The Monmouth inquirer., 1923-05-10
RECORD AIR TRIP
COAST TO COAST
Big Army MonopIane TT Plotted
by Lieuts. Macready and Kelly,
BIazes 2,7OO-MiIe Trail.
rs HOURS AND SO MINUTES
Voltage Regulator Breaks Down at
Start, but Is Repaired en- Route.
Craft swoops In and Out of
Canyons in Rockies.

San Diego, Cal.-The worlds long
distance nonstop flying record was
smashed when the giant army mono
plane To descended at Rockwell Field.
San Diego, after traversing the entire
distance from New York in one single
flight.
The distance Of approximately 1000
miles as the crow flies was covered IN
26 hours. SO minutes and S8 seconds
actual flying time, at an average speed
of approximately 100 miles an hour.
For years aeronautical engineers
have dreamed of a sustained fight
across the continental United States.
Lieutenants John A. Macready and
Oakley G. Kelly, flying the TT, ac-
complished the feat.
They had lunch It Roosevelt Field,
Hampstead. N. Y, took the air at
12.?6.1S p. m. Eastern Standard Time,
and landed here at Rockwell Field at
12.26.56 p. m. Pacific Time, in time for
the regular monday meal.
The To is the plane which has twice
broken world records for remaining
afoat, and it also holds the worlds lift
ing record for a singie-motored air
plane. 1t carries over 700 gallons Of
gasoline.
Lieutenant Macready said:
"We never doubted for a moment
that we would make the fight a sue
cess. Our eastward effort of last win
ter in the same plane, you know, was
halted because of radiator trouble aft
er we had covered four-fifths Of the
distance. We felt certain of making
the coa~st-to-coast journey this time
without mishap. We were fortunate,
of course, in having bright moonlight
all of the last night and sunshine and
gentle breezes throughout today"
Lieutenant Kelly said over his cot
fee at luncheon:
"The performance OF our Liberty
motor was perfect in every respect.
From the time it lifted our overloaded
plane from Roosevelt Field it throb-
bed away at racing speed hour after
hour with never a falter until we came
to earth today.
"At all times we felt entire conf
dence in the motor. And u gas, wa
ter and oil supply would have enabled
us to continue on for
But here a smiling but warning ges-
ture from Major H. H. Arnold, com
mandant of Rockwell Field, stopped
the birdman's story. 1t is understood
the air service is not yet ready to dis
close the real limit Of power they have
built in the TT.
Trouble was experienced in only
nj respect, it was said. A minor diff
ficulty developed in the battery regu-
lator, but quick work righted the
defect and the fight continued on.
Captain R. G. Erwin. adjutant to the
field c-ommandant, said:
"Lietenant Kelly told me the con-
trolls operated with amazing perfec-
ton. Certainly the army air service,
especially General Ratrick and the
other chiefs at Washington, who have
QOlCt 81 HULL LONol0 improving bAO
design and making changes for the
better in almost every part of our
planes since the war, are to be con
graduated"
L~ieutenants Kelly and Macready re-
ceived a basketful of co~ngratulatory
kilograms from personages through
out the country.
The two aviators achieved much
fame and some fortune from their
feat. They will be enriched to the
extent of at least $4,000.
Both airmen will remain on duty at
Rockwell Field until next spring prob
ably, when they will go east to pre-
pare for their fight around the globe.
From a standpoint of national de-
Tense, it says. a nonstop transconti-
mental air voyage indicates the FEAST
bility of transporting men, messages,
equipment or any other vital neces-
city, from n coast to the other in
an incredibly short time.