1/ Researching some history today about the "China Clipper flying boat" on YouTube and stumbled across a great story about a naval officer named John Rogers. Rogers did a lot of cutting edge things with airplanes and kites in the early 1900s.
2/ A "man-lifting kite" once took him 400 feet up off the deck of the USS Pennsylvania, he got flight training from the Wright Company in 1911, and he was the second naval officer to fly a plane for the Navy. Fast-forward to 1925 and his story gets really interesting.
3/ He and a crew set out to fly a PN-9 "flying boat" (a sea plane) from California to Hawaii to test aircraft range limits and the accuracy of aerial navigation equipment. The Navy sent out 10 ships spaced 200 miles apart to refuel the aircraft if needed.
4/ Three planes were originally scheduled to go on the trip but 1 wasn't ready in time and the 2nd had engine problems 5 hours into the flight (fortunately that plane successfully landed in the ocean and the crew was recovered).
5/ Roger's plane made it over 1800 miles but the tailwinds weren't as strong as expected so he decided they better refuel at the next ship. Since the navigation equipment was so primitive (and due to other factors) he couldn't find the next Navy ship to refuel though.
6/ After flying around to try to find the ship and then ultimately running out of fuel, he finally had to land in the ocean but the plane's radio couldn't transmit while on the water. The Navy looked for him for days but never found him and assumed he was lost at sea.
7/ In the meantime, Rogers and his crew took some of the fabric from a wing and made a sail. They also took metal floorings and made "leeboards" to help with steering.
8/ For the next 9 days they sailed the plane toward Hawaii (there wasn't much food and water available) and were finally spotted off the shore of Kauai by a submarine, towed in, and taken to safety on the island.
9/ He set a new sea plane air record of 1992 miles of non-stop air travel. An absolutely incredible story that I had never heard about. Looks like a documentary called Hawaii Calls was made about the events in 2007 so I'm going to have to track that down.
10/ You can find additional information about him and his adventures at aviation.hawaii.gov/aviation-pione…
Found a trailer for Hawaii Calls but haven't found the actual film. Hoping it ended up getting made.
