Coast to Coast in a 50 HP Aronca

I ran across the photo below, and researched the story behind it:

Photo:
http://cgi.ebay.com/1939-Johnny-Jone...QQcmdZViewItem


http://www.geo-met.com/tommysmith/jones.htm
http://www.geo-met.com/tommysmith/jjones.jpg
FLIER SPANS U.S.
AT COST OF $30.91

Sets Record for Light Planes
on Non-Stop Hop in 30
Hours 37 Minutes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A new non-stop distance records for light planes was set yesterday
afternoon when John M. (Johnny) Jones, 25-year old Van-Nuys (Calif.)
flier, landed at Roosevelt Field, L. I., after spanning the continent
from West to East in a craft with a lower horsepower rating, and
operating cost per mile than that, of popular-priced automobiles.

Exactly 30 hours and 37 minutes after taking off from Los Angeles,
Jones put his stock model Aeronca, powered by a fifty-horsepower
Continental engine, down at the Long Island field. The entire cost of
the 2,785-mile trip was estimated at $30.91. The former United States
record for light planes was held by Robert E. Bryant, who flew 1,014
miles in a non-stop, flight from Miami to Camden, NJ, last July 31.

Jones, who is part owner of an airplane agency on the West coast and
formerly was a vaudeville dancer, appeared to be stiff and tired when
he climbed from the small plane at, the Long Island field.

"It's the gas tanks," he explained. "The regular tank in this plane
holds only twelve gallons of gas, but on a long trip like this I
figured I'd need about 130 or 140 gallons, so I had an eighty-five
gallon tank built alongside my seat and a forty-nine gallon tank in
the compartment for baggage. They cramped me a little, I'm afraid.

At the Hotel McAlpin, from the suite formerly occupied by Rear Admiral
Richard E. Byrd and Douglas Corrigan, Jones immediately put in a phone
call to his mother, Mrs. Bertha C. Jones of Van Nuys.

As he washed and shaved and later ate a dish of hot soup, he chatted
with fliers, aviation enthusiasts and newspapermen. Of medium height,
slender and soft spoken, the young Californian seems to have a great
deal more poise and self-assurance than the, average pilot.

"All in all it was a pleasant trip," he said. The weather was fine
almost all the way in. I had 146 gallons of gas aboard at the take-
off, which made the plane weigh 1,900 pounds. You can see what an
overload I had when you realize that the plane weighs about 650 pounds
empty.

"I used about 123 gallons of gas and less than a quart of oil, on the
trip, and when I landed I bad enough fuel for about four more hours."

The four-cylinder, fifty-horse power engine burns about 3.5 gallons of
gas an hour while cruising at 91 miles an hour.

Jones explained that he had bucked head winds from Los Angeles to El
Paso, then had experienced almost calm weather from there to
Cincinnati and from that point to New York had a slight tail wind. His
route was from Los Angeles to Yuma to Tucson to El Paso to Fort Worth
to Nashville to Cincinnati to Pittsburgh to New York.

"I cruised at about ninety-one miles an hour at an average altitude of
5,000 feet," he said. "I had to go to 7,000 feet about eighty miles
east of El Paso to get over the mountains, but that was the highest
point of the whole trip. Really it was an uneventful trip. Everything
worked out perfectly"

The only food aboard the tiny plane was a quart of milk, a quart of
water, a pound of dates and about a dozen bars of candy. Only part of
the food was eaten.




http://www.geo-met.com/tommysmith/aero.htm

* 3 Special fuel tanks (148 gallons)
Total Fuel capacity 160 gallons
Special oil Tank 2 Gallons
Stewart Warner electric fuel pump
Emergency hand wobble pump
Map case
1 Quart Thermos bottle water
1 Quart Thermos bottle
Flashlight
Exide 6 volt battery
Position lights
A N Type Relief Tube
Cabin heater
Mixture and spark controls
Strut and Cabin air temperature Thermometer
Turn and bank Indicator
Rate of Climb Indicator
Sensitive Altimeter
Air Speed indicator
Clock
Engine tachometer
Oil Pressure indicator
Oil Temperature Indicator
Carburetor air temperature indicator
Electric fuel gauge on 12 Gallon gravity tank
Sperry artificial Horizon
Sperry Directional Gyro
Two Pioneer magnetic Compasses
Richie Aperiodic compass
Gatty drift indicator
Arens throttle
Shock mounted Instrument panel
Two elevator tabs
Very pistol and cartridges

