Transcontinental air speed record

These are records for flight between coasts in North America.

Transcontinental air speed record

In-flight and on-ground time are counted after the earliest flights

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Year	Date	Time	Direction	Pilot	Aircraft	Notes and reference
1911	September 17, 1911	3 days, 10 hours and 14 minutes in air time	East to West	Calbraith Perry Rodgers	Wright biplane	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, 1919	3 days, 3 hours, 5 minutes [1]	East to West	Belvin W. Maynard	DH-4	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, 1922	21 hours 19 minutes	East to West	Jimmy Doolittle	DH-4	Flew from Pablo Beach, Florida, to San Diego, California, with only one refueling stop [2]
1923	May 2–3, 1923	26 hours 50 minutes 382⁄5 seconds	East to West	Lt John A. Macready and Lt Oakley G. Kelly	Fokker T-2	First nonstop transcontinental flight: Roosevelt Field, Long Island to Rockwell Field, North Island, San Diego. Longest straight-line distance covered nonstop until then
1924	June 23, 1924	20 hours, 48 minutes	East to West	Russell Maughan	P-1 Hawk	First transcontinental flight "during hours of daylight". See also: Dawn-to-dusk transcontinental flight across the United States, New York City to San Francisco, average speed 128 miles per hour
1929	February 4, 1929	18 hours, 22 minutes	West to East	Frank Hawks	Lockheed Air Express	Los Angeles to New York City with mechanic Oscar Grubb
1929		18 hours and 43 minutes	East to West	Roscoe Turner	Lockheed Air Express	New York City to Los Angeles with 3 passengers.
1929	June 27, 1929	18 hours and 10 minutes	East to West	Frank Hawks	Lockheed Air Express	New York City to Los Angeles
1929	June 28, 1929	17 hours and 36 minutes	West to East	Frank Hawks	Lockheed Air Express	Los Angeles to New York City
1930	April 20, 1930	14 hours and 45 minutes	West to East	Charles A. Lindbergh		Los Angeles to New York City. "Behind the name of Captain Frank M. Hawks, in aviation's record book today is set down the time of 12 hours, 25 minutes, 3 seconds for an eastward transcontinental flight, the fastest ever flown by man over the distance of 2,500 miles. It is farther by more than two hours the time made Easter Sunday by Colonel and Mrs. Charles A. Lindbergh. Their record was 14 hours and 45 minutes." Source: Newark Advocate, Newark, Ohio, August 15, 1930; Valley Stream, New York; August 14, 1930 (Associated Press)
1930	Aug 13, 1930	12 hours, 25 minutes	West to East	Frank Hawks	Travel Air "Mystery S"	Los Angeles to New York City. "Behind the name of Captain Frank M. Hawks, in aviation's record book today is set down the time of 12 hours, 25 minutes, 3 seconds for an eastward transcontinental flight, the fastest ever flown by man over the distance of 2,500 miles. It is farther by more than two hours the time made Easter Sunday by Colonel and Mrs. Charles A. Lindbergh. Their record was 14 hours and 45 minutes." Source: Newark Advocate, Newark, Ohio, August 15, 1930; Valley Stream, New York; August 14, 1930 (Associated Press)
1930	November 14, 1930	12 hours, 33 minutes	East to West	Roscoe Turner	Vega	New York City to Burbank, California. He set the East-West transcontinental airspeed record at 12 hours and 33 minutes. Turner bettered by two hours and 17 minutes the former mark set by Frank Hawks.
1931	September 4, 1931	11 hours, 16 minutes, 10 seconds	West to East	Jimmy Doolittle	1931 Laird “Super Solution”	Completed for a bonus prize after winning the inaugural Bendix Trophy race, Los Angeles to Newark, averaged 217 miles per hour [3]
1932	August 29, 1932	10 hours, 19 minutes	West to East	Jim Haizlip	WW 44	Completed after winning the 2nd annual Bendix Trophy race.[4]
1936	January 13, 1936	9 hours and 27 minutes	West to East	Howard Hughes	Northrop Gamma	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 previous mark by 36 minutes. [5]
1937	January 19, 1937	7 hours 28 minutes 25 seconds	West to East	Howard Hughes	Hughes H-1 Racer	nonstop Burbank, California to overhead Newark Airport, New Jersey
