The "Dawn to dusk" transcontinental flight across the United States was a pioneering aviation record established June 23, 1924. Aviation refers to activities involving man-made flying devices ( Aircraft) including the people organizations and regulatory bodies involved with them Events 1180 - First Battle of Uji, starting the Genpei War in Japan 1305 - The Flemish Year 1924 ( MCMXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. It marked the first crossing of the North American continent within the hours of daylight.
The record was set by 1st Lt. Russell L. Maughan, a U.S. Army Air Service test pilot at McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio, the site of the Air Service Engineering Division and its major flight-test center. Russell Lowell Maughan was a pioneer aviator and US military pilot The United States Army Air Service was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Test pilots are Aviators who fly new and modified Aircraft in specific maneuvers allowing the results to be measured and the design to be evaluated McCook Field was an airfield and aviation experimentation station operated by the Aviation Section U Dayton is a city in southwestern Ohio, United States. It is the County seat and largest city of Montgomery County.
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Concept and flight plan
The plan for the flight was conceived by the Air Service's Assistant Chief, Brig. Gen. William L. Mitchell in 1923. For other people with the same name see Billy Mitchell (disambiguation. The Air Service since 1919 had been regularly establishing endurance, distance, altitude and speed records in airplanes to promote favorable publicity and public support for the establishment of an Air Force separate from the U.S. Army. The United States Army is a military organization whose primary mission is to "provide necessary forces and capabilities. The year before Lt. James H. Doolittle had flown a DH-4 from Florida to San Diego in a single calendar day, making just one stop in Texas for fuel. General James Harold "Jimmy" Doolittle USAF (14 December 1896 &ndash 27 September 1993 was an American Aviation pioneer WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Florida ( is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the The word Calendar consist of two words 1 Cal ( in Pashto means Year in Hindi and Persian is Sal- also means Year Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. Mitchell wanted to not only improve on both the time and distance involved, but to have the stunt highly publicized by having it takeoff and land during daylight at major urban centers. The military purpose of the flight would be to demonstrate the utility of rapidly moving air units from one side of the nation to the other, a capability that the Army and Navy did not possess.
The original calculations for the flight were that in early summer, including twilight, 20 hours of daylight were available for the flight. By averaging 160 miles an hour, the distance of 2,670 miles from New York to San Francisco could be covered in 16 hours 40 minutes. The City of New York The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city Mitchell had struck a deal with Curtiss Aircraft to purchase 25 new PW-8 fighters, patterned after the R-6 Racer, if Curtiss would help modify one of the prototypes for use in the project. Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company was an American aircraft manufacturer that went public in 1916 with Glenn Hammond Curtiss as president WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout The D-12 engine on the PW-8 produced 435 horsepower and Mitchell's intended modifications were to enable it to make the flight at full throttle power setting. If the armament and unnecessary equipment were also removed from the XPW-8, additional fuel capacity could be installed to extend its range, and larger oil tanks for engine cooling. The flight plan calculated four stops of 30 minutes each for refueling. McCook Field; Saint Joseph, Missouri; Cheyenne, Wyoming; and remote Salduro Siding, Utah, were selected as refueling points, following a recently established mail route. McCook Field was an airfield and aviation experimentation station operated by the Aviation Section U Saint Joseph (informally St Joe) is the largest city in Northwest Missouri, serving as the County seat for Buchanan County. Cheyenne ( /ʃaɪˈæn/ or /ʃaɪˈɛn/) is the capital of the U Tooele County (tuːˈɛlə is a County located in the US state of Utah. The State of Utah (ˈjuːtɔː or) is a western state of the United States. Mail, or post, is a method for transmitting information and tangible objects wherein written Documents typically enclosed in Envelopes and also
Lt. Maughan was chosen to make the flight because he was an experienced test pilot and a combat veteran accustomed to dealing with in-flight emergencies, and because he had already established speed records in 1922 and 1923.
The first two attempts to set the record
The first attempt to establish the record was flown on July 10, 1923. Events 48 BC - Battle of Dyrrhachium, Julius Caesar barely avoids a catastrophic defeat to Pompey in Macedonia. Year 1923 ( MCMXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Lt. Maughan took off from Mitchel Field, Long Island, at 4:56 a. For the airport in Wisconsin see Mitchell Field Mitchel Air Force Base also known as Mitchel Field, originally called Hazelhurst Long Island is an island located in southeastern New York, USA, its western shores directly across from Manhattan, from which the island stretches m. The Allegheny Mountains were obscured by a thick undercast, and unable to navigate by landmarks, Lt. The Allegheny Mountain Range (also spelled Alleghany and Allegany) &mdash informally the Alleghenies &mdash is part of the vast Appalachian Navigation is the process of reading and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another Maughan flew by dead reckoning, arriving at McCook Field 90 minutes behind schedule, where a broken tail fin rib caused an additional delay. Dead reckoning ( DR) is the process of estimating one's current position based upon a previously determined position or fix, and advancing that position based upon The engine of the PW-8 quit in flight over Illinois because of a clogged fuel line, and Lt. Maughan made a forced landing in a farm field, damaging the landing gear and ending the attempt. In Aviation, the undercarriage or landing gear is the structure (usually wheels that supports an Aircraft on the ground and allows it to taxi
The second attempt to set the record was made on July 19. Events 711 - Muslim forces under Tariq ibn Ziyad defeat the Visigoths led by their king Roderic. After a 5:08 a. m. takeoff, Lt. Maughan completed the 570-mile first leg to McCook Field at 8:35 a. m, taking off again at 8:53 a. m. After reaching Saint Joseph, where he spent 39 minutes on the ground, Lt. Maughan experienced severe nausea from oil fumes on the next leg. Nausea ( Latin: Nausea, Greek:, " Sea-sickness " also called wamble) is the sensation of unease and discomfort He reached Cheyenne, however, where a broken oil line was found and soldered together. A solder is a fusible metal Alloy with a melting point or melting range of 90 to 450 ° C (200 to 840 ° F) used in a process called Approximately 90 minutes after leaving Cheyenne the oil line ruptured again and the nausea forced him to land at the air mail field at Rock Springs, Wyoming. Rock Springs is a city in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, United States.
