A transcontinental flight is a non-stop passenger flight from one side of a continent to the other.[1] The term usually refers to flights across the United States, between the East and West Coasts.
The first transcontinental multi-stop flight across the United States was made in 1911 by Calbraith Perry Rodgers in an attempt to win the Hearst prize offered by publisher William Randolph Hearst. Hearst offered a $US50,000 prize to the first aviator to fly coast to coast, in either direction, in less than 30 days from start to finish. Previous attempts by James J. Ward and Henry Atwood had been unsuccessful.[2]
Rodgers persuaded J. Ogden Armour, of Armour and Company, to sponsor the flight, and in return he named the plane after Armour's grape soft drink "Vin Fiz". Rodgers left from Sheepshead Bay, New York, on September 17, 1911, at 4:30 pm, carrying the first transcontinental mail pouch. He crossed the Rocky Mountains on November 5, 1911, and landed at Tournament Park in Pasadena, California, at 4:04 pm, in front of a crowd of 20,000 people. He had missed the prize deadline by 19 days. He was accompanied on the ground by a support crew that repaired and rebuilt the plane after each crash landing. The trip required 70 stops.
On December 10, 1911, Rodgers flew to Long Beach, California, and symbolically taxied his plane into the Pacific Ocean.
In-flight and on-ground time are counted after the earliest flights
| Year | Date | Time | Direction | Pilot | Aircraft | Notes and reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1911 | September 17 | 3 days, 10 hours, 14 minutes | East to West | The first transcontinental flight. It took fifty days (3 days, 10 hours, 14 minutes actual flying time). Rodgers made it in some seventy hops, flying a Wright biplane which was damaged and repaired so many times en route that nothing remained of the original machine at the finish but the drip pan and the vertical rudder. | ||
| 1919 | October 11 | 3 days, 3 hours, 5 minutes http://www.newsobserver.com/543/story/267370.html | East to West | On the first leg of the "Transcontinental Air Race of 1919" which saw 33 planes cross the U.S. with 8 completing the round-trip (out of 67 which began the trip). Nine deaths occurred during what was officially the U.S. Army's "Transcontinental Reliability and Endurance Test" | ||
| 1922 | September 4 | 21 hours, 19 minutes | East to West | DH-4 | Pablo Beach, Florida, to San Diego, California, with only one refueling stop https://web.archive.org/web/20070208220946/http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Explorers_Record_Setters_and_Daredevils/doolittle/EX18.htm | |
| 1923 | May 2–3 | 26 hours, 50 minutes, 38.4 seconds | East to West | First nonstop transcontinental flight: Roosevelt Field, Long Island to Rockwell Field, North Island, San Diego. Longest straight-line distance covered nonstop until then[13] | ||
| 1924 | June 23 | 20 hours, 48 minutes | East to West | First transcontinental flight "during hours of daylight". New York City to San Francisco, average speed 128 miles per hour | ||
| 1929 | February 4 | 18 hours 22 minutes | West to East | Los Angeles Van Nuys to New York Roosevelt Field nonstop, 2481 miles, with mechanic/fueller Oscar Grubb | ||
| 1929 | June 27 | 19 hours, 10 minutes | East to West | Frank Hawks | Lockheed Air Express[14] | New York City to Los Angeles[15] |
| 1929 | June 28 | 17 hours, 36 minutes | West to East | Frank Hawks | Lockheed Air Express | Los Angeles to New York City |
| 1929 | August 15 | 120 hr 1 min 40 sec[16] | West to East and East to West | Nick Mamer and Art Walker | Buhl Airsedan "Spokane Sun-God" | First non-stop transcontinental round-trip flight from Spokane, Washington to New York City and back |
| 1930 | April 20 | 14 hr 45 min | West to East | Los Angeles (Glendale) to New York Roosevelt Field, one stop[17] | ||
| 1930 | May 27 | 18 hr 43 min | East to West | Lockheed Air Express | New York City to Los Angeles with 3 passengers.[18] | |
| 1930 | Aug 13 | 12 hr 25 min | West to East | Frank Hawks | Los Angeles to New York City; three stops[19] [20] | |
