae” after completing the first solo flight around the world, arriving at Floyd Bennett Field at the end of Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, N.Y., around midnight on July 22, 1933.
   Eighty-two years ago, Wiley had set a new record for flying a distance of 15,596 miles, (25,099 kilometers,) in 7 days, 18 hours, and 49 minutes. The American aviator was the first person in history to fly solo around the world.
   Post, instantly recognizable by the patch he wore over one eye, began the journey on July 15, 1933, setting another record as the first aircraft to fly nonstop between New York and Berlin.
   After a brief rest, he flew on to the Soviet Union, where he made several stops before returning to North America, with stops in Alaska, Canada, and finally a triumphant landing at his starting point in New York.
   The next day everybody celebrated Post with a ticker tape parade down lower Broadway’s “Canyon Of Heroes.”
   Two years earlier, Post had won fame when he successfully flew around the northern part of the earth with aviator Harold Gatty. For his solo around-the-world flight in 1933, he flew a slightly greater distance--15,596 miles--in less time.
   For both flights, he used the Winnie Mae, a Lockheed Vega monoplane that was equipped with a Sperry automatic pilot and a direction radio for Post’s solo journey.
   In August 1935 he attempted to fly across the North Pole to the USSR with American humorist Will Rogers (above left) when both men were killed in a crash near Point Barrow, Alaska.
Geoffrey

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