Forgotten Eagle: Wiley Post, America's Heroic Aviation Pioneer

Drawn from thirty years of research, a fascinating portrait of Wiley Post, the pilot who circled the earth alone in a single-engine plane, recreates his life, from his poverty-stricken childhood in Texas to a brief career in armed robbery that sent him to jail in 1921, to his mysterious death, and details how he overcame many challenges and obstacles to become a parachute jumper, stunt pilot, barnstormer, and record-setting aviator.

This workmanlike pop history centers on this incident on August 15, 1935: an airplane took off from a short and icy lagoon near Barrow, Alaska, rose sharply and banked to the right; moments later, it plunged into two feet of water, killing both men aboard. One of them was American showman and writer Will Rogers, whose life (and death) the Sterlings have covered at length (Will Rogers in Hollywood, etc.). The life, times and coincidental death of the fated plane's pilot, Wiley Post, are documented here in minute detail. After an oil derrick accident cost him an eye and nearly his commercial flying career, the often brazen Post persevered and became one of America's foremost aviators. In 1931, he and Harold Gatty set a world record by circling the globe in just over eight days; two years later, Post bested himself by pulling off the same feat solo. During both circumnavigations, he discovered and relied on a constant and exceedingly strong jet stream above 20,000 feet. Post's important discovery in atmospheric dynamics also led to the creation of a pressurized pilot suit the prototype for what astronauts wear in space. But for all Post's accomplishments, he hasn't been remembered. The Sterlings present a wealth of information here be it minutiae from the crash investigation or Post's exploits as a highwayman and daredevil. While their subject never ceases to entice, the high flier's tale is weighed down by ponderous detail; the pace suffers and the living man doesn't quite come into focus.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

If people have heard of Wiley Post at all, they've likely heard of him in connection with the 1935 crash of the plane he was piloting with humorist Will Rogers aboard, a crash in which both men were killed. This connection with his famous fellow Oklahoman has earned Post a minor footnote in history, but he deserves more. In his relatively brief career, Post was a real innovator and competitor in the world of aviation. He designed a record-setting high-pressure suit, for example, and, in addition to being a winning air race pilot, he flew around the world in 1931, beating the record established by the Graf Zeppelin airship. The story of this flight, originally published in 1931, was reissued in 1989 as Around the World in Eight Days to favorable reviews (LJ 3/1/90). This is the first biography of Post, and the Sterlings, who have written several books on Will Rogers, have done a careful, serviceable job of describing his upbringing in Texas and Oklahoma, his involvement in oil field work, and his subsequent aviation career. Highly recommended for public libraries in the Southwest and to other libraries where there is interest in aviation history and American biography. Charles V. Cowling, Drake Memorial Lib., Brockport, NY

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Unlike Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart, Wiley Post is not a household name in the field of aviation. But Post was the first pilot to circle the earth alone in a single-engine plane, the Winnie May, in July 1933. Three years earlier he came in first in a race from Los Angeles nonstop to Chicago, winning $7,500. In the summer of 1931, with a navigator, Post flew the Winnie Mae around the world in a record-breaking eight days. In his solo flight two years later he shaved 21 hours off his old record. Post's career ended in August 1935, in Barrow, Alaska, where he and his passenger, the humorist Will Rogers, died when Post's plane crashed while taking off. The Sterlings based their extensive biography on 30 years researching private and public documents, as well as on interviews, and the result is the first full portrait of an extraordinary airman. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved