And anyone who wanted to guess how long the plane would stay in the air could send in their guess with a monetary contribution to the foundation. The flight would be a fundraiser, in support of the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. To avoid the appearance of this flight merely being a publicity stunt for the hotel, Doc came up with an inspired idea. And with the name ‘Hacienda Hotel’ featured prominently on the side of the aircraft, it was sure to draw many eyes to the business. Timm convinced Doc that backing and publicizing an attempt to break the manned flight endurance world record was just the ticket. Timm, who at 240 lbs was described as a ‘bear’ of a man, was a WW2 bomber pilot, and an experienced aviator with a passion for flying. It needs good publicity, and stat! Bailey tried many tactics, like hiring pretty women to hand out coupons to truckers, but he was soon convinced to engage in something much more ambitious.īailey, known for listening to and considering ideas no matter where they came from, was approached by one of his slot machine mechanics, Robert Timm. However, due to its (then) undesirable location at the far southern end of the strip, and its catering to families, locals, and those considered to be ‘low rollers’, the Hacienda had a reputation problem. In 1956, Doc Bailey, an enterprising businessman, had built the first family oriented hotel and casino in Las Vegas, the 265 room ‘ Hacienda‘. They were to enjoy this record for only a couple short months, however, as another group was finally ready to take flight in the deserts of Las Vegas. 50 days (1200 hours) later, they landed, handily breaking the 1949 record. So, using a modified Cessna 172 called ‘ The Old Scotchman‘, they took to the air in August 1958. Jim Heth and Bill Burkhart decide that this is just the plane to help them set a new flight endurance record. It’s two years after the release of the Cessna 172, which has become quite popular. They were ultimately successful in their bid, also setting an impressive new endurance record that stood for almost a decade.įast forward 9 years to 1958. These former Navy pilots were part of an effort to convince the government to reopen the Yuma Army Airfield, to help bolster the sagging Yuma economy. In 1949, Bob Woodhouse and Woody Jongeward flew an Aeronca Sedan for 46 days and 9 hours before landing. In 1929 alone, the record was broken and re-set five times! Over the years since that time, the refueled, manned endurance record has been broken on at least a dozen occasions. During that time, it had 9 mid-air refuelings that pumped 687 gallons of gas, and 38 gallons of oil into its tanks. The receiving plane managed to stay aloft for more than 37 hours. A mere two months later, the first refueled endurance record that beat the current un-refueled endurance record 1 was set by three DH-4Bs, a receiving plane and two tankers. The planes were Airco DH-4B Biplanes in the US Army Air Service. The first mid air refueling between two planes took place on June 27, 1923. But this was all about to change with the introduction of aerial refueling, something which would vastly increase the amount of time an airplane could stay in the air. In the early days of aviation, flight endurance time was limited by how much fuel a plane could carry. The flying can be handled by multiple pilots, as long as all pilots remain in the aircraft for the duration of the flight. In manned flight endurance, flying can be handled by one pilot, though this is not the recommended method. Flight Endurance and the Early Years of Aviationįlight endurance is defined as the longest amount of time an aircraft in a specific category can spend in continuous flight without landing. But to help put their story in the proper context, and give it a little additional weight, let’s start by defining flight endurance, and providing a little history. The story of this pair of Las Vegas pilots, and their record breaking flight is incredible, often funny, and always a little unbelievable. The current record of 64 days, 22 hours, and 19 minutes was set in 1958, by Robert Timm and John Cook. One of the most interesting and sought after of all flight records is for refueled, manned flight endurance. They can be in either a manned or unmanned aircraft, re-fueled or un-refueled, and cover areas such as flight distance, speed, or altitude. There are a lot of world records related to flight. Setting the Flight Endurance World Record
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