Article from Aviation History Magazine

First Across the Pacific Nonstop

Aerial circus star Clyde Pangborn and playboy Hugh Herndon, Jr., captured the
Japanese prize with a glorious belly-flop in Wenatchee, Wash., in 1931.

By Terry Gwynn-Jones

Clyde "Upside-Down" Pangborn and

his co-pilot Hugh Herndon, Jr., were
under house arrest in Tokyo's Imperial
Hotel. Charged with espionage and
making an illegal flight, they had been
detained for seven weeks since
landing in Tokyo on August 8, 1931.
The two American airmen had strutted
onto aviation's world stage 12 days
earlier. They had taken off from New
York's Roosevelt Field in a blaze of
publicity, with high hopes of beating
the around-the-world speed record set
by one-eyed Wiley Post and his
Australian navigator Harold Gatty.
Pangborn, a daredevil stunt pilot, was well-known in American aviation circles. He had been chief
pilot and half owner of the fabled Gates Flying Circus until it closed down in 1928. His playboy co-
pilot, an aviation novice, was better known in society circles. A Princeton dropout who loved the
good life, Herndon was the son of Standard Oil heiress Alice Boardman. Anxious to see her son
make a name for himself, the socialite had not turned a hair when he asked her for $100,000 to
finance the flight.

Their hopes of beating Post and Gatty's flight time had come to an end in Khabarovsk, Siberia,
where, landing in a teeming rainstorm, their Bellanca Skyrocket Miss Veedol had slid off the
runway and become hopelessly bogged down. Already well behind their strict schedule, and with
no hope of taking off for several days, the despondent pair abandoned their world flight. They
decided, instead, to salvage something from the trip by competing for a $50,000 prize offered by
Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper for the first nonstop flight across the Pacific. They carried no
maps of Japan, so Pangborn cabled the editor of the English-language Japanese Times, asking
for a track and distance from Khabarovsk to Tokyo and requesting that the American Embassy
obtain landing permission from the Japanese Aviation Bureau.

The field at Khabarovsk had dried out before their cable was answered, so Pangborn decided to
take off before it was swamped again by threatening storms. Flying a rough heading for Japan,
they received a radio message giving a track and distance and advising that landing approval
was being sought. After landing at Haneda to get directions, they finally reached Tachikawa
airport, where they were met by angry officials demanding to see their landing papers. Japan was
at war with China and, understandably, did not take kindly to foreign pilots arriving unannounced
and photographing military-restricted areas. Pangborn recounted: "We were arraigned on three
counts. That we had flown over fortified areas and that we had photographed these areas. True
we didn't have a flight permit with us, but we assumed it would be routine for our embassy to
arrange it. As for flying over fortified areas and taking pictures, we were just tourists taking what
we thought were pretty landscape shots."

1
Their seven weeks under house arrest gave Pangborn and Herndon the time to plan their
transpacific attempt. They were also able to consider the efforts of the other teams, Japanese
and American, that had already unsuccessfully competed for the Asahi Shimbun prize. The
Japanese decision to sponsor a Pacific flight had been sparked four years earlier by Charles
Lindbergh's transatlantic triumph. Lindbergh's New YorkParis solo flight had electrified the world.
Overnight, the American had become an international hero--the most photographed person of his
era. The Japanese believed that the first successful transpacific flight, which was a longer and
more demanding undertaking than crossing the Atlantic, would help focus attention on Japan's
emergence as the industrial powerhouse of Asia--particularly if a Japanese pilot and plane were
first across.

While the world still bathed in the afterglow of Lindbergh's success, Japan announced its
transpacific intentions. The Imperial Aeronautics Association declared that a Japanese pilot, flying
in a Japanese-owned and -manufactured aircraft, would cross the Pacific. Shortly afterward, the
Tokyo newspaper Mainichi Shimbun placed an order with T. Claude Ryan for an exact replica of
Lindbergh's long-range monoplane.

Delivered to Japan early in 1928, the Ryan NYP-2 (New York-Paris No. 2) was not purchased to
attempt the Pacific flight. The original NYP had been built to Lindbergh's specification to fly the
3,600 miles between New York and Paris--plus a few hundred extra for safety. The flight from
Japan to America's West Coast required an aircraft with a range of at least 4,500 miles.

