Robert van der Linden is with the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. He says the flight made history, but not just because it was the first time anyone had flown around the world by themselves.
“More importantly, at least from our perspective, was his use of technology in the aircraft, particularly the automatic pilot -- what he called ‘Mechanical Mike’ -- and the automatic direction-finding radio equipment, which enabled him to navigate much better. And, obviously, with the auto[matic] pilot, greatly reduced his workload during the flight.”
Sadly, Wiley Post’s story did not end happily. He was killed in 1935 when the airplane he was flying crashed in Alaska. Also killed in the crash was his close friend, the American humorist Will Rogers.
And that’s “As It Is.” We hope you enjoyed our program today.
Thanks to Kim Varzi, who wrote the program, and to Kim and June Simms, who presented it.
Every day on “As It Is” we explore the latest events and report on issues that concern you. We would love to know what you want to hear on the show.
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