Type of flight
A transcontinental flight is a non-stop passenger flight from one side of a continent to the other.[1] The term usually refers to flights across the United States, between the East and West Coasts.[dubious – discuss]
History
The first transcontinental multi-stop flight across the United States was made in 1911 by Calbraith Perry Rodgers in an attempt to win the Hearst prize offered by publisher William Randolph Hearst. Hearst offered a $US50,000 prize to the first aviator to fly coast to coast, in either direction, in less than 30 days from start to finish. Previous attempts by James J. Ward and Henry Atwood had been unsuccessful.[2]
Rodgers persuaded J. Ogden Armour, of Armour and Company, to sponsor the flight, and in return he named the plane after Armour's grape soft drink "Vin Fiz". Rodgers left from Sheepshead Bay, New York, on September 17, 1911, at 4:30 pm, carrying the first transcontinental mail pouch. He crossed the Rocky Mountains on November 5, 1911, and landed at Tournament Park in Pasadena, California, at 4:04 pm, in front of a crowd of 20,000 people. He had missed the prize deadline by 19 days. He was accompanied on the ground by a support crew that repaired and rebuilt the plane after each crash landing. The trip required 70 stops.
On December 10, 1911, Rodgers flew to Long Beach, California, and symbolically taxied his plane into the Pacific Ocean.
Timeline of early transcontinental flights
- 1911 – James J. Ward, failed attempt.[3]
- 1911 – Henry Atwood, failed attempt.
- 1911 – Calbraith Perry Rodgers – Start: September 17, 1911, at 4:30 pm; finish: November 5, 1911.[4][5]
- 1912 - Robert George Fowler - Start: September 11, 1911; finish: February 8, 1912.[citation needed]
- 1923 - First non-stop flight from Long Island, New York to Rockwell Field, San Diego by Lt. John Macready and Lt. Oakley Kelly in a Fokker T-2[6]
- 1929 – The Buhl Airsedan "Spokane Sun-God" was the first aircraft to make a non-stop US transcontinental round-trip flight on August 15, 1929 (Nick Mamer and Art Walker flew it from Spokane, Washington, to New York City and back between August 15 and 21, 1929, taking 120 hours 1 minute 40 seconds).[7]
- 1930 – Frank Hawks flew from San Diego to New York in a towed glider leaving San Diego March 30, 1930, and arriving in New York eight days later.[8]
- 1932 – First scheduled cross-country through passenger flights (no change of plane).[9]
- 1933 – Transcontinental passenger flights in as little as 20 hours on the Boeing 247.[10]
- 1934 – First three-stop airline flights (TWA DC-2s).
- 1946 – First one-stop airline flights (United DC-4s and TWA Constellations).[11]
- 1953 - First sustained nonstop airline flights (TWA may have flown some LA-NY nonstops in 1947).
- 1957 - First transcontinental flight to average supersonic speed. John Glenn flew from Naval Air Station Los Alamitos, California to Floyd Bennett Field, New York in 3 hours and 23 minutes.[12]
Transcontinental air speed record
In-flight and on-ground time are counted after the earliest flights
Junior transcontinental air speed record
For the junior record only in-flight time is counted at a certain speed
Women's transcontinental air speed record
For the women's record, only in-flight time is counted
See also
References
- ^ "Transcontinental Flights | Alternative Airlines". www.alternativeairlines.com. Retrieved June 28, 2022.
- ^ "James J. Ward". earlyaviators.com. Retrieved June 28, 2022.
- ^ "Flier, Seeking to Reach San Francisco, Lands at Calicoon Late in the Afternoon". New York Times. September 15, 1911. Retrieved November 25, 2010.
James J. Ward, who left New York for San Francisco Wednesday, flying for the W.R. Hearst $50,000 prize for a transcontinental flight, reached Callicoon, N.Y., a few miles from here, at 4:35 o'clock this afternoon. He covered 59 1–10 miles in 57 minutes, having left Middletown, N.Y., at 3:38 o'clock.
- ^ "C. P. Rodgers' Aero Plunges into Surf at Long Beach. Hundreds See Tragedy. Hero of First Transcontinental Flight Victim of His Own Daring. When Lifted From Wrecked Machine His Neck Is Found to Be Broken. Birdman's Home in Havre de Grace, Maryland. Cousin of Lieut. Rodgers in Navy's Aerial Corps. Victim Author of Theory of 'Etherial Asphyxia.'". Washington Post. April 4, 1912.