Although the Japanese buyers may at first have thought it possible to extend the Ryan's range, it
seems more likely that the aircraft's role was to act as a design guide for Japan's Kawanishi
company to construct a similar but much larger, transpacific machine, designated the K-12 Nichi-
Bei-Go (JapanU.S. Model). Two Ryans were ordered, one as a backup in case of an accident.
The project folded, however, when flight testing proved that Kawanishi's lumbering K-12 had
neither the range nor the takeoff performance to make the transpacific flight. Red-faced
Kawanishi officials hung one of the expensive white elephants from the factory ceiling beneath a
banner proclaiming, "How not to design or build a Special-Purpose Airplane."

Interest in the Asahi Shimbun prize did not diminish, even when Charles Kingsford Smith and his
crew completed the first transpacific flight from Oakland, Calif., to Brisbane, Australia, in the
Fokker F.VII/3m tri-motor Southern Cross in June 1928. The island-hopping flight, which did not
qualify for the Japanese prize, was made in three stages; hence, it lacked the drama of a nonstop
crossing.

The first nonstop Pacific attempt was made in 1930, when Canadian-born pilot Harold Bromley
teamed up with Australian navigator Harold Gatty. Their aircraft was an elegant, 450-hp Wasp-
powered monoplane manufactured by E.M. Smith and Company (Emsco) and named City of
Tacoma--for the city that had sponsored the flight. Fully loaded, their Emsco had a still-air range
of approximately 4,000 miles--500 miles less than they needed. To succeed they would require a
tailwind. As this was more likely when flying east, the airmen decided to begin the flight from
Japan. Taking off from a long, flat beach at Sabishiro, 370 miles north of Tokyo, they flew 1,250
miles, mostly in cloud, before headwinds forced them to turn back.

Daring young Japanese airman Seiji Yoshihara was the next to try. Yoshihara had made a
sensational flight from Berlin to Tokyo in a tiny, open-cockpit Junkers A-50. He figured that the
fuel economy of his airplane's 85-hp engine would enable him to cross the Pacific. Equipping the
Junkers with floats, Yoshihara took off on May 18, 1931, following the great circle route. He had
covered almost 1,000 miles when the seaplane developed engine trouble, and he was forced to
ditch in the Pacific. Miraculously, Yoshihara was picked up by a passing ship seven hours later.
Following Yoshihara's gallant attempt, the Imperial Aeronautics Association announced additional
prize money of $100,000 for a successful flight by a Japanese team. In the United States, a group
of Seattle businessmen added a $28,000 sweetener to the $50,000 Asahi Shimbun prize. Their
only stipulation was that the flight start in Seattle and finish in Japan. This meant that prize money

2
totaling $78,000 was now offered for non-Japanese teams--a fortune in those Depression days. It
attracted Texan barnstormer Reginald Robbins and oilman Harold S. Jones, who had twice
attempted a Seattle-Tokyo flight in their Lockheed Vega Fort Worth. Unfortunately, their shrewd
plan to refuel from a Ford TriMotor tanker in the air over Alaska failed to work on both occasions.
Another westbound attempt ended when a flier named Bob Wark was forced down near
Vancouver, barely 100 miles from his starting point.

Following their aborted flight in 1930, Bromley and Gatty had left the Emsco in Japan to be sold.
It was subsequently used in two further American transpacific attempts. The first ended when
pilot Thomas Ash failed to get the Emsco off the sands at Sabishiro. For the second attempt, Los
Angeles salesmen Cecil Allen and Don Moyle renamed the Emsco Clasina Madge. They took off
from Sabishiro on September 8, 1931, while Pangborn and Herndon were still under house arrest
in Tokyo. Long on courage but short on experience, Allen and Moyle got lost and, after flying
aimlessly for more than a day, landed on Siberia's Kamchatka Peninsula. The pair eventually
headed on toward the United States with stops in the Aleutians and Alaska. The Clasina Madge
finally reached Tacoma on September 25, 1931.

Pangborn and Herndon already had been tried in Tokyo's district court. Found guilty, they were
sentenced to 205 days hard labor or fines of $1,050 each. After paying their fines, Pangborn and
Herndon revealed their plan to attempt the Japan United States flight. Because of the recent
failures, Japan's Civil Aviation Bureau had restricted future flights to only "approved" aircraft. After
days of haggling, approval was reluctantly given for Pangborn to attempt one overloaded takeoff
from Japan.

