Gatty prepared route charts for the whole flight with headings and timing based on still-air conditions. These he would adjust with actual data gained in flight from his drift and ground-speed indicator, backed by shots of sun and stars taken with his air sextant. To help speed up his in-flight navigation fixing, Gatty also prepared preplotted Weems curves for every leg of the flight.

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Post and Gatty took off from New York's Roosevelt Field on June 23, 1931, and flew to Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, in less than seven hours, averaging a sizzling 184 mph. As they refueled, Gatty bought lunch at the airport cafe. He had just one dollar in his pocket, which he spent on sandwiches. Post was a little better off, with $28 tucked in his wallet.

Gatty later recalled the scene as his companion ran up the Vega's 450-hp Pratt and Whitney Wasp engine prior to the transatlantic takeoff: 'Wiley let the motor roar out its defiance to the 1,900 miles or more of open water which lay beyond the tranquil harbour. He cocked his one good ear to the tune of the exhaust, and his one good eye was glued to the tachometer.'

In fact, clouds and rain forced Post to fly virtually blind for much of the Atlantic crossing. Crammed down in the back behind a huge cockpit fuel tank, Gatty pored over his charts and occasionally peered down through his drift indicator. From time to time, he called to Post through a specially installed speaking tube, saying, 'Three degrees more to the left, Wiley,' or 'a little more to the right.

They landed at Royal Air Force Base Sealand, near Liverpool, England, having crossed the Atlantic in a record time of 16 hours and 17 minutes. Later that day they reached Berlin, where a huge crowd assembled. Utterly exhausted after 35 hours without sleep, the airmen took a nine-hour break.

The flight to Moscow was made in terrible conditions, with the plane battered by head winds and their speed reduced to 100 mph. Gatty wrote in his log: 'Heavy rain, hedge-hopping. No visibility.' Minutes later he added: 'Hell! Rain and more rain. Strong headwinds. Toughest part of the flight so far.' Post later said they could have never completed that leg had they not had blind-flying instrumentation.

Moscow's October Airport was deserted when they arrived. Later that night, however, the two airmen were feted at an elaborate banquet—and managed to get only two hours' sleep. The following morning they headed toward Siberia, where, during the refueling stop at rain-soaked Khabarovsk, a team of horses was needed to pull the Vega out of the mud.

While they were crossing the Bering Sea, storms forced them down to the wave tops. When they landed on the beach at Solomon, Alaska, the Vega hit a patch of soft sand and nosed over, bending a prop. Here, Post's years of laboring on an oil rig paid off. Using a hammer, a wrench and a flat stone, he managed to straighten the blades.

There was another brush with disaster when they prepared to restart the engine. As Gatty turned the propeller to prime the engine, it backfired and the flat side of the blade caught the navigator on the shoulder. Dazed and badly bruised, Gatty clambered back on board, after which Post took off for Fairbanks, where mechanics installed a new propeller.

Arriving in pouring rain at Edmonton, Canada, they were besieged by newsmen. 'Say something,' beseeched radio reporters, shoving microphones at the exhausted airmen. 'I'm tired of sitting down,' grunted Post. 'We're tired and we're dirty and not much to look at anyway,' added Gatty. The next morning, fearful of bogging down on Edmonton's soaked airfield, Post took off from the paved street leading into the city.

All hell broke loose when Winnie Mae touched down back at Roosevelt Field after a flight lasting eight days, 15 hours and 51 minutes. The pair was mobbed by a cheering crowd, and New York gave them the city's traditional hero's greeting, a ticker tape parade.

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