Grand Saline in Van Zandt County, Texas — The American South (West South Central)

Wiley Hardeman Post

(1898 - 1935)

Photographed by Jeff Leichsenring, November 27, 2023

1. Wiley Hardeman Post Marker

Inscription. Pioneer aviator Wiley Hardeman Post was born on November 22, 1898, in the community of Corinth in Van Zandt County, to William Francis and Mae Laine Post, who moved to Oklahoma when Wiley was a boy. Wiley was inspired as a youth to learn to fly. In the late 1920s he obtained flight training, made his first solo flight, and acquired an air transport license. Despite the loss of one eye in an oil field accident, Post worked as a barnstormer, commercial pilot and flight instructor.

Post set many flight records and won the national air races in 1930. He and Harold Gatty circled the world, flying 15,474 miles in less than 9 days in 1931. Post soloed around the world in less than 8 days in 1933.

Post invented and developed the first pressurized flight suit, explored stratospheric flight, and used an early Sperry autopilot mechanism. He worked with the U. S. Army Air Corps on an experimental automatic direction finding (ADF) radio compass, and was a pioneer in the use of liquid oxygen for high altitude flight. Post and humorist Will Rogers died in a plane crash on a trip to Alaska in 1935. His plane the "Winnie Mae" is

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in the Smithsonian Institution's Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Erected 1996 by Texas Historical Commission. (Marker Number 11432.)

Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Air & Space. A significant historical date for this entry is November 22, 1898.

Location. 32° 40.484′ N, 95° 42.592′ W. Marker is in Grand Saline, Texas, in Van Zandt County. It is at the intersection of West Garland Street (U.S. 80) and North Main Street, on the right when traveling west on West Garland Street. The marker is located in front of The Salt Palace museum. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 100 W Garland Street, Grand Saline TX 75140, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in the American South

and in the Piney Woods.

Globally, it is in North America,

a Gulf of Mexico state,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain,

the Republic of Texas,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 5 miles of this marker,

Photographed by Jeff Leichsenring, November 27, 2023

2. Wiley Hardeman Post Marker

measured as the crow flies: First Methodist Church of Grand Saline (approx. 0.2 miles away); Grand Saline, C.S.A. (approx. 0.6 miles away); Poletown and Rhodesburg (approx. 1.3 miles away); Jordans Saline (approx. 1½ miles away); Creagleville (approx. 2.6 miles away); Benjamin Franklin Wheeler (approx. 2.9 miles away); Mercer's Colony Eastern Boundary (approx. 3 miles away); Sand Flat Community (approx. 4.7 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Grand Saline.

Credits. This page was last revised on November 30, 2023. It was originally submitted on November 29, 2023, by Jeff Leichsenring of Garland, Texas. This page has been viewed 421 times since then and 42 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on November 29, 2023, by Jeff Leichsenring of Garland, Texas. • James Hulse was the editor who published this page.