page_title: Clyde Pangborn
section_title: 1931 trans-Pacific flight
hierarchical_section_title: Clyde Pangborn / Aviation career / 1931 trans-Pacific flight
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: クライド・パングボーンとヒュー・ハーンドン
context_page_description: Clyde Edward Pangborn also known as "Upside-Down Pangborn" was an American aviator and barnstormer who performed aerial stunts in the 1920s. In 1931 Pangborn and co-pilot Hugh Herndon Jr. flew their plane, Miss Veedol, on the first non-stop flight across the Pacific Ocean.
context_section_description: With their eyes on a $25,000 prize, Pangborn and Herndon next decided to attempt the first nonstop trans-Pacific flight. They flew from Siberia to Japan in preparation. In the spirit of documentation, Herndon took several still pictures and 16 mm motion pictures, some of which were of Japan's naval installations. The photography and inadequate documentation to enter the country (which they had not been aware of), resulted in the men being jailed. They were eventually released with a $1,000 fine, but they were allowed only one chance to take off in Miss Veedol; if they returned to Japan, the plane would be confiscated and the men would return to prison.
  Other complications hampered the flight. Pangborn and Herndon's "painstakingly prepared" maps and charts were stolen by the nationalist Black Dragon Society, who wanted a Japanese pilot flying Japanese equipment to be the first to complete the endeavor. They also had extremely precise calculations for their flight, leaving no room for error; Miss Veedol had to be overweighted with fuel, far beyond the manufacturer's recommendation (650 gallons stock was expanded to 915 gallons), and they would have to abandon their landing gear after takeoff to reduce drag.
  Pangborn and Herndon finally took off on October 4, 1931, from Sabishiro Beach, Misawa, Aomori, Japan. Their destination was Seattle, Washington, just under 5500 miles (8,500 km) away, a distance exceeding Charles Lindbergh's flight from New York to Paris by 2,000 miles. Three hours after takeoff, a problem arose: the device intended to jettison the landing gear partially failed. The gear was ejected, but the two root struts remained. Pangborn had to climb out onto the wing supports barefoot at 14,000 feet to remove them.
  Later, the engine nearly quit as Herndon neglected his responsibility to pump fuel from the fuselage tanks to the wing tanks, which feed the engine. Within a few hours, the upper tanks again went dry—this time the engine did quit running. Because there was no built-in starter, Pangborn dove the airplane from cruise altitude and pulled out at 1,400 ft (430 m) to get the engine started.
  They almost ran into Mount Rainier when Vancouver, British Columbia, and Seattle were fogged in and Herndon again had the airplane off course. They decided to fly to Boise, where they could claim the furthest distance record along with the nonstop transpacific. Due to fog, Boise, Spokane, and Pasco, Washington, were unavailable, so they turned back, to Wenatchee, Washington. They belly landed on a strip cut out of the sagebrush on Fancher Field near what is now East Wenatchee. Pangborn's mother, brother, and a reporter from the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun had already assumed Wenatchee was their destination and were there waiting for their arrival. The flight from Japan took a total of 41 hours and 13 minutes.
  The Pangborn-Herndon Memorial, dedicated to the historic flight, is located near the landing site, and the propeller damaged from the landing is on display in the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. The regional airport, Pangborn Memorial (EAT) in East Wenatchee, also honors his accomplishment.
  Miss Veedol was trucked to Seattle where she was repaired and the landing gear replaced. Pangborn and Herndon continued to New York to complete their world flight.
  As early as 1935 Pangborn warned of a potential Japanese attack on the United States due to his sighting and analysis of Japanese aviation capabilities, and said that Japanese planes would be capable of reaching Chicago.
caption: Pangborn and Herndon in Japan in 1931
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