Background:

Harold Charles Gatty was born at Cambelltown in Tasmania in 1903. In 1917, he entered the Royal Australian Naval College at Jervis bay, in New South Wales. After a few years, he became a merchant seaman, serving on various ships plying between Australia and New Zealand. He had developed a keen interest in navigation by this time.1927 saw him take up residency in the United States of America. There was widespread public interest in Aviation, but methods and instruments for aerial navigation were woefully inadequate and in Los Angeles, Gatty opened a small navigation school and laboratory, repairing instruments and making air-route maps. His revolutionary ideas on navigation attracted the attention of many famous American aviators. He also worked with the U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander P.V.H. Weems, on a Manual entitled “Weems System of Air Navigation”.

In 1930, Canadian pilot, Harold Bromley, invited Gatty to be his navigator on a flight which was to be the first attempt to cross the Pacific between Honshu in Japan and Washington in the U.S.A. After to return due to fuel tank problems. With no radio and fog all the way, Gatty navigated Bromley back to their starting position on Honshu, using only his dead-reckoning techniques. The flight may not have been a success but to Gatty, his instrument, a Ground Speed and Drift Indicator, which he had designed and constructed, had proved itself.

Then one eyed pilot, Wiley Post entered Gatty’s life. In 1931, Post enlisted Gatty to be his navigator on an attempt to break the record for a round the world flight. The aircraft chosen for the flight was a single-engined Lockheed-Vega, which they called the “Winnie Mae”. It had a 510 h.p. Wasp motor with a cruising speed of 150 m.p.h. (with favourable winds). With 500 gallons of fuel, its range On 23 Júne, 1931, Post and Gatty embarked on their epic flight. First stop was Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, then on to Chester, England. Berlin was the next landing, followed by Moscow. On to Novo-Sibirsk (Siberia) and then Blagoveschensk (Siberia). They then headed for Alaska touching down at Nome. Edmonton, Canada provided them with a riotous reception and a problem.

The airfield was a mire and the “Winnie Mae” could not get a footing to take off. A rare spectacle ensued – Portage Avenue, a main thoroughfare in Edmonton, was to become a runway for the “Winnie Mae”. Power lines were removed to enable the aircraft to roar down the Avenue’s tram tracks, past shops, flats and cheering crowds on the final leg of their journey. Finally, New York, their starting point, was on the horizon. In eight days, 15 hours and 51 minutes, they had covered 15,500 miles (24,939 kilometres). An amazing feat. Their actual flying time was 106 hours 8 minutes. Post and Gatty were treated to a ticker-tape welcome in New York. Instant fame for both men. Gatty was awarded the D.F.C. the first non-American to be given this high distinction. The President offered him immediate American citizenship, but Gatty declined. Gatty was appointed head of the Air Navigation and Training Research Unit in the U.S. Air Force.