Smithsonian
  • Navigating
    at Sea
    • Challenges of Sea Navigation
    • Navigating Without a Clock
    • The Longitude Problem
    • The U.S. Goes to Sea
    • Navigate at Sea! Activity
  • Navigating
    in the Air
    • Challenges of Air Navigation
    • Early Air Navigators
    • Navigation at War
    • Navigate the Skies! Activity
  • Navigating
    in Space
    • Challenges of Space Navigation
    • Reaching for the Moon
    • Navigating in Deep Space
    • Navigate in Space! Activity
  • Satellite Navigation
    • Challenges of Satellite Navigation
    • Reliable Global Navigation
    • Global Positioning System (GPS)
    • Who Uses Satellite Navigation
  • Navigation
    for Everyone
    • Meet a Professional Navigator
    • Personal Navigation Stories
  • Timeline of Innovation
  • Artifacts
  • Learning Resources
  • Multimedia Gallery
  • Research
  • Visit the Exhibition

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Time and Navigation Home
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Time and Navigation
The untold story of getting from here to there.
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  • Navigating at Sea
  • Navigating in the Air
  • Navigating in Space
  • Satellite Navigation
  • Navigation for Everyone
  • Timeline of Innovation
  • Artifacts
  • Learning Resources
  • Multimedia Gallery
  • Research Journal
  • Visit the Exhibition
  • Challenges of Air Navigation
    • Flying Boats Cross the Seas
    • Overcoming the Challenges
      • Celestial Navigation
      • Radio Navigation
      • Dead Reckoning
    • Navigate the Skies! Activity
  • Early Air Navigators
    • Dying to Set Records
    • Charles Lindbergh's Calculated Risk
    • The Business of Air Navigation
      • The Teacher: P. V. H. Weems
      • The Air Navigation Community
      • Radio Time for Aviation
    • Lindbergh's New Tools
    • Two Men in a Hurry
      • The Winnie Mae
      • Meet the Navigator: Harold Gatty
    • Navigation Gone Wrong: Amelia Earhart
  • Navigation at War
    • The Wartime Navigator
      • Harry Crosby
      • Tools of the Trade
    • Naval Aviation
      • Meet the Navigators: WAVES
    • A New Era in Time and Navigation
      • Hyperbolic Systems
      • LORAN
      • Meet the Clockmaker: Alfred Loomis
  • Navigate the Skies! Activity

Explore More

"Russian Fliers of Over-the-Pole Record Flight" [Run Time 1:08] »
Captain Jacope Calò Carducci, Italy »
Westport Radio Compass Indicator »
Lieutenant Colonel Ulisse Longo, Italy »
Francisco Iglesias Brage, Spain »

The Winnie Mae

The Winnie Mae, a special Lockheed Model 5C Vega flown by famed aviator Wiley Post, completed two around-the-world record flights and a series of special high-altitude substratospheric research flights. It was named for the daughter of its original owner, F. C. Hall, who hired Post to pilot the plane.

With the consent of his employer, Post entered the Winnie Mae in the National Air Races and piloted the plane to the first of its records, now inscribed on the side of its fuselage: “Los Angeles to Chicago 9 hrs. 9 mn. 4 sec. Aug. 27, 1930.”

On June 23, 1931, Post began an around-the-world flight to try to bring prestige to the United States by shattering the previous 21-day record set by the German airship Graf Zepplin. Post lacked training in most navigational techniques and selected Harold Gatty as his navigator. The Tasmanian-born Gatty was the chief instructor for the Weems System of Navigation and regarded by many as the most capable air navigator in the nation. Gatty utilized the tools and techniques of the Weems System for the flight, including his prototype drift meter, which became highly successful in later forms. Gatty occupied the main cabin, and Post had a hatch installed in the cabin ceiling behind the wing spar, so Gatty could make his celestial observations.

On July 15, 1933, Post left New York. Closely following his former route but making only 11 stops, he circled the world in 7 days, 18 hours, and 49 minutes. Post knew no more about navigation in 1933 than in 1931, so his decision to go solo without a navigator was far riskier. Fortunately, both the radio compass and autopilot worked flawlessly, and he completed the flight with minimal trouble.

Post next modified the Winnie Mae for long-distance, high-altitude operation. He recognized the need to develop some means of enabling the pilot to operate in a cabin atmosphere of greater density than the outside atmospheric environment. Because of its design, the Winnie Mae could not be equipped with a pressure cabin. Post therefore asked the B. F. Goodrich Company to assist him in developing a full-pressure suit for the pilot. Post hoped that by equipping the plane with an engine supercharger and jettisonable landing gear, and himself with a pressure suit, he could cruise for long distances at high altitude in the jetstream. On March 15, 1935, Post flew from Burbank, California, to Cleveland, Ohio, a distance of 2,035 miles, in 7 hours, 19 minutes. At times, the Winnie Mae attained a ground speed of 340 miles per hour, indicating that the airplane was indeed operating in the jetstream.

