Today In History:  22 July  [1933]   --  Wiley Post completes the first solo flight around the world

One-eyed pilot Wiley Post lands after completing the first solo flight around the world. Post pioneers the early development of a pressure suit and proves the value of navigating instruments, especially his automatic pilot. He departed from Floyd Bennett Field and continued on to Berlin where repairs were attempted to his autopilot, stopped at Königsberg to replace some forgotten maps, Moscow for more repairs to his autopilot, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk for final repairs to the autopilot, Rukhlovo, Khabarovsk, Flat where his propeller had to be replaced, Fairbanks, Edmonton, and back to Floyd Bennett Field. Fifty thousand people greeted him on his return on July 22 after 7 days, 18 hours, 49 minutes.

PHOTO: Lft front view from below of the Lockheed Model 5B Vega "Winnie Mae" (r/n NR-105-W) on display in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's National Mall Building, Washington, D.C.

Photo Attribution:  CC0 via Wikimedia.