They flew Miss Veedol to Sabishiro Beach

on September 29 and made final
modifications for the flight. Pangborn had
worked out a clever plan to reduce drag
and extend the Bellanca's range. The idea
had previously been used in 1919 by
Australian Harry Hawker in an
unsuccessful attempt to cross the Atlantic.
The scheme involved removing the bolts
holding the landing gear to the fuselage
and replacing them with a series of clips
and springs attached to a cable. By pulling
on the cable following takeoff, Pangborn
would jettison the whole structure. For the
landing he attached steel skids to the
Bellanca's potbelly.

Pangborn explained: "We determined that to make the trans-Pacific flight we would have to take
off with the heaviest wing loading [fuel load] we had ever attempted with the Bellanca. Even then
it was marginal that we would have enough fuel to take us the 4,500 miles to the U.S. west coast
even at the most economical cruising speed. Studying the problem I calculated that we could
increase our speed [by] approximately 15 miles per hour if we could rid ourselves of the drag of
the fixed landing gear. On a forty hour flight that would be the equivalent of adding 600 miles to
our range, and that might make the difference between success and failure."

At Sabishiro Beach the two Americans were guests of the nearby town of Misawa City. The
mayor had publicly announced that fliers of any nation seeking such an honorable goal should be
hosted in friendship. Not all Japanese were so friendly, however, as the airmen discovered when
their painstakingly prepared flight charts were stolen. It appeared likely that the culprits were
members of the radically patriotic Black Dragon Society, who for weeks had been violently
speaking out against the Americans and their proposed flight.

3
Pangborn and Herndon obtained new charts and were finally ready to go on October 2. To save
weight, they carried no radio, no survival equipment, not even a seat cushion, and limited their
food to hot tea and some fried chicken. Even so, with 915 gallons of fuel and 45 gallons of oil on
board, the Bellanca was still exceeding its allowable maximum operating weight by 3,400 pounds.
As Pangborn prepared to climb on board the Bellanca, a small Japanese boy rushed out of the
crowd and presented them a gift of five apples from his father's orchard. Pangborn appeared
deeply touched. Misawa City, like his hometown of Wenatchee, Wash., was famous for its apples.
Miss Veedol used the takeoff ramp that local villagers had built for Bromley and Gatty's earlier
attempt. A hill of sand had been packed down by a steam roller and then covered with a runway
of planks that led down to the beach. Working like a ski jump, its purpose was to give the
overloaded airplane an initial burst of acceleration. Even so, the Bellanca had trouble gaining
flying speed as it rolled down onto the wet beach.

With its 425-hp Wasp engine screaming at full power, the monoplane was only up to 60 mph with
two-thirds of the beach gone. Pangborn had estimated that he required 90 mph for liftoff. As Miss
Veedol approached a pile of logs that marked the end of the makeshift runway, Pangborn could
be seen rocking the aircraft from wheel to wheel in an attempt to break the drag of the wet sand.
He later recounted: "I was determined to get off, or pile into those logs. We had permission for
only the one attempt and in no way was I going to spend any more time in Japan."

The aircraft staggered into the air with 100 yards to spare. Flying straight ahead, wallowing near a
stall, the fuel-bloated Bellanca inched up above the waves. When they had a safe margin of
height, Pangborn turned slowly onto a heading of 072 degrees--heading toward the Aleutians.
Three hours out, on track and approaching the Kurile Islands, Pangborn was satisfied that
everything was operating normally and jettisoned the landing gear. The main structure fell away
but two of the gear's bracing rods did not drop clear. Pangborn realized that they posed a real
threat to a safe belly landing and that he would have to work them free during the flight. Devoid of
300 pounds of landing gear and its drag, Miss Veedol climbed to 14,000 feet, where it picked up a
good tail wind.

The sun went down and they began to encounter airframe icing in the clouds. To stay clear of
clouds, they climbed to 17,000 feet where conditions were smooth and ice-free. Pangborn
decided this was the ideal time to try to get rid of the two dangling struts. Handing over control to
Herndon, the steel-nerved airman put his flying circus wing-walking skills to good use. Struggling
against the frigid 100-mph slipstream, Pangborn eased out of the cockpit and placed his feet on
the broad strut that supported the Bellanca's wing. Holding on for dear life with one hand, with the
other he removed one of the offending brace rods. Pangborn clambered back into the cockpit,
warmed himself, then repeated the procedure on the other side. Through the night it was bitterly
cold. He recalled, "The water in our canteens and even our hot tea froze."

