One way to gauge the importance of the air mail service is through the lens of a pilot who was not “plugged in” to the aviation community, at least not as well networked as the air mail pilots who, as a collective and cohesive group, invented scheduled flight. Numerous aspiring pilots failed to find a career. Some found their own niche, but the air mail pilots were their own club that supported each other, pushed each other, and inspired each other.
Willey Post’s flying career demonstrates the challenges of one attempting to become a pilot outside of the backbone of the Post Office and the developing airlines which it supported it. Post, like many pilots, had an early love of machinery and tinkering. He tried to become a flier during World War I, but the war ended before he could be trained. His career started as a parachutist, when some of the pilots gave him lessons. The barnstorming circuit was profitable for a couple of years, but as flying became more commonplace, Post began seeking other work.
Post eventually found work with an oil company, who felt that cutting down travel time in Oklahoma would allow them to get an edge in oil deals. This had Post traveling across the state, largely in remote areas using a variety of landing fields. While the air mail pilots began to have the benefit of improving airports, longer runways, and well marked flight paths, Post became known for quick take offs on rough runways. When in need of cash he worked in the oil fields, where an accident resulting in the loss of one eye killed any realistic chance he had of flying for a larger organization. Despite his diligent work in regaining his depth perception, his handicap took him out of contention.
Post was not completely without connections, but his noteworthy flying consisted of independent endeavors rather than team efforts. FC Hall, the businessman who initially hired Post, covered extraneous flying expenses, including Posts entry into the National Air Race from Los Angeles to Chicago in 1930, which Post won. In 1931, Post and an Australian navigator, Harold Gatty, set a record for flying around the World in 8 days, 15 hours, and 51 minutes. In 1933 Post soloed around the world, beating his old record by almost one day. Post also did groundbreaking work on pressure suits and high altitude flight, including working with the Jet stream.
These accomplishments did not come easily. Money never ceased to be an issue, both for personal use and in finding sponsors for projects. The loss of his eye made it difficult to find a steady aviation job, which increased the difficulty of becoming part of the community, rather than an adventurer on the outskirts.
Post is most famous for piloting the plane which crashed in northern Alaska in 1935, where he died along with famed newspaper columnist Will Rogers. The crash can pretty well exclusively be blamed on Post’s decision to modify a plane with different wings and pontoons, making it nose heavy.
Rogers was more of an acquaintance of Post’s rather than a close friend. Rogers was also a huge supporter of aviation. His connections also included Charles Lindbergh and Billy Mitchell. But despite his love of flight, he had no technical knowledge of planes. Had Post had the connections, would he have chosen another pilot or navigator, one who would have pushed the issue on the safety of the plane? Especially since his plans included heading into Russia. He initially contacted Fay Gillis, one of the foremost female fliers in the United States who also earned accolades for her free lance articles from the Soviet Union while her family was stationed there. She helped Post arrange the logistics of the Russian portion of his solo flight around the world. But she was not available for Post’s trip, which seemed to include plans to return to Russia.
Post’s exploits, with a handful of supporters and loose connections is a far cry from the tales of the Post Office pilots, where a core group supported each other both on and off the field. During the 1920s, pilots flew together, socialized together, rescued each other along with the mail, buried fellow pilots, and in at least one case served as godparent’s to each other’s children. Some went on to tackle other projects together.
How would Post’s life have been different had he been able to become fully part of the mail pilots, or even of the growing flying community? Perhaps he and Will Rodgers would have died old men in Oklahoma. Or perhaps he would not have begun investigating the jet stream and pressure suits. In any case, his life highlights the value of the community of pilots that conquered the skies.
Forgotten Eagle, Bryan B. Sterling and Frances N. Sterling, Caroll and Graf Publishers, New York, 2001.
Around the World in Eight Days, Wiley Post and Harold Gatty, Orion Books, New York, initially published in 1931.