Record Endurance Flight 35 Hours -- October 6, 2022

Great Falls Tribune, 07-October-1922

100 years ago, on October 5-6 1922, United States Army Air Service Lieutenants John A Macready and Oakley G Kelly set an endurance record, keeping their single engine Fokker T-2 monoplane in the air for 36 hours, 4 minutes, and 32 seconds. They had initially set out to fly from San Diego to New York, but turned back because of bad weather. They decided to use their load of fuel and oil to set an endurance record, by flying in great circles over San Diego. They received the Mackay Trophy in acknowledgment of their achievement. 

They were able to fly from San Diego to Indianapolis in November and San Diego to New York in 1923.

The 400 HP V-12 Liberty engine was designed by two important engineers. 

RECORD ENDURANCE

FLIGHT 35 HOURS;

TESTS U.S. MOTOR

Liberty Engine Emerges King

of All Airplane Motive

Force, Says Army.

San Diego, Calif., Oct. 6. -- (By The Associated Press.) -- Lieutenants John A. Macreadv and Oakley Kelly, who had been flying over San Diego since 5:58 a. m. Thursday in the great monoplane T-2, landed at Rockwell field at 5:11:30 p. m. Friday, having broken all known records for sustained flight in a heavier-than-air flying machine. They were in the air 35 hours, 18 minutes and 30 seconds.

The aviators were well tired out but willing, they said, to have continued their flight except for their desire to reach the ground before darkness should make landing more difficult.

Whistles Greet Aviators

The landing of the big plane was the signal for a mighty chorus of whistles from the vessels in the harbor. When the airmen circled down to the field a small army of spectators, including the Rockwell field force and many civilians, was waiting to greet them.

Captain R. G. Erwin, commandant of Rockwell field, soon after the flight ended, gave out the time the aviators had been aloft as 35 hours, 18 minutes and 30 seconds. The official time of departure was set down in the Rockwell field records 5:33 a.m. instead of 5:50 a. m. as unofficially given out and the time of landing was given as 5:11:30 p. m.

The aviators were begrimed with oil and grease when they stepped from the big machine in which they had remained aloft, circling over the city for virtually two days and a night. That did not stop Mrs. Benjamin Macready, mother of one of the aviators, from rushing to greet her son. She kissed him full on his grimy cheek and when she turned around, smiling gladly, her lips were black with grease and oil.

Fliers Make Statement

Lieutenants Macready and Kelly joined in making the following statement:
"It was the wonderful Liberty motor which kept us up. There is no question that this flight proves the motor to be the best and most efficient in the world. It is due to the development of army aviation. The primary purpose of the test, it should be said, was to test the motor in the United States army transport T-2 and the result was all that could be expected.

"We are going to make the flight from San Diego to New York in November and we are confident that we shall be successful."

The first person to greet Lieutenant Kelly was Charles Dworack, chief mechanic, who came ahead of the aviators from Dayton, Ohio, to install the new motor in the monoplane. He superintended the entire job.

LIBERTY MOTOR BEST

Washington. Oct .6. -- Army air service officials in a statement tonight on the record established by Lieutenant Macready and Kelly, declared the demonstration has furnished "convincing proof of the wonderful reliability of the best aeronautical engine the world has yet produced -- the Liberty."

Attention was called to feats which each of the pilots has to his credit, among them the establishment by Lieutenant Macready of the world altitude record, when he piloted a plane 40,200 feet above Dayton, Ohio, in September, 1920.

The air service transport T-2, on its flight weighed 10,700 pounds, of which 4,600 pounds consisted of gas and oil, according to the statement. Lieutenant Macready is a native of Los Angeles and Kelly is from Geneva, Pa.

1922 Aircraft Yearbook