| 1931 | September 4 | 11 hr 16 min 10 sec | West to East | Burbank CA to Newark NJ, three stops http://www.airventuremuseum.org/collection/aircraft/Laird%20Super%20Solution%20Replica.asp | ||
| 1932 | August 29 | 10 hr 19 min | West to East | Burbank to New York Floyd Bennett; two stops. Completed after winning the 2nd annual Bendix Trophy race.[21] | ||
| 1932 | November 14 | 12 hr 33 min | East to West | Roscoe Turner | Wedell-Williams Model 44 | New York Floyd Bennett to Burbank, California; three stops[22] |
| 1933 | July 1 | 11 hr 30 min | East to West | Roscoe Turner | Wedell-Williams Model 44 | New York Floyd Bennett to Burbank, California; four stops[23] |
| 1933 | September 24–25 | 10 hr 5 min 30 sec | West to East | Roscoe Turner | Wedell-Williams Model 44 | Burbank, California to New York Floyd Bennett; two stops[24] |
| 1936 | January 13 | 9 hr 27 min | West to East | Northrop Gamma[25] | Burbank, California to Newark, New Jersey. Hughes took off from Burbank, California, on January 13, 1936, en route to Newark, New Jersey, and a new cross-country record. He made the flight in 9 hours, 27 minutes, 10 seconds, and bettered Roscoe Turner's mark by 36 minutes. https://web.archive.org/web/20061207022428/http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Explorers_Record_Setters_and_Daredevils/Hughes/EX28.htm | |
| 1937 | January 19 | 7 hr 28 min 25 sec | West to East | Howard Hughes | Hughes H-1 Racer | nonstop Burbank, California to overhead Newark Airport, NJ; 2445 miles |
| 1939 | February 11 | 7 hr ? min | West to East | XP-38[26] | 7 hr 43 min March Field, California to overhead Mitchel Field, New York including 41 min on ground at Amarillo and Dayton | |
| 1945 | January 9 | 6 hr 4 min | West to East | Seattle to Washington, D.C., average speed 0 mph https://www.lonestarflight.org/najeeb-elias-halaby | ||
| 1945 | May 1 | 5 hr 40 min | West to East | Muroc AFB to Patuxent River NAS[27] | ||
| 1945 | December | 5 hr 17 min | West to East | Glen Edwards and Lt. Col. Henry E. Warden | Captain Glen Edwards and Lt. Col. Henry E. Warden set a new transcontinental record flying the XB-42 from Long Beach, California to Bolling Field in Washington DC (2301 miles) in 5 hours 17 minutes, average 433.6 mph (697.8 km/h). | |
| 1945 | December | 5 hr 27 min 8 sec | West to East | Col C. S. Irvine | Burbank, California to overhead Floyd Bennett Field, New York; average 450 miles/hour for 2459 miles | |
| 1946 | January 26 | 4 hr 13 min 26 sec | West to East | Col W. H. Councill | Long Beach, California to overhead La Guardia Airport, New York; 2460 miles nonstop, unrefuelled | |
| 1947 | September 3 | 7 hr 00 min 04 sec | East to West | Paul Mantz | North American P-51 | La Guardia Airport, NY to Burbank, California, 2459 miles |
| 1949 | February 8 | 3 hr 46 min | West to East | Larson AFB, Moses Lake, Washington to Andrews AFB near Washington DC, 607.8 mph average https://web.archive.org/web/20070203203000/http://www.boeing.com/history/chronology/chron07.html | ||
| 1954 | January 2 | 4 hr 8 min 5 sec | West to East | Col Willard Millikan | Los Angeles LAX to overhead New York Floyd Bennett, 2468 miles; time includes fuel stop at Offutt AFB | |
| 1954 | March 30 | 4 hr 24 min 17 sec | West to East | Joe DeBona | Los Angeles LAX nonstop to New York Idlewild, 2474 miles – still the prop record (560 mph) | |
| 1954 | April 1 | 3 hr 45 min 30 sec | West to East | LtCdr Francis Brady | Grumman F9F-7 Cougar | San Diego North Island to New York Floyd Bennett, 2442 miles, nonstop, one refuelling |
| 1955 | March 9 | 3 hr 46 min 33.6 sec | West to East | Lt Col Robert Scott | Los Angeles LAX to overhead New York Floyd Bennett, 2468 miles; two aerial refuellings | |
| 1955 | May 21 | 5 hr 28 min | East to West | Lieut John Conroy | North American F-86 | New York Mitchel Field to Los Angeles Van Nuys, 2481 miles, three stops |
| 1957 | March 21 | 5 hr 15 min | East to West | Cdr Dale Cox | Douglas A3D | nonstop unrefuelled New York Floyd Bennett to Los Angeles LAX |
| 1957 | March 23 | 3 hr 39 min 24 sec | West to East | Douglas A3D | Burbank CA to overhead Miami MCAS, FL | |
| 1957 | May 19 | 3 hr 38 min | West to East | Palmdale CA to McGuire AFB, NJ | ||
