Not Your Average Flight

 

On this date in 1923, First Lieutenant Lowell Herbert Smith and First Lieutenant John P. Richter, Air Service, United States Army, flew a DH-4B from Sumas, Washington, to Tijuana, Mexico, non-stop. The 1,280-mile flight was made possible by two air-to-air refuelings from tanker airplanes pre-positioned over Eugene, Oregon, and Sacramento, California with the flight taking approximately 12 hours to complete. The DH-4B tanker over Eugene was flown by First Lieutenants Virgil Hine and Frank W. Siefert. The Sacramento tanker was flown by Captain Robert J. Erwin and First Lieutenant Oliver R. McNeel. At both locations, Smith and Richter made two refueling contacts before proceeding on their route. 

Note: Technically, the first American aerial refueling took place two years earlier with a wing-walker stuntman physically transferring to the other plane with a 5-gallon tank of gas on his back.