The first two attempts had indicated that maximum performance was stressing the engine of the PW-8, necessitating that additional time be factored into the flight plan. With available daylight already reduced by a half hour by the date of the second attempt, no further tries were made in 1923.
Setting the record
The next attempt was made using a different plane, serial number 24-204, the fourth PW-8 production aircraft. Curtiss modified it at its Long Island plant, removing its guns and mounts and increasing the 77-gallon fuel capacity by an additional 100 gallons. Long Island is an island located in southeastern New York, USA, its western shores directly across from Manhattan, from which the island stretches
Lt. Maughan took off from Mitchel Field at 3:58 a. m. Eastern Standard Time, June 23, 1924. The Eastern Time Zone ( ET) of the Western Hemisphere falls mostly along the east coast of North America and the west coast of South America Events 1180 - First Battle of Uji, starting the Genpei War in Japan 1305 - The Flemish Year 1924 ( MCMXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. He flew through intermittent rain and fog but still averaged 135 mph and reached McCook Field at Dayton at 8:10 a. m. EST. Although mechanics serviced the plane around in twenty minutes, one of the field's mechanics over-torqued the filler cap, securing it to the fuel intake housing and broke off the valve. A torque (τ in Physics, also called a moment (of force is a pseudo- vector that measures the tendency of a force to rotate an object about The housing had to be removed, soldered, and replaced, costing an hour's delay.
Lt. Maughan encountered thunderstorms between Dayton and St. Joseph, but reached Saint Joseph without incident. The grass field there was soft from heavy rain, limiting the takeoff weight of his plane. Unable to take on a full load of fuel, Lt. Maughan flew to North Platte, Nebraska, where he completely filled the fuel tank, but which caused a further 20-minute delay. North Platte is a city in and the County seat of Lincoln County, Nebraska, United States.
The detour to North Platte also resulted in Lt. Maughan encountering a strong headwind, slowing his average groundspeed. A headwind is a Wind that blows against the direction of travel of an object Ground speed is the speed of an Aircraft relative to the ground He landed at the air mail field at Salduro Siding, a railroad stop adjacent to the Bonneville Salt Flats, at almost 6:30 p. The Bonneville Salt Flats are a 159 square mile (412 km² Salt flat in northwestern Utah. m. local time and calculated that reaching San Francisco by dusk was still possible.
The last leg of the flight, over Nevada and the Sierra Nevada Mountains, was characterized by cloud strata, making navigation difficult in low light conditions. Nevada ( is a state located in the western region of the United States of America. The Sierra Nevada ( Spanish for "Snowy Range" is a Mountain range located in the U A cloud is a visible mass of droplets or frozen crystals floating in the atmosphere above the surface of the Earth or another Planetary body Lt. Maughan, from Logan, Utah, was familiar with the terrain however and recognized sufficient landmarks to approach San Francisco Bay from the north. Logan is a city in Cache County, Utah, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 42670 a substantial increase San Francisco Bay is a shallow productive Estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento He used a revolving light on Alcatraz Island to guide him to Crissy Field, the military airfield at the Presidio of San Francisco, where he landed in front of an estimated 50,000 spectators at 9:46 p. Alcatraz Island, sometimes informally referred to as simply Alcatraz or locally as the Rock, is a small island located in the middle of San Francisco Bay Now a large park in San Francisco, Crissy Field was originally an airfield part of the United States' Presidio Army Base The Presidio of San Francisco (originally El Presidio Real de San Francisco or Royal Presidio of San Francisco) is a park on the northern tip of the San m. Pacific Standard Time, reportedly a minute before dusk. The Pacific Time Zone observes Standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC-8)
Maughan's total flight time was 20 hours and 48 minutes. In addition to the publicity value of being the first transcontinental crossing within the hours of daylight, the flight established new records for time, distance, and average speed (128. These are records for flight between coasts in North America Transcontinental air speed record In-flight and on-ground time are counted after the earliest flights 37 mph) in trancontinental flights.
References
- Shiner, John F. , "From Air Service to Air Corps: The Billy Mitchell Era," Winged Shield, Winged Sword: A History of the United States Air Force Vol. I (1997) Chapter 3, ISBN 0-16-049009-X
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