Dawn-to-dusk transcontinental flight across the United States

The "Dawn to dusk" transcontinental flight across the United States was a pioneering aviation record established June 23, 1924. It marked the first crossing of the North American continent within the hours of daylight.

The record was set by 1st Lt. Russell L. Maughan, a U.S. Army Air Service test pilot at McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio, the site of the Air Service Engineering Division and its major flight-test center.

The plan for the flight was conceived by the Air Service's Assistant Chief, Brig. Gen. Billy Mitchell in 1923. The Air Service since 1919 had been regularly establishing endurance, distance, altitude and speed records in airplanes to promote favorable publicity and public support for the funding of the U.S. Army War Department's Major Project Number 4, the Lassiter plan for the expansion of the Air Service. The year before Lt. James H. Doolittle had flown a DH-4 from Florida to San Diego in a single calendar day, making just one stop in Texas for fuel. Mitchell wanted to not only improve on both the time and distance involved, but to have the stunt highly publicized by having it takeoff and land during daylight at major urban centers. The military purpose of the flight would be to demonstrate the utility of rapidly moving air units from one side of the nation to the other, a capability that the Army and Navy did not possess.

The original calculations for the flight were that in early summer, including twilight, 20 hours of daylight were available for a westbound flight. By averaging 160 miles (260 km) an hour, the distance of 2,670 miles (4,300 km) from New York to San Francisco could be covered in 16 hours 40 minutes. Mitchell had struck a deal with Curtiss Aircraft to purchase 25 new PW-8 fighters, patterned after the R-6 Racer, if Curtiss would help modify one of the prototypes for use in the project. The D-12 engine on the PW-8 produced 435 horsepower (324 kW) and Mitchell's intended modifications were to enable it to make the flight at full throttle power setting. If the armament and unnecessary equipment were also removed from the XPW-8, additional fuel capacity could be installed to extend its range, and larger oil tanks for engine cooling. The flight plan calculated four stops of 30 minutes each for refueling. McCook Field, Ohio; Saint Joseph, Missouri; Cheyenne, Wyoming; and remote Salduro Siding, Utah, were selected as refueling points, following a recently established mail route.

...
Wikipedia