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Harold Gatty's name is most frequently paired with that
of
Wiley Post. The pair circumnavigated
the world in a famous Lockheed Vega named "Winnie Mae".
The Post-Gatty record flight occurred on June 23 to July
1, 1931. They completed the flight in 8 days 15 hours 51
minutes, traveling 15,474 miles, averaging 147 miles an
hour. Total actual flying time was 107 hours and 2 minutes.
They took on 3,455 gallons of gasoline in 14 days. Try
this link
for a capsule description of their flight, along with some
images. Note that it mentions very little about Gatty. Please
follow this link to see an image of Gatty. Another, excellent black & white portrait of Gatty is at this Smithsonian link.
Harold Gatty visited the Davis-Monthan Airfield as a passenger
with Post on February 17, 1931. They were flying a Lockheed
Vega, but did not identify it by registration number in
the Register. Therefore, without access to Post's pilot
logs, it's not possible to determine if the airplane was
the "Winnie
Mae" (probability is pretty high that it was, since
their visit to Tucson preceeded their world flight by just
four months). They were traveling eastbound from Burbank,
CA to Oklahoma City.
AND NOW TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD...
About 65 kilometers south of Launceston, Tasmania is located
Campbelltown. On the main highway, just north of the town,
on a sunny corner location, is an understated memorial to
the achievements of Harold Gatty.
Harold Gatty was born in Campbelltown in 1903 and is considered
one of the town's important citizens.
The image at left is the only signage calling attention to
his memorial.
Facing the memorial entrance, below, you see an arched gateway
with a pylon mounting a globe and a small metal model of a
Lockheed Vega on top. Note the two plaques at the base of
the pylon.
Below is the top plaque, added in 1981 to commemorate the
50th anniversary of the flight of the" Winnie Mae".
The lower, original plaque is shown below...
Below are two closer looks at the globe and Vega finial on
the pylon...
Below, your Webmaster at the Gatty Memorial, November, 2005.
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Dossier 2.3.3
THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 12/23/05 REVISED: 10/17/07
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