page_title: Van Lear Black
section_title: Aviation explorer
hierarchical_section_title: Van Lear Black / Aviation explorer
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Repronegatief. Vliegveld Tjililitan met benzinestation bij Meester Cornelis, Batavia, Java
context_page_description: Van Lear Black was an American publisher and civil aviation pioneer.
context_section_description: Black was not inclined to fly in the aircraft owned by his newspaper, but he changed his mind about aviation over time. He provided financing for Byrd's expedition flight to the North Pole in 1926. In each Byrd flight, he carried a Maryland flag provided by Black. When approached again for Byrd's Antarctic flight, Black considered the flight too risky, and instead offered to pay Byrd's widow $25,000 if he did not return. Byrd later sued Black's estate for the money for the completion of the trip after Black's death at sea.
  On 15 June 1927, Black chartered a KLM monoplane for a 18,707-mile (30,106 km) flight from the Netherlands to Batavia and back in 27 days, the first international charter flight. Most flight occurred in a Fokker F.VII, (registered H-NADP) a high-wing monoplane powered by a single 440 hp Gnome-Rhone Jupiter IV engine and extended range tanks good for a range of 1,250 miles (2,010 km). The aircraft was brought into KLM's hangar on the 13th, and refitted with an overhauled engine and a four-seat configuration two days before the trip.  The trip was described by newspapers as uneventful, yet while in Burma, wild elephants charged Black's aircraft. On 29 June 1927, Black became the first paying passenger to land in Singapore after 86 hours of flight time and 14 stops. The Queen of the Netherlands presented Black with the Cross of Knighthood of the Order of Orange-Nassau on return to the Netherlands. Black's return reception in Baltimore included 500 guests including his friends, Herbert C. Hoover, Commander Richard Evelyn Byrd, Anthony H. G. Fokker, Owen D. Young, Franklin D. Roosevelt.
  A 1928 flight from London to South Africa was canceled en route at Khartoum due to aircraft trouble.
  In 1929, Black traveled from London to the Cape of Good Hope and returned in his new Wright Whirlwind powered Fokker "Maryland Free State". The aircraft was intended to be painted with Maryland Flags and be registered to England for part of the trip, and registered in America when in the states. A month later, he attempted an extended route from London to Tokyo. His Fokker aircraft crashed at DumDum airport, and then was destroyed at Calcutta, India by a cyclone, though the crew escaped injury. Black traveled back to England by train, and ordered a new "Maryland Free State".
  As a passenger, rather than a pilot, Black flew with ease despite crashing in Genoa and India. An American Trimotor pilot noted that when he asked why his aircraft was not flying level on a flight to Cleveland, he was pointed to a failed motor on the wing. He quietly sat down without fuss all the way to the landing.
  In February 1930, Black commissioned a Fokker VIIb trimotor aircraft G-AADZ "The Maryland Free State" to fly from London to Tokyo to Java. He created his own company for the flight, VLB ltd.  The flight included stops in Venice, Italy, and Athens, Greece, landing in Tokyo, Japan on 7 April 1930. The aircraft was disassembled for the Pacific voyage to San Francisco, then reassembled for the final flight to Baltimore on 18 May, a 16,000-mile (26,000 km) trip.
  Van Lear Black was considered to have flown more miles as a passenger than anyone else of the time and had future air tours planned.
caption: A Fokker F.VIIb/3m at Batavia
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