The first real position check was a volcano in the Aleutians, and the two men were delighted to
see it loom directly below them. Pangborn remained at the controls, with Herndon responsible for
keeping the main wing tanks topped up from the huge auxiliary cabin tank. This required him to
transfer fuel with a hand-operated wobble pump. Twice he forgot the task. The first time he was
able to pump fuel fast enough to keep the spluttering Wasp engine running. On the second
occasion, Herndon's carelessness nearly cost the men their lives when the propeller stopped
dead.

The Bellanca was not equipped with an electric starter. Pangborn had no alternative but to dive
the airplane in the hope of getting the propeller to windmill. Yelling at Herndon to start pumping,
Pangborn steepened the dive, desperately trying to turn the propeller in the rarefied air. They had
lost 13,000 feet and were only 1,500 feet above the ocean when it finally began to windmill and
the engine burst into life again.

4
The only word of their progress during the whole flight came from an island in the Aleutians where
an amateur radio operator radioed to America that he had heard an airplane passing over above
the clouds. No one was quite sure of their final destination, though Pangborn's mother was
adamant that her son would choose his hometown Wenatchee, Wash., as his landing site. She
was among 30 locals who maintained a vigil at its little airfield.

Pangborn sighted the tip of the Queen Charlotte Islands, off the northwestern coast of Canada
and knew the worst of the navigation was over. He had been at the controls for more than 30
hours. Aware that the tricky job of belly landing lay not too far ahead of them, he decided to catch
a few hours of sleep. He instructed Herndon to hold the current height and heading and to wake
him when he saw the lights of a big city. "That will be Vancouver, British Columbia," Pangborn
yelled.

Once again Herndon's inattention let them down. When Pangborn awoke some hours later, his
cavalier co-pilot had wandered off course and missed both Vancouver and Seattle. Ahead of
them was Mount Rainier. Pangborn decided to carry on inland to Boise, Idaho, which would also
give them a new world's nonstop distance record. However, two hours later, when it became
evident the Boise area was covered in fog, they turned toward Spokane, Wash. When that
destination appeared to be covered by low
clouds, Pangborn decided to head for
Wenatchee.

At 7:14 a.m. on October 5, 1931, the big

red monoplane swooped in over the hills
and circled Wenatchee's little airfield,
dumping fuel to reduce the chance of fire.
Approaching slowly, Pangborn sent
Herndon to the rear of the cabin, hoping
that his weight would help hold the tail
down during the landing. At the last
moment he cut off the fuel and ignition
switches and, as the Bellanca flared close
to stalling, lowered it gently onto the
ground. For a moment it was obscured by
a cloud of dust; then, decelerating rapidly,
Miss Veedol slithered to a stop, teetered for a moment and fell onto its left wingtip.

After being hugged by his mother and brother, Pangborn was

amazed to discover that a representative of Asahi Shimbun
was there to present the fliers with their $50,000 check. By
some quirk of fate, the newspaper's emissary had selected
Wenatchee as their most likely landing point.

Among the little group that had waited through the night was
Carl M. Cleveland, then a young reporter for the Wenatchee
Daily World. He had commandeered the only telephone in
hopes that he might get a world scoop. He was not
disappointed: "PANGBORN-HERNDON SPAN
PACIFIC....BOY ARE WE GLAD TO GET HERE: PANGBORN
PUTS IT....IT'S LIKE A DREAM COME TRUE." Cleveland's
hometown headlines were mirrored around the continent as he
passed the story to his editor, who relayed Cleveland's words
to the wire services and the world.

The Asahi Shimbun prize was the only money awarded for the
epic flight. As foreigners, Pangborn and Herndon were not

5
eligible for the Imperial Aeronautic Association's prize, nor did they qualify for the Seattle
businessmen's prize.

From Pangborn's point of view, worse was to follow. His relationship with Herndon was already
strained, and their partnership quickly dissolved. Bickering between the two came to a head when
Herndon and his mother, as financial backers for the transpacific flight, claimed the prize money
and the cash realized from the sale of Miss Veedol. They gave Pangborn a paltry $2,500 for his
efforts.

Pangborn vented his feelings in the Albany Times Union. "HERNDON INCOMPETENT SAYS
PANGBORN!" blared the headlines. In the story that followed, Pangborn disclosed that his co-
pilot had known nothing of navigation because he had been romancing a girl instead of studying
prior to their flight. He disclosed that Herndon had been little more than a passenger in Miss
Veedol, stating, "Out of the 200 hours we were in the air [since leaving New York], Herndon flew
at most ten of those hours."