Long Beach, California, April 3, 1912. Calbraith P. Rodgers, the first man to cross the American continent in an aeroplane, was killed here almost instantly late today, when his biplane, in which he had been soaring over the ocean, fell from a height of 200 feet and buried him in the wreck. His neck was broken and his body mangled by the engine of his machine.
- ^ Pattillo, Donald M. (February 28, 2001). Pushing the Envelope: The American Aircraft Industry. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. p. 14. ISBN 9780472086719. Retrieved November 21, 2014.
- ^ "Fokker T-2". Collections. National Air and Space Museum. Archived from the original on March 11, 2016. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
- ^ Meister, Richard L. Jr. (2000). "The Flight of the Spokane Sun-God". Aerofiles. Archived from the original on March 12, 2016. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
- ^ "Glider is Towed by Plane Across the Nation". Popular Mechanics. Hearst Magazines. 1930. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
- ^ "Fastest Service Coast to Coast". www.timetableimages.com. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
- ^ Merritt, Larry (2003). "From mail-sack seats to sleeping berths and above-cloud routes". Boeing Frontiers. Boeing. Archived from the original on March 12, 2016. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
- ^ Proctor, Jon; Machat, Mike; Kodera, Craig (2010). "The Jet Age Begins, Or Does It? (1949–1952)". From Props to Jets: Commercial Aviation's Transition to the Jet Age 1952–1962. North Branch, Minnesota: Specialty Press. p. 26. ISBN 978-1580071994. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
- ^ "Biography of John H. Glenn". History. NASA. November 12, 2008. Archived from the original on March 12, 2016. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
- ^ "Fokker T-2". www.nasm.si.edu. Archived from the original on March 12, 2012.
- ^ "Frank Hawks: The Story of the Legendary Speed Flying King » HistoryNet". Aviation History. November 6, 2006. Retrieved January 21, 2009.
- ^ Kinert 1967, p. 57
- ^ The Flight of the Buhl Airsedan Spokane Sun-God first airplane to make a non-stop transcontinental round-trip flight
- ^ Lockheed Sirius "Tingmissartoq", Charles A. Lindbergh Archived March 7, 2016, at the Wayback Machine National Air and Space Museum
- ^ Kinert 1967, p. 70
- ^ "Travel Air (Model R) "Mystery S" – USA". The Aviation History On-Line Museum. Retrieved January 21, 2009.
- ^ "Behind the name of Captain Frank M. Hawks, in aviation's record book today is set down the time of 12 hours, 25 minutes, 3 seconds for an eastward transcontinental flight, the fastest ever flown by man over the distance of 2,500 miles." Newark Advocate, Newark, Ohio, August 15, 1930; Valley Stream, New York; August 14, 1930 (Associated Press)
- ^ Glines 1995, p. 154
- ^ Glines 1995, p. 155
- ^ Glines 1995, p. 159
- ^ Glines 1995, p. 166
- ^ Wildenberg, Thomas (2007). "A visionary ahead of his time: Howard Hughes and the U.S. Air Force – Part I: The Air Corps Design Competition". Air Power History. CBS Interactive Inc. Retrieved January 11, 2009.
- ^ "Sleek, Fast and Luckless". Time Inc. February 20, 1939. Archived from the original on September 15, 2008. Retrieved January 11, 2009.
- ^ "Najeeb E. Halaby". lonestarflight.org. Retrieved June 19, 2024.
- ^ "Fact Sheets : Operation Sun Run : Operation Sun Run". Archived from the original on May 3, 2009. Retrieved June 8, 2009.
- ^ "Concorde | the Museum of Flight".
- ^ Larry Lange (November 5, 2003). "Thousands welcome Concorde to Seattle". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
- ^ "Flights & Flyers", Time, May 12, 1930, archived from the original on September 30, 2007
Bibliography
- Glines, Carroll V. 1995. Roscoe Turner; Aviation's Master Showman. Smithsonian Institution Press ISBN 1-56098-798-7
- Kinert, Reed. 1967. Racing Planes and Air Races: A Complete History, Vol.2 1924–1931. Aero Publishers Inc ASIN B000J40KCU