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  • First Automatic Airplane Landing

    The first automatic airplane landing occurred on Aug. 23, 1937. A Fokker C-14B took off from Wright Field and after its automatic equipment was switched on, it turned toward Patterson Field several miles away, gradually descended and landed using a ground radio system consisting of five transmitting

  • Four-Engine Bomber

    In the summer of 1935, the Boeing Airplane Co. unveiled its Model 299, a remarkable four-engine, high-speed, long-range, heavy bomber which was eventually designated the B-17 Flying Fortress. This plane, although destined to change the complexion of aerial warfare, initially failed to convince the

  • Fatal Flight of Capt. Gray

    Capt. Hawthorne C. Gray, one of the Air Corps' leading balloonists following World War I, was selected to make experimental high-altitude research flights in 1927. During his first flight on March 9, he lost consciousness at 27,000 feet because his oxygen equipment froze; he survived because his

  • Flights of Explorer I and II

    In 1934 the National Geographic Society and the Air Corps co-sponsored a balloon flight to investigate the stratosphere. Suspended below a mammoth hydrogen-filled balloon was the sealed gondola named the Explorer, which was designed to carry three passengers. The flight began at 5:45 a.m. on July

  • Ford Model T Ambulance

    During World War I, the Allies used thousands of Model T cars and trucks because of their low cost and ease of repair. The ambulance version's light weight made it well-suited for use on the muddy and shell-torn roads in forward combat areas. If stuck in a hole, a group of soldiers could lift one

  • Flight of the Question Mark

    In 1929 the U.S. Army Air Corps attempted to break the world's record for an endurance flight with an Atlantic-Fokker C-2A aircraft. To capture the public's attention, the Army Air Corps stated that the aircraft would remain aloft as long as possible, and to highlight the point, the aircraft was

  • First Transcontinental Nonstop Flight

    The first nonstop flight across the United States was made by Lts. John A. Macready and Oakley G. Kelly in a Fokker T-2 airplane. Taking off from Roosevelt Field, Long Island, N.Y., on May 2, 1923, the heavily loaded T-2 flew westward through both fair and foul weather (much of it at night) without

  • First Air-to-Air Refueling

    On Oct. 5, 1922, Lts. John A. Macready and Oakley G. Kelly set a world endurance record of 35 hours, 18 minutes, 30 seconds in their Fokker T-2 airplane over San Diego, Calif., for which they received the Mackay Trophy. Had they not run low on gasoline, they could have remained in the air until

  • First Alaskan Flight

    The first flight from the continental U.S. to Alaska was made by four DH-4Bs under the command of Capt. St. Clair Streett. The flight departed Mitchel Field, Long Island, N.Y., on July 15, 1920, and arrived at Nome, Alaska, on Aug. 24. The same planes and crews returned to Mitchel Field on Oct. 20,

  • Flights to High Altitude

    Schroeder's Altitude Flights, 1918-1920During World War I, the Air Service began making test flights at high altitude. On Sept. 18, 1918, Capt. Rudolph W. "Shorty" Schroeder set a world record of 28,900 feet in a Bristol airplane from McCook Field. In 1919 he established three more world altitude