The nonstop transpacific flight eventually brought Pangborn other, more lasting rewards. He was
honored with American aviation's prestigious Harmon Trophy--joining other greats such as
Charles Lindbergh and Jimmy Doolittle. And news came from Japan that, forgiven for his earlier
transgressions, Pangborn had been awarded the Imperial Aeronautical Society's White Medal of
Merit.

The most lasting memento of Miss Veedol's flight was a gift from Clyde Pangborn to the people of
Misawa City. Remembering the touching gift of five apples from the little Japanese boy on
Sabishiro Beach, Pangborn arranged for the mayor of Wenatchee to send to his counterpart in
Misawa City five cuttings from Washington state's famed Richard Delicious apples. They were
grafted onto trees in Misawa City and, within a few years, cuttings and seedlings were distributed
to apple growers around the country. Today, Richard Delicious apples are grown throughout
Japan.

miss-veedol-fl

Story & Photos

By R. Lawrence Osborn

After 40,000 hours of effort by 40 volunteers

over five years, a replica of the Bellanca
Skyrocket Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon
flew around the world in 1931 has finally flown in
Wenatchee, Wash.

The flight of the recreated "Miss Veedol" took

place at Pangborn Memorial Field. At the
controls were the "Spirit of Wenatchee" project's chief pilot Arnie Clarke and construction boss
David Stadler
.
They flew the chubby, high-wing monoplane for about an hour. After landing and exiting through
one of the windows (the plane has no doors), Clarke declared, "She flew just like she was
supposed to."

According to Jake Lodato, the project's communications director and third pilot, some 300
onlookers showed up to watch the first flight. Among them was Herndon's daughter Heather
Bates from Mesa, Ariz.

6
She brought her dad's flight jacket for Clarke to wear. Herndon's grandson Hugh Herndon IV and
three of Pangborn's cousins also attended.

Birth Of An Idea

The project was hatched by EAA Chapter 424 members Brian Odell, Len Pugsley and Rick Ruffle
in 1997. They thought a static replica of "Miss Veedol" would be a fitting tribute to the namesake
of their home field.

In less than a year, the Spirit of Wenatchee committee had upgraded its plan. The new plan: build
a flying replica and use it to reenact the Pangborn-Herndon round-the-world flight in 2003, the
100th anniversary of powered flight.

Just as the need for outside funding became obvious, Tokyo investment company owner Kaz
Ogura offered to back the project as a promotion. His Pangborn World Flight Co. has long
promoted the project in Japan.

The citizens of Misawa, Japan, East Wenatchee's sister city and the starting point of the 1931
trans-Pacific flight, donated more than $40,000. East Wenatchee residents matched their
contributions, helping fund the $450,000 cost of the plane.

The plan to reenact the Pangborn-Herndon flight this year was put on hold by the volatile situation
in Iraq. The group has decided to try next year instead.

Incredibly, they plan to drop the landing gear after taking off from Japan to reduce drag, just as
Pangborn did 72 years ago. The replica "Miss Veedol" (the name of an oil company sponsor) will
land on its reinforced belly at the end of the flight.

The gear will be retrieved and reinstalled so the plane can be flown normally to complete the
round-the-world flight, just as the original did in 1931.

72 Years Ago …
After a stint as a barnstormer, Pangborn set his sights on the 20-day round-the-world record set
by the airship "Graf Zeppelin" in 1929. Preparation for the flight began in early 1931, with
Pangborn providing the flying skill, Herndon the money.

(Incidentally, Pangborn was instrumental in giving another soon-to-be famous pilot his first
airplane ride -- a young Washington lad named Greg Boyington, future leader of the VMF-214
"Black Sheep Squadron.)

In June '31, just as work on their Bellanca Skyrocket was nearing completion, Wiley Post and
Harold Gatty stole the record out from under them. They circled the globe in eight days, 15 hours,
15 minutes.

The record they had to beat had been cut in half. While the Bellanca was slower than Post's
Lockheed Vega "Winnie Mae," Pangborn figured its greater range and resulting fewer stops
would give them an edge.

On July 28th, Pangborn muscled the overloaded Bellanca off New York's Roosevelt Field No. 2
and headed out across the Atlantic. After stops in London, Berlin and Moscow, they were still 10
hours behind Post and Gatty's pace; crossing Siberia, they fell 27 hours behind.

Knowing they couldn't make up the time in the slower Bellanca, they gave up their round-the-
world speed attempt. Instead, they opted to try for the $25,000 prize offered by a Japanese
newspaper for the first nonstop flight from Japan to the U.S.