WEIGHTS OF A STANDARD AIRPLANE


* Standard stock model weight empty -- 665 - 670 Pounds

Standard stock model gross weight 1150 Pounds


WEIGHT OF NX-22456


* Weight empty - 840 Pounds with equipment listed
* Pilot 150 Pounds
* Oil 2 gallons, 15 Pounds
* Gas 160 Gallons, 960 Pounds
* Total Gross Weight- 1965 Pounds
* Wing loading 11.62 Pounds/Sq. Ft.
* Power loading 30.2 Pounds/HP

Data sheet courtesy of Aeronca, Inc.



http://www.geo-met.com/tommysmith/
Thomas Harvey Smith

Larry Dighera wrote in
news
I ran across the photo below, and researched the story behind it:

Photo:
http://cgi.ebay.com/1939-Johnny-Jone...Fair-Aviation-
P
hoto_W0QQitemZ220227783548QQihZ012QQcategoryZ14279 QQssPageNameZWDVWQQr
d
Z1QQcmdZViewItem


http://www.geo-met.com/tommysmith/jones.htm
http://www.geo-met.com/tommysmith/jjones.jpg
FLIER SPANS U.S.
AT COST OF $30.91

Sets Record for Light Planes
on Non-Stop Hop in 30
Hours 37 Minutes
----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
--------- A new non-stop distance records for light planes was set
yesterday afternoon when John M. (Johnny) Jones, 25-year old Van-Nuys
(Calif.) flier, landed at Roosevelt Field, L. I., after spanning the
continent from West to East in a craft with a lower horsepower rating,
and operating cost per mile than that, of popular-priced automobiles.

Exactly 30 hours and 37 minutes after taking off from Los Angeles,
Jones put his stock model Aeronca, powered by a fifty-horsepower
Continental engine, down at the Long Island field. The entire cost of
the 2,785-mile trip was estimated at $30.91. The former United States
record for light planes was held by Robert E. Bryant, who flew 1,014
miles in a non-stop, flight from Miami to Camden, NJ, last July 31.

Jones, who is part owner of an airplane agency on the West coast and
formerly was a vaudeville dancer, appeared to be stiff and tired when
he climbed from the small plane at, the Long Island field.

"It's the gas tanks," he explained. "The regular tank in this plane
holds only twelve gallons of gas, but on a long trip like this I
figured I'd need about 130 or 140 gallons, so I had an eighty-five
gallon tank built alongside my seat and a forty-nine gallon tank in
the compartment for baggage. They cramped me a little, I'm afraid.

At the Hotel McAlpin, from the suite formerly occupied by Rear Admiral
Richard E. Byrd and Douglas Corrigan, Jones immediately put in a phone
call to his mother, Mrs. Bertha C. Jones of Van Nuys.

As he washed and shaved and later ate a dish of hot soup, he chatted
with fliers, aviation enthusiasts and newspapermen. Of medium height,
slender and soft spoken, the young Californian seems to have a great
deal more poise and self-assurance than the, average pilot.

"All in all it was a pleasant trip," he said. The weather was fine
almost all the way in. I had 146 gallons of gas aboard at the take-
off, which made the plane weigh 1,900 pounds. You can see what an
overload I had when you realize that the plane weighs about 650 pounds
empty.

"I used about 123 gallons of gas and less than a quart of oil, on the
trip, and when I landed I bad enough fuel for about four more hours."

The four-cylinder, fifty-horse power engine burns about 3.5 gallons of
gas an hour while cruising at 91 miles an hour.

Jones explained that he had bucked head winds from Los Angeles to El
Paso, then had experienced almost calm weather from there to
Cincinnati and from that point to New York had a slight tail wind. His
route was from Los Angeles to Yuma to Tucson to El Paso to Fort Worth
to Nashville to Cincinnati to Pittsburgh to New York.

