The Flying Keys Brothers Fred and Al Key became interested in aviation after World War I . They started doing some barnstorming in the 1920s and continued their interest as the managers of the Meridian Municipal Airport , in Meridian , Mississippi . With the onset of the Great Depression , the city of Meridian began doing whatever it could to save money . The airport was considered unnecessary , given the economic conditions , and was slated to be closed . The Key brothers had no desire to see this happen , so they came up with a plan to draw attention to Meridian and its airport by breaking the standing flight endurance record of 23 days . At that time , air - to - air refueling was a dangerous affair . If gasoline was spilled , which often happened , it could be ignited by the hot engine exhaust . To solve this problem , the Key brothers , along with local inventor and mechanic A . D . Hunter , invented a spill - free fueling system that consisted of a valve on the end of the fuel nozzle which was opened by a probe in the neck of the fuel tank . The valve would not allow fuel to flow unless it was inserted into the fuel tank . During fueling , if the nozzle was removed from the tank , the fuel would automatically stop flowing . This nozzle was later adopted by the US Army Air Corps , and is still in use today with some modifications . Refueling the plane wasn ' t their only concern . The engine needed regular maintenance during the flight in order to stay in good running order . To facilitate this , a catwalk was built so that Fred could walk out and work on the plane while it was airborne . On June 4 , 1935 , The Flying Keys , as the brothers later became known , lifted off in a borrowed Curtiss Robin monoplane named " Ole Miss " from Meridian , Mississippi ' s airport . For the next twenty - seven days , they flew over the Meridian vicinity . Several times each day , the crew of a similar plane would lower food and supplies to the brothers on the end of a rope , as well as supply fuel via a long flexible tube . They landed on July 1 after traveling an estimated 52 , 320 miles and used more than 6 , 000 gallons of gasoline . Their non - stop endurance flight lasted 653 hours , 34 minutes . The " Ole Miss " is permanently displayed in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington , D . C . . After this historic flight , Meridian ' s public airport was renamed " Key Field " in the brothers ' honor . According to Owen , the brothers ' flight boosted confidence in aviation nationally . People figured if the Key brothers made their flight safely in such a small plane , then the big commercial airplanes were definitely safe . World War II . The Key brothers both served as bomber pilots in the during World War II . Fred was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross ( USA ) , Al was the Co of the 66th Squadron ( part of the 44th Bombardment Group ) flying Consolidated B - 24 Liberator s from England . By the time he was taken off comabt missions in 1943 he had earned a Distinguished Flying Cross , Distinguished Service Cross , an Air Medal , a Distinguished Service Cross from the British and seven Bronze Star s for participating in combat . Post War . Al remained in the Air Force until his retirement in 1960 at the rank of full Colonel , after which he was elected Mayor of Meridian , and Fred ran the Key Brothers Flying Service at Key Field until his death in 1971 . The cutoff valve developed for the Keys by A . D . Hunter was an important innovation for national defense , being the precursor of those used by modern tanker airplanes , such as the KC - 135 Stratotanker , that keep bombers and fighter aircraft in the air . Today , with only slight modifications , U . S . Air Force and Strategic Air Command airplanes use the valve that Hunter invented .