Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-25
Passes 139th Hour in Air
Early Today and Still
Going Strong.
WILL EQUAL QUESTION
MARKS RECORD AT 7:14
Pilots Consider Plan to Continue
Flight to See How Long Graft
Can Remain Aloft.
BY the Associated Press.


FORT WORTH, Tex, May 25.-The
endurance monoplane Fort Worth com.
pleted its 139th hour in the air at 6:33
o'clock this morning.
Enough gasoline and oil were taken
| aboard this morning to keep it aloft
the remaining hours required TO break
the endurance record of $50 hours a
minutes and Is seconds held by the
Army airplane Question Mark.
With less than Il hours to 90. the
fifteenth successful contact was made
with the refueling ship and 11O gallons
of gasoline and Az gallons of oil were
transferred.
May Add IL Hours.
Interest today centered around
whether the aviators would request an
other refueling. If not, observers said
the Forth Worth may land soon after
the record is broken at 1888 pm. If
the refuel1ng is requested, it will in
dicate that the aviators intend to add
at least IL hours to the record.
II successful in breaking the Army
/ planes record, the two civilian pilots.
Il. l.. Robbins and James Kelly, prob
ably will sail onward to answer the
question put to the Question Mark on
its flight-How long can an airplane
stay in the air?
Robbins and Kelly said when they
LOOK on at ii :33 am. last Sunday that
Gney would stay up until the motor
fails
The Fort Worth already has beaten
the dirigible endurance record of lis
hours made by the Inflated French
DXmude and the distance record of
the German Graf Zeppelin, which
covered $500 miles in Ill hours and
46 minutes on its limping voyage to
America from Friedrichshafen last Fall.
1t Is estimated the Fort Worth already
had flown between 10000 and $4,000
miles. nearly half way around the
earth, and if still in the air tonight will
nave hown farther than the Question
Mark.
Beat Belgians.
The record of so hours and 7 min
uteS set last July by Adjt. Louis Crooy
and Sergt. Victor Croenen of Belgium
was surpassed by the Fort Worth on
the third day of its fight.
Robbins and Kelly are keeping their
monoplane close to Meachem Field,
their base, during the remainder of the
fight to protect records already sur
passed. Records would not be recoe-
niZed as Official unless the ship lands
at the same field from which 1t took
of.
The plane was refueled twice last
night, 120 gallons of gasoline being
transferred in the two contacts with the
auxiliary ship piloted by K. & Hoffman
| and H. S. Jones. Food, letters and news
papers were lowered to the pilots.
Raise Prize Fund.
| Robbins, who owns the plane, and
Kelly have had little financial assist
ance in the flight. Since their take-off
| however, the Fort Worth Association OF
Commerce announced it would raise
$4,000 to be presented the flyers If they
are successful. Robbins and Kelly would
receive $500 each and Hoffman and
Jones of the auxiliary ship each would
receive $2,500.
Robbins, an automobile mechanic
learned to fly by hanging around an
airfleld. Kelly left West Texas ranch
to attend an aviation school here, and
earned a pilots license seven weeks ago
Robbins purchased the Fort Worth
Second-handed. It is not certain how
many hours its motor had been run be-
fore he obtained it, but he had flown il
| 500 hours before beginning the endur-
ance flight. The motor is of the Whirl-
wind type in Col. Charles A. Lindbergh's
famous Spirit of st. Louis.