"I cruised at about ninety-one miles an hour at an average altitude of
5,000 feet," he said. "I had to go to 7,000 feet about eighty miles
east of El Paso to get over the mountains, but that was the highest
point of the whole trip. Really it was an uneventful trip. Everything
worked out perfectly"

The only food aboard the tiny plane was a quart of milk, a quart of
water, a pound of dates and about a dozen bars of candy. Only part of
the food was eaten.




http://www.geo-met.com/tommysmith/aero.htm

* 3 Special fuel tanks (148 gallons)
Total Fuel capacity 160 gallons
Special oil Tank 2 Gallons
Stewart Warner electric fuel pump
Emergency hand wobble pump
Map case
1 Quart Thermos bottle water
1 Quart Thermos bottle
Flashlight
Exide 6 volt battery
Position lights
A N Type Relief Tube
Cabin heater
Mixture and spark controls
Strut and Cabin air temperature Thermometer
Turn and bank Indicator
Rate of Climb Indicator
Sensitive Altimeter
Air Speed indicator
Clock
Engine tachometer
Oil Pressure indicator
Oil Temperature Indicator
Carburetor air temperature indicator
Electric fuel gauge on 12 Gallon gravity tank
Sperry artificial Horizon
Sperry Directional Gyro
Two Pioneer magnetic Compasses
Richie Aperiodic compass
Gatty drift indicator
Arens throttle
Shock mounted Instrument panel
Two elevator tabs
Very pistol and cartridges

WEIGHTS OF A STANDARD AIRPLANE


* Standard stock model weight empty -- 665 - 670 Pounds

Standard stock model gross weight 1150 Pounds


WEIGHT OF NX-22456


* Weight empty - 840 Pounds with equipment listed
* Pilot 150 Pounds
* Oil 2 gallons, 15 Pounds
* Gas 160 Gallons, 960 Pounds
* Total Gross Weight- 1965 Pounds
* Wing loading 11.62 Pounds/Sq. Ft.
* Power loading 30.2 Pounds/HP

Data sheet courtesy of Aeronca, Inc.



http://www.geo-met.com/tommysmith/
Thomas Harvey Smith


what, you not going to question the legality of this?


Bertie

"Larry Dighera" wrote in message
news
FLIER SPANS U.S.
AT COST OF $30.91
..
..
..
"I used about 123 gallons of gas and less than a quart of oil, on the
trip, and when I landed I bad enough fuel for about four more hours."

$30.91 for 123 Gallons seemed a little inexpensive until I found this:



"Source: New York Times Dec 2, 1938 "

On Apr 30, 10:29*am, Larry Dighera wrote:
I ran across the photo below, and researched the story behind it:

Wow, only 50 years old. Your getting more currrent all the time.

-Robert

"Steve Foley" wrote:
"Larry Dighera" wrote in message
news
FLIER SPANS U.S.
AT COST OF $30.91
.
.
.
"I used about 123 gallons of gas and less than a quart of oil, on the
trip, and when I landed I bad enough fuel for about four more hours."

$30.91 for 123 Gallons seemed a little inexpensive until I found this:

"Source: New York Times Dec 2, 1938 "

Ah! Late breaking news. ;-)

That comes out to ~$0.25/gallon. Assuming avgas at ~$5/gal in 2008, then
over the 70 year period that translates into average inflation rate of
about 4.37%/year.

"Robert Moore" wrote in message
46.128...
"Robert M. Gary" wrote
Wow, only 50 years old. Your getting more currrent all the time.

You're ?????

Bob Moore

Yore?

--

*H. Allen Smith*
WACO - We are all here, because we are not all there.

"Bertie the Bunyip" wrote in message
.. .
what, you not going to question the legality of this?

What, you are not going to trim any text?

Vaughn




Bertie

"Vaughn Simon" wrote in
:


"Bertie the Bunyip" wrote in message
.. .
what, you not going to question the legality of this?

What, you are not going to trim any text?

Why would i do that?


Bertie

Vaughn




Bertie

On Wed, 30 Apr 2008 22:42:46 +0000 (UTC), Bertie the Bunyip
wrote in :

Newsgroups: rec.aviation.piloting,alt.usenet.kooks,alt.alien.v ampire.flonk.flonk.flonk

"Bertie the Bunyip" wrote in message
...
"Vaughn Simon" wrote in
:


"Bertie the Bunyip" wrote in message
.. .
what, you not going to question the legality of this?

What, you are not going to trim any text?

Why would i do that?


Bertie

Vaughn




Bertie









Buttlick is too lazy to trim anything.