7
But plan B got off to a rocky start when they landed in Tokyo without approval. Though they were
arrested, diplomats interceded and got the two released after paying a hefty fine.

While they approved the record attempt, Japanese authorities granted permission for only one
takeoff attempt. If the first try failed or if they were forced to return for any reason, their plane
would be impounded.

Since he knew "Miss Veedol" would be carrying 930 gallons of fuel, Pangborn finagled
permission to depart from an 8,000-foot runway at Sabishiro Beach in Misawa. He never
mentioned that he'd rigged the landing gear to be dropped after takeoff, giving the plane an extra
15 mph of airspeed and 600 miles of range.

Planning on a 40-hour flight, Pangborn and Herndon left Japan early on Oct. 4th. Three hours
out, they tried to drop the landing gear but only the wheels released; the gear legs remained
firmly in place.

Pangborn later used his experience as a wingwalker to rectify the situation. At 14,000 feet above
the cold North Pacific, he crawled out onto the wing struts and freed the gear legs, paving the
way for a successful belly landing at the end of the flight.

Just after 7 a.m. on Oct. 5th, Pangborn set the plane down in a near-perfect belly-landing. He and
Herndon had flown 5,500 miles across the Pacific nonstop in 41 hours and 15 minutes.

Postscript

After landing in Wenatchee, the plane was trucked to Seattle and new landing gear installed.
Pangborn and Herndon then flew on to New York to complete their world flight. While their feat
was as significant as Lindbergh's 1927 Atlantic crossing, Pangborn and Herndon received little
public acclaim. But Pangborn did win the Aviation League's Harmon Trophy for the greatest
achievement in flight for 1931.

"Miss Veedol was disassembled, shipped to Seattle, elevated to the upper floors of the Bon
Marche department store, reassembled and exhibited for two weeks for Seattle's tony shoppers!"
Lodato said. "It was then shipped to Boeing Field, repaired and put back on wheels for the last
leg of the circumnavigation to New York."

Pangborn and Herndon sold the "Miss Veedol" to New York doctor Leon Pisciuli. Planning to use
the plane in a study of the effects of extended flight on humans, Pisciuli had the all-red Bellanca
repainted silver and named it "American Nurse."

He recruited a young nurse named Edna Newcomer and a pilot by the name of William Ulrich to
assist him on the trans-Atlantic flight. They took off from Floyd Bennett Field in New York the
morning of Sept. 13, 1932 and headed out to sea.

"The American Nurse disappeared over the Atlantic (estimated to be south of Spain) shortly
thereafter and no trace was ever found," Lodato said. "The three souls lost are part of the legacy
of pushing the aviation envelope that so fascinated the world in those early, exploratory years."

For more details on the plane and Pangborn, see their website: http://www.spiritofwenatchee.org/
Replica photos http://www.airic.ca/html/bellanca_miss_veedol.html

8
Bellanca J-300 Special
What is a J-300 Special? In 1931 Bellanca Aircraft Corp. had the Sky Rocket and the Pacemaker
aircraft in production. The J-300 is a hybrid between the two designed with one thing in mind
range. Pangborn himself had the Veedol custom manufactured to suite his needs for long range.
Added to this aircraft is four feet to the wing span to help lift the near 6,000 lb fuel load, two times
its own 3,000 lb gross weight. It’s basically a flying gas tank.

A stock Bellanca of the same era is much slimmer with out the belly and chin fuel tanks.

Make: Bellanca (replica).

Model: J-300 Long Distance Special .
Year: 1930
Engine: Pratt & Whitney 985-14B Radial with engine driven turbo charger
Horse power: 450
Propeller: Hamilton Standard 108" variable pitch.
Cruising speed: 110 Knots 1700 RPM.
Take off distance: Full fuel load unknown.
Fuel capacity: 763 US gallons.
Fuel system: 8 fuel tanks total.
Wing tanks = 4, capacity 216 gallons.
Fuselage main deck tanks = 2,capacity 200 gallon forward, 150 gallon aft.
Belly tank = 1 capacity, 160 gallons.
Chin tank = 1 capacity, 37 gallons.
Emergency fuel dump: 2 Valves 6" main deck tanks.
Fuel consumption: 17 GPH calculated average to include time to climb.
Range: 45-50 hours 5,000 plus miles (estimate)
Weight: 3,180 empty, 8,139 full fuel
Wings: Span 49'9" feet, area 380 square feet, cord 79"
Length: 27'9"
Height: 8'6"