| 1957 | July 16 | 3 hr 23 min 8.4 sec | West to East | Major John H. Glenn, Jr., USMC | "Project Bullet" non-stop from NAS Los Alamitos, California 2455 miles to Floyd Bennett Field, New York averaging Mach 1.1, despite three refuelings from AJ piston-engine tankers during which speed dropped below 300 mph. Glenn's on-board reconnaissance camera recorded the first continuous panoramic photograph of the United States. | |
| 1957 | November 27 | 3 hr 5 min 39.2 sec | West to East | Lieutenant Gustav Klatt[28] | F-101 Voodoo | "Operation Sun Run", RF-101C refuelled four times by KC-135s; Ontario, California to overhead Floyd Bennett Field, New York, 781.7 mph https://web.archive.org/web/20070206050047/http://www.boeing.com/history/chronology/chron09.htmlhttp://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/systems/rf-101.htm |
| 1961 | May 24 | 2 hr 47 min 18 sec | West to East | Lieutenant Richard F. Gordon, Jr., U.S. Navy | Ontario, California to overhead Floyd Bennett Field, New York; three aerial refuellings from A3Ds | |
| 1962 | March 5 | 2 hr 1 min 39 sec | West to East | Robert G. Sowers | overhead Los Angeles to overhead New York; one aerial refuelling | |
| 1990 | March 6 | 1 hr 7 min 53.69 sec | West to East | Lt Col Ed Yeilding and Lt Col Joseph T. Vida | SR-71A Blackbird61-7972 | On delivery flight to the Smithsonian Institution, where the aircraft is now on display at the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy center, this SR-71 set the current transcontinental record. Yeilding and Vida crossed the west coast near Ventura, CA and, 2,404.5 miles later, crossed the east coast near Salisbury, MD averaging 2,124.51 mph http://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/records.php |
| 2003 | February 5 | 2 hr 56 min 20 sec | West to East | Steve Fossett, Douglas Travis | Cessna Citation X | San Diego to Charleston SC, 2150 great-circle miles; fastest transcon flight by a subsonic aircraft |
| 2003 | February 6 | 3 hr 51 min 52 sec | West to East | Steve Fossett, Joseph Ritchie | Piaggio Avanti | San Diego to Charleston SC; fastest transcon flight by a turboprop |
| 2003 | November 5 | 3 hr 55 min 12 sec | East to West | Mike Bannister and Les Broadie | Concorde G-BOAG | Flying to museum at retirement of the aircraft, New York to Seattle[29] [30] |
For the junior record only in-flight time is counted at a certain speed
| Year | Date | Time | Pilot | Aircraft | Notes and reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1928 | Previous "record" of 48 hours, set last year by 18-year-old Richard James, was spread over a month elapsed time.https://web.archive.org/web/20070930093542/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,752559,00.html | ||||
| 1930 | October 4, 1930 | East to West in 23 hours, 47 minutes | On October 4, 1930, Robert beat the junior transcontinental air speed record of Eddie August Schneider in his PA-6 Pitcairn Mailwing he named "Yankee Clipper". His time was 23 hours, 47 minutes of elapsed flying time. Robert said on February 6, 2005: "I was the youngest to fly coast to coast and that record still stands. I had my license at 16 and after that, they raised the minimum age to 17. With that change, no one could break my record." | ||
| 1930 | August 18, 1930 | East to West in 29 hours, 55 minutes | Leaving from Westfield, New Jersey on August 14, 1930, to Los Angeles, California in 4 days with a combined flying time of 29 hours and 55 minutes. He lowered the East to West record by 4 hours and 22 minutes. He then made the return trip from Los Angeles to Roosevelt Field, New York in 27 hours, 19 minutes, lowering the West to East record by 1 hour and 36 minutes. His total elapsed time for the round trip was 57 hours, 14 minutes. | ||
| 1930 | East to West in 32 hours ? minutes | Combined East to West and West to East in 62 hours and 58 minutes. | |||
For the women's record, only in-flight time is counted
| Year | Date | Time | Pilot | Aircraft | Notes and reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1930 | 13 hours, 21 minutes | ||||
| 1933 | 13 hours, 7 minutes, 30 seconds | ||||
| 1934 | 10 hours, 5 minutes | ||||
