some people crossed countries to set a record, some tried to drive the farthest for endurance records, and when those had all been done, other people tried flying without landing for endurance records

Refueling the Sunkist Lady, world record endurance flight of 1008 hours, 1 minute, and 50 seconds, April 1949

Pilots and the airplane Sunkist Lady enjoy a parade in their honor after their world record endurance flight

World War II put endurance flights on hold. It wasn’t until March 1949 that two pilots in an Aer­onca Sedan named Sunkist Lady topped Carroll and Schlieper’s record. After three previous attempts, Dick Riedel and Bill Barris of Fullerton, Calif., took off on March 15, 1949, and headed east for their historic flight. They flew to Miami, and were refueled and resupplied at selected airports along the route. A ground crew flying ahead of Sunkist Lady loaded a waiting Willys Jeepster at each resupply location. Riedel and Barris flew low over the speeding Jeepster to retrieve fuel and supplies. After reaching Miami, they loitered in the air for 14 days as they waited for the weather to clear along their route back to California. Upon their return on March 11, they circled the skies ticking off the hours, touching down on April 26 after 1,008 hours, two minutes in the air, or 42 days.

As amazing as the 42-day record was, it didn’t last long. After their first two attempts were cut short due to mechanical problems, Bob Wood­house and Woody Jongeward departed Yuma, Ariz., in the Aeronca Sedan City of Yuma on August 24, 1949. The flight was intended to prompt the government to reopen Yuma Army Airfield, which had been closed after WWII. Since Riedel and Barris had remained aloft for 1,008 hours, the new goal was 1,010 hours, or “ten-ten,” which became the name of the refueling car, a 1948 Buick convertible.

Woodhouse and Jongeward passed the 1,010-hour mark and continued on until October 10: ten-ten. They landed after 1,124 hours and 17 minutes in the air—nearly 47 days. “The time of the landing came on Woody’s shift,” said Wood­house. “He was a little worried because we hadn’t landed in seven weeks and we had knocked a spotlight or two off of the side of the Buick and bent the hubcap all up on the airplane.” Never­theless, they landed successfully and succeeded in getting the Yuma airfield reopened. In 1959 the field became Marine Corps Air Station Yuma. The Aeronca and a Buick of the same model are now displayed in Yuma City Hall.

Woodhouse and Jongeward’s record stood for nine years until Jim Heth and Bill Burkhart stayed aloft for 1,200 hours and 19 minutes—50 days—over Dallas. They took off in their modified Ces­sna 172, The Old Scotchman, on August 2, 1958. The men refueled twice a day from a truck speeding down the runway of Dallas Redbird Airport, lowering a rope to retrieve gas cans and supplies. They landed on September 21. Surprisingly, their record would be challenged only a couple of months later.

Robert Timm and John Cook, who spent 64 days, 22 hours and 19 minutes together in a Cessna 172 while circling the desert Southwest from December 4, 1958, to February 7, 1959. The flight was intended to generate publicity for the Hacienda Hotel in Las Vegas, whose owners encouraged promotional suggestions from the staff. Timm, who worked as a slot machine repairman and had served as a WWII bomber pilot, suggested the endurance flight.

The Cessna prominently displayed “Hacienda Hotel” in large letters on each side of the fuselage. Besides publicizing the hotel, the flight raised money for the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation.

https://www.historynet.com/marathons-in-the-air.htm
https://cdm16838.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16838coll1/id/1045
https://cdm16838.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16838coll1/id/1040