Mystery Aircraft Quiz #13

Pilawt said:
Suspended from the ceiling over the baggage carousels at McCarran International in Las Vegas NV, is a 1958 Cessna 172 (link to photo). What is noteworthy about this particular 172?

-- Pilawt
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Besides the Pannier, the jump door and the fact that it's hanging from the ceiling? For some reason the vert stab & rudder look wrong, but that may be me.
 
Is it the guy sitting backwards on the floor of the right seat without a belt? Or the cargo pod attached to an airplane that might have been used for jumpers?
 
jrdodge said:
Is it the guy sitting backwards on the floor of the right seat without a belt? Or the cargo pod attached to an airplane that might have been used for jumpers?
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The pod under the fuselage is a fuel tank. This airplane did something quite remarkable; in my opinion worthy of hanging in the NASM rather than over a bunch of Smarte Cartes and slot machines in the LAS baggage claim.

-- Pilawt
 
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it flew for a record time, dont remember the exact amount. but it was all done out here in the mohave desert. wasnt it like 30 days or something?
 
Michael said:
it flew for a record time, dont remember the exact amount. but it was all done out here in the mohave desert. wasnt it like 30 days or something?
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Oh hell, they used the jump door for inflight refueling?!? So the pannier held fuel tank...
 
Pilawt said:
The pod under the fuselage is a fuel tank. This airplane did something quite remarkable; in my opinion worthy of hanging in the NASM rather than over a bunch of Smarte Cartes and slot machines in the LAS baggage claim.

-- Pilawt
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Wasn't that the 2 bros. aircraft that flew 30 days or so ?
 
Michael said:
it flew for a record time, dont remember the exact amount. but it was all done out here in the mohave desert. wasnt it like 30 days or something?
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Or something!

"N9172B (cn 36772) This is the actual aircraft which holds the World Endurance Flying Record. Set on 07-Feb-1959, Robert Timm & John Cook took off from McCarran airport, determined to fly for longer without touching the ground than anyone else. Sponsored by Las Vegas' Hacienda Hotel they flew for 64 days, 22 hours, 19 minutes and 5 seconds - the equivalent of six times around the world. They periodically refuelled from a truck driven along the freeway underneath them, filling the unusual external fuel tank."
 
N9172B (cn 36772) This is the actual aircraft which holds the World Endurance Flying Record. Set on 07-Feb-1959, Robert Timm & John Cook took off from McCarran airport, determined to fly for longer without touching the ground than anyone else. Sponsored by Las Vegas' Hacienda Hotel they flew for 64 days, 22 hours, 19 minutes and 5 seconds - the equivalent of six times around the world. They periodically refuelled from a truck driven along the freeway underneath them, filling the unusual external fuel tank.
 
Michael said:
it flew for a record time, dont remember the exact amount. but it was all done out here in the mohave desert. wasnt it like 30 days or something?
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This Cessna 172, with a stock Continental O-300 engine, set and still holds the world record for flight endurance by a heavier-than-air aircraft. With two men aboard it took off from Las Vegas on December 4, 1958. They landed on February 7, 1959 -- 64 days, 22 hours, 19 minutes and five seconds later! That's 1,558.3 hours of continuous flight -- one logbook entry!

This achievement boggles the mind, yet so few people are even aware of it.

Here's a link to a newspaper article about the airplane, its crew and its amazing flight.

-- Pilawt
 
It was a similar endurance flight down in Yuma (63 days, I believe) which prompted this flight. The Yuma flight was thought up by two civic minded businessmen as a means of putting the city on the map, as it were.

Or something like that.......
 
Richard said:
It was a similar endurance flight down in Yuma (63 days, I believe) which prompted this flight. The Yuma flight was thought up by two civic minded businessmen as a means of putting the city on the map, as it were.

Or something like that.......
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that might be the one i am referring to.
 
Richard said:
It was a similar endurance flight down in Yuma (63 days, I believe) which prompted this flight. The Yuma flight was thought up by two civic minded businessmen as a means of putting the city on the map, as it were.
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The City of Yuma was an Aeronca 15AC Sedan that stayed aloft for nearly 47 days in 1949. That flight took the record from another Aeronca 15AC, which six months earlier had stayed aloft 42 days at Fullerton, California.

-- Pilawt
 
Pilawt said:
The City of Yuma was an Aeronca 15AC Sedan that stayed aloft for nearly 47 days in 1949. That flight took the record from another Aeronca 15AC, which six months earlier had stayed aloft 42 days at Fullerton, California.

-- Pilawt
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The City of Yuma made two flights. The 2nd was in the early '60s and was a Cessna (I forget the model). This time the city did jump on board as a sponsor. They fueled from a 5 gal jerry can and made several oil changesduring the flight. One night the pilot flying fell asleep and the plane flew itself some distance off the course. Luckily, the pilot awoke before they ran out of fuel. I have the AOPA Pilot which features a full length aritcle about the flight--if I could just find it....
 
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