Wiley Post died shortly afterward in the crash of a hybrid Lockheed Orion-Sirius floatplane near Point Barrow, Alaska, on August 15, 1935. His companion, humorist Will Rogers, also perished in the accident. The Smithsonian Institution acquired the Winnie Mae from Mrs. Post in 1936.

During its high-altitude flight research, the Winnie Mae made use of a special tubular steel landing gear developed by Lockheed engineers Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson and James Gerschler. It was released after takeoff by the pilot using a cockpit lever, thus reducing the total drag of the plane and eliminating its weight. The Winnie Mae would then continue on its flight and land on a special metal-covered spruce landing skid glued to the fuselage.

During these flights, Post wore the world’s first practical pressure suit, an important step on the road to human space travel. The suit was the third type developed by Post and Russell S. Colley of the B. F. Goodrich Company. It consisted of three layers: long underwear. an inner black rubber air-pressure bladder, and an outer contoured cloth suit. A pressure helmet was then bolted onto the suit. It had a removable faceplate Post could seal when he reached an altitude of 17,000 feet. The helmet had an oxygen system and could accommodate earphones and a throat microphone. The suit could withstand an internal pressure of 7 pounds per square inch. Bandolera-type cords prevented the helmet from rising as the suit was pressurized. A liquid oxygen container, consisting of a double-walled vacuum bottle, utilized the natural "boil off" tendencies of supercold liquid oxygen to furnish gaseous oxygen for suit pressurization and breathing purposes. This early full-pressure suit is the direct ancestor of full-pressure suits used on the X-15 research airplane and manned space voyages. The Winnie Mae, its jettisonable landing gear, and Post’s pressure suit are in the collection of the National Air and Space Museum.

 

nasm2012-02195.jpg

E. S. Ritchie Aperiodic Compass from the Winnie Mae
This aperiodic compass salvaged from Wiley Post's 1935 fatal crash had previously flown in the Winnie Mae.
Credit: National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution

winnie_mae.jpg

The Winnie Mae on Display
Wiley Post extensively modified the Winnie Mae for his 1931 around-the-world flight with Harold Gatty.
Credit: National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

336-ah_-_2_-_winnie_mae_diagram_-_weems_gatty_papers.jpg

Winnie Mae Equipment Diagram
Wiley Post extensively modified the Winnie Mae for his 1931 around-the-world flight with Harold Gatty.
Credit: National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution

graphic_drawing_of_gatty_drift_meter_-_weems_gatty_papers_-_volume_ii_-_sae_journal_article.jpg

Gatty Drift Indicator Diagram
Line drawing of the prototype Gatty drift meter.
Credit: National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution

336-portrait-of-harold-gatty.jpg

Harold Gatty
Developed navigation tools, trained distance fliers in air navigation, and advised the Army Air Corps
Credit: National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

round_the_world_in_six_days_-_winnie_mae_1933_-_pathe_729.33.mp4

"Round the World in Six Days" [Run Time 2:02]
Winnie Mae 1933
Credit: WPA Film Library

wiley_post_new_hero_of_the_air_-_post_1933_flight_-_pathe_578.21.mp4

"Wiley Post New Hero of the Air" [Run Time 0:23]
Post 1933 flight
Credit: WPA Film Library

winnie_mae_in_new_york_1933_-_pathe_578.21.mp4

"Winnie Mae in New York 1933" [Run Time 0:30]
Winnie Mae displayed in 1933
Credit: WPA Film Library
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  • Navigating at Sea
    • Challenges of Sea Navigation
    • Navigating Without a Clock
    • The Longitude Problem
    • The U.S. Goes to Sea
    • Navigate at Sea! Activity
  • Navigating in the Air
    • Challenges of Air Navigation
    • Early Air Navigators
      • Dying to Set Records
      • Charles Lindbergh's Calculated Risk
      • The Business of Air Navigation
      • Lindbergh's New Tools
      • Two Men in a Hurry
        • The Winnie Mae
        • Meet the Navigator: Harold Gatty
      • Navigation Gone Wrong: Amelia Earhart
    • Navigation at War
    • Navigate the Skies! Activity
  • Navigating in Space
    • Challenges of Space Navigation
    • Reaching for the Moon
    • Navigating in Deep Space
    • Navigate in Space! Activity
  • Satellite Navigation
    • Challenges of Satellite Navigation
    • Reliable Global Navigation
    • Global Positioning System (GPS)
    • Who Uses Satellite Navigation
  • Navigation for Everyone
    • Meet a Professional Navigator
    • Personal Navigation Stories
  • Timeline of Innovation
  • Artifacts
  • Learning Resources
  • Multimedia Gallery
  • Research
  • Visit the Exhibition
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  • Privacy
  • Contact
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  • Press
  • Donate
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