1939	February 11, 1939	7 hours and ? minutes	West to East	Benjamin S. Kelsey	XP-38	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, 1945	6 hours 4 minutes	West to East	Curtin L. Reinhardt	C-97 Stratofreighter	Seattle to Washington, D.C., average speed 383 mph [6]
1945	December 1945	5 hours and 17 minutes	West to East	Glen Edwards and Lt. Col. Henry E. Warden	XB-42 Mixmaster	In December 1945, Captain Glen Edwards and Lt. Col. Henry E. Warden set a new transcontinental speed record when they flew the XB-42 from Long Beach, California to Bolling Air Force Base in Washington DC (c. 2,300 miles) and in just 5 hours, 17 minutes, the XB-42 set a speed record of 433.6 mph (697.8 km/h).
1945	December 1945	5 hours 27 minutes 8 seconds	West to East	Col C. S. Irvine	Boeing B-29	Burbank, California to overhead Floyd Bennett Field, New York; average 450 miles/hour
1946	January 26, 1946	4 hours 13 minutes 26 seconds	West to East	Col W. H. Councill	Lockheed P-80	Long Beach, California to overhead La Guardia Airport, New York; nonstop, unrefuelled
1949	February 8, 1949	3 hours 46 minutes	West to East		B-47 Stratojet	Larson AFB, Moses Lake, Washington to Andrews AFB near Washington DC, 607.8 mph average [7]
1954	January 2, 1954	4 hours 8 minutes 5 seconds	West to East	Col Willard Millikan	North American F-86F	Los Angeles LAX to overhead New York Floyd Bennett; time includes stop for fuel at Offutt AFB
1954	March 30, 1954	4 hours 24 minutes 17 seconds	West to East	Joe DeBona	North American P-51C	Los Angeles LAX nonstop to New York Idlewild—still the prop record (560 mph)
1955	March 9, 1955	3 hours 46 minutes 33.6 seconds	West to East	Lt Col Robert Scott	Republic F-84F	Los Angeles LAX to overhead New York Floyd Bennett; two aerial refuelings
1957	March 23, 1957	3 hr 39 min 24 sec	West to East		Douglas A3D?	Burbank CA to overhead Miami MCAS, FL
1957	May 19, 1957	3 hr 38 min	West to East		N American F-100F	Palmdale CA to McGuire AFB, NJ
1957	July 16, 1957	3 hours, 23 minutes, and 8.4 seconds	West to East	Major John H. Glenn, Jr., USMC	Vought F8U-1 Crusader	"Project Bullet" non-stop flight from NAS Los Alamitos, California to Floyd Bennett Field, New York, with an average speed for the flight of Mach 1.1, despite three in-flight refuelings during which speeds dropped below 300 mph. Glenn's on-board reconnaissance camera recorded the first continuous transcontinental panoramic photograph of the United States.
1957	November 27, 1957	3 hours, 7 minutes	West to East	Lieutenant Gustav Klatt	F-101 Voodoo	"Operation Sun Run" with 4 RF-101Cs using in-air refueling; Ontario, California to overhead Floyd Bennett Field, New York, 781.7 mph West to East leg, 721.8 mph roundtrip average [8][9]
1961	May 24, 1961	2 hours 47 minutes 18 seconds	West to East		McDonnell F4H	Ontario, California to overhead Floyd Bennett Field, New York; three aerial refuellings
1962	March 5, 1962	2 hours 1 minute 39 seconds	West to East		Convair B-58	overhead Los Angeles to overhead New York; one aerial refuelling
1990	March 6, 1990	64 minutes	West to East	Ed Yeilding and Joseph T. Vida	SR-71 Blackbird	Flying to museum at retirement of the aircraft, Los Angeles to Virginia's coast, average speed 2,124 mph (3,418 km/h)[10]

Junior transcontinental air speed record

For the junior record only in-flight time is counted at a certain speed

Year	Date	Time	Pilot	Aircraft	Reference
1928			Richard James (aviator)	Travel Air	Previous "record" of 48 hours, set last year by 18-year-old Richard James, was spread over a month elapsed time.[11]
1930	October 4, 1930	East to West in 23 hours and 47 minutes	Robert Nietzel Buck	PA-6 Pitcairn Mailwing	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, and 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 and 55 minutes	Eddie August Schneider	Cessna	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 and 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 and 14 minutes.
1930		East to West in 32 hours and ? minutes	Frank Goldsborough		Combined East to West and West to East in 62 hours and 58 minutes. [12]

Women's transcontinental air speed record

For the women's record, only in-flight time is counted

• 1930 Ruth Nichols 13 hours and 21 minutes

• 1933 Amelia Earhart 13 hours and 7½ minutes

• 1934 Laura Ingalls 10 hours and 5 minutes

See also

• World record