Saturday Evening Post History Minute: 100 Years of Transatlantic Flight

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The Early Days of Aviation and Wiley Post

When Wiley Post flew around the world in fewer than eight days in 1933, he did so with only one working eye. The trip was the first solo flight around the world, and, upon his return, Post was an undisputed pioneer in the still-recent field of aviation.

Post was killed in 1935, along with Will Rogers, while he was flying the latter through Alaska in a modified aircraft. Throughout his life as an oil field worker, barnstormer, and private pilot, Post sought adventure with a ravenous yearning. In 1938, Lieutenant Beirne Lay, Jr.’s “No More Glamour,” a harrowing account of cross-country flight in this magazine, disregarded the notion that flying no longer held the perils and thrill of its early days. Lay’s story salutes the mavericks of his trade, like Earhart and Post, and pays homage to their courageous journeys.