Wiley Hardeman Post was born near Grand Saline, Texas in 1898. He died in an airplane takeoff crash with his dear friend Will Rogers, near Point Barrow, Alaska, on August 15, 1935. In the short 36 years that he lived, Post achieved more than most men who live to a ripe old age. His biography stands as an inspiration to the youth of America.

Post's exploits were varied. While a young man in oil fields, he lost an eye in December 1925. Post took the compensation, about $1800, and bought his first airplane. In it on June 27, 1927 he eloped from Sweetwater, Texas with Miss Mae Laine. In 1928 Post became a personal pilot to F.C. Hall, an Oklahoma oilman, and in Hall's plane the "Winnie Mae", he won the Derby of the National Air Races from Los Angeles to Chicago in 1930. On June 23, 1931 he and Harold Gatty, a navigator, took off from Roosevelt Field Long Island, and eight days, fifteen hours and fifty-one minutes later, touched down at Roosevelt Field after circling the Globe. In July 1933, he equipped his plane with a robot pilot and flew solo around the globe in seven days, eighteen hours and forty-nine minutes.

In 1934 he designed his "Man from Mars" flying suit and made an unofficial ascent to 49,000 feet. His altitude experiments, however, were merely incidental to his real purose of exploring the sub-stratosphere as a medium to high speed transport. He predicted the development of such craft as the supersonic transport and the possibility of space travel. He recognized the importance of biological rhythms to pilot proficiency and fatigue, and was one of the first to conduct human factors research in this altitude chamber which came to light many years later. He discovered the span of life years and truly stands as the pivotal point between the hit or miss techniques of open cockpit biplane era and the scientific approach of the aerospace age.

Post received the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1932 by act of Congress and won the Collier Trophy in the same year. In 1934 he won the Gold Medal of Belgium and the Harmon trophy. He was given two New York City ticker-tape parades and the keys to the City. He was honored twice at the White House by two Presidents - Hoover and Roosevelt, In short, Wiley Post was truly a great scientific aviation pioneer.