On This Day 85 Years Ago – Around the world in 8 days!

On 23rd June 1931 Wiley Post and his navigator, Harold Gatty took off for a round the world flight in their single-engine airplane to return on July 1st having completed the trip in a record time of eight days 15 hours 51 minutes.

Wiley Post & Harold Gatty left Roosevelt Field on Long Island, New York in the Winnie Mae (a Lockheed Vega aircraft) with a flight plan that would take them around the world traveling 15,474 miles (24,903 km).

They made fourteen stops:

  1. Harbour Grace
  2. Flintshire
  3. Hanover (twice)
  4. Berlin
  5. Moscow
  6. Novosibirsk
  7. Irkutsk
  8. Blagoveshchensk
  9. Khabarovsk
  10. Nome (where the propellor had to be repaired)
  11. Fairbanks (where the propeller was replaced)
  12. Edmonton
  13. Cleveland
  14. Roosevelt Field

The previous record was held by the airship Graf Zeppelin, piloted by Hugo Eckener in 1929 with a time of 21 days.

Wiley Post and Harold Gatty published an account of their journey titled: Around the World in Eight Days although 2 years later he managed to do the trip in 7 days flying solo! The following year he developed a pressure suit which enabled him to fly at 50,000 feet. He discovered the jet stream and made the first major practical advances in pressurized flight. Read more […]

Winnie Mae, a Lockheed Vega 5C, with Wiley Post before the flight around the world!
Wiley Post and his Lockheed Vega 5B “Winnie Mae” before his later solo flight around the world in 7 days on 15th July 1933!
The route around the world in 1933. The 1931 route was much the same!
The route around the world in 1933. The 1931 route was much the same!

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