Clyde "Upside-Down" Pangborn was the first person to fly non-stop across the Pacific Ocean. Though it would seem this was a much greater accomplishment than Charles Lindbergh trans-Atlantic flight four years earlier in 1927, neither Pangborn nor his co-pilot Hugh Herndon, Jr. gained any major notability. Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr. ... 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

He was born Clyde Edward Pangborn on October 28, 1894 to Max Pangborn and Opal Lamb Pangborn on their ranch in the little farming community of Bridgeport, Washington, near Lake Chelan. When he was only two, his parents separated, and he moved to Idaho where he grew up with his mother. After he finished high school in 1914 he enrolled in the University of Idaho for two and a half years where he studied civil engineering. October 28 is the 301st day of the year (302nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 64 days remaining. ... 1894 (MDCCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Bridgeport is a city located in Douglas County, Washington. ... Lake Chelan is a narrow, 56-mile-long lake in Chelan County, northern Washington state, USA. It is fed by streams from the Cascade Range and is the third deepest freshwater lake in the country, at 1,541 feet. ... Official language(s) English Capital Boise Largest city Boise Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 14th 216,632 km² 491 km 771 km 0. ... The University of Idaho is the states land-grant and primary research university, located in Moscow. ... The Falkirk Wheel in Scotland. ...

After college he worked for a brief time as an engineer for a mining company before joining US Army Air Corps as the United States became involved in World War I. Here he was able to pursue his life long dream, to learn how to fly. After finishing fight training, the Air Corps viewed him as too valuable to send off to war, and he was stationed in Texas as a flight instructor. 1. ... Combatants Entente Powers Central Powers Commanders {{{commander1}}} {{{commander2}}} Strength {{{strength1}}} {{{strength2}}} Casualties > 5 million military deaths > 3 million military deaths {{{notes}}} World War I, also known as the First World War and (before 1939) the Great War, the War of the Nations, War to End All Wars, was a world...

With the end of the war, Pangborn continue to fly and took up exhibition flying and aerial acrobatics at air shows. This is where he earned his nickname "Upside-Down" Pangborn. In one of his stunts he would take a plane into a slow half roll until it was upside down. He would glide for as long as he could before correcting the plane upright. Early in his career he was injured when he fell out of a speeding car, as he tried to jump onto a flying plane. This would be his only serious injury. He did air shows and exhibitions for the next nine years, mostly with the Gates Flying Circus, of which he was an owner. He received national fame after assisting in a daring mid air-rescue of a young stuntwoman, who had become caught on Pangborn's landing gear while trying to sky dive. During his time with the Flying Circus Pangborn flew over 500,000 passengers and nearly 125,000 miles and he met Hugh Herndon who would later be his co-pilot in the first trans-Pacific flight.

After Gates Flying Circus disbanded in 1929, Pangborn continued flying with several of his own businesses, which all failed because of the onset of the Great Depression. There just wasn't any money to support air travel and expedition. So he set out to break flying records. In 1931 Pangborn and Herndon, who had the backing of the wealthy Herndon family from New York, looked to fly around the world and break the record of 20 days 4 hours set by the airship Graf Zeppelin in 1929. However, while they were still planning their flight, the record was broken by Wiley Post and Harold Gatty and was now 8 days 15 hours. They still attempted the flight anyway, taking off from New York in their big red Bellanca Skyrocket, the Miss Veedol, on July 28, 1931. They were met with bad conditions and their trip became futile. They were forced to abandon their efforts to break the speed record half way through the trip, while in Siberia. Dorothea Langes Migrant Mother depicts destitute pea pickers in California, centering on Florence Owens Thompson, a mother of seven children, age thirty-two, in Nipomo, California, March 1936. ... Graf Zeppelin, filled with abundant hydrogen, circumnavigated the globe. ... 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Wiley Hardeman Post (November 22, 1898 – August 15, 1935) gained international fame as the first pilot to fly solo around the world. ... July 28 is the 209th day (210th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 156 days remaining. ... 1931 (MCMXXXI) is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Siberia Siberia (Russian: , common English transliterations: Sibir’, Sibir; from the Tatar for “sleeping land”) is a vast region of Russia and northern Kazakhstan constituting almost all of northern Asia. ...

However, with their eyes on a $25,000 prize, they decided to attempt the first non-stop trans-Pacific flight. After making some arrangements they flew from Siberia to Japan. In the spirit of documentation, Herndon took several still pictures as well as some 16mm motion pictures, which included some of Japan's naval installations. Because of this, as well as not having the proper papers to enter the country (even thought they believed they had the proper papers), they were thrown in jail. After some considerable interrogation, they were fined $1000 and released. However, they were only given one chance to take off. If there was a problem, and they were forced to return to Japan, the Miss Veedol would be confiscated and they would be put back in jail.

This was only one of several problems leading up to the flight. A Japanese nationalist group, who wanted a Japanese pilot to be the first to complete the flight, stole their maps and charts. Also Pangborn's flight calculations left no room for error. The Miss Veedol had to be over weighted with fuel, way beyond the manufacture's recommendation. And the calculations would only work if they were able to ditch their landing gear after take off to reduce drag.

They finally took off on October 4, 1931 from Sabishiro Beach, Misawa, Aomori, Japan, their destination Seattle, just under 5500 miles (8500 km) away. This would be two thousand miles more than Lindbergh's flight from New York to Paris. Immediately after take off there was a problem. The device that was supposed to jettison the landing gear failed. The wheels dropped but the struts remained. Knowing they would never make it with the landing gear struts still attached, at 14,000 feet Pangborn climbed out onto the wing supports barefoot to knock them off, while Herndon flew. October 4 is the 277th day of the year (278th in Leap years). ... 1931 (MCMXXXI) is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Miss Veedol Marker Misawa (三沢市; -shi) is a city located in Aomori Prefecture in Tohoku region of Japan. ... This article is about the city. ...

Other than the cold weather, their flight to the Washington coast was fairly uneventful. However when they were came up on Seattle, it was clouded with fog. They continued on to Spokane, which was also fogged in. However, because he had flown so many hours in the area, he knew of a place where he could land, Wenatchee, a town in between Seattle and Spokane, which was never cloudy. 41 hours and 15 minutes after taking off Pangborn set down in a field (which today is an airport named for him) on the belly of the plane. Spokane (pronounced spō-CAN ), originally called Spokan Falls without an e at the end and means Children of the Sun, is the county seat of Spokane County in the State of Washington, USA. It is also known as the seat of the Inland Empire. ... The photo is looking north-northwest. ...

The Miss Veedol was trucked to Seattle where her landing gear was replaced. Pangborn and Herndon left from Seattle and continued to New York to complete their world flight. Although news of the flight did circulate, Pangborn did not receive much financial gain from it. However, he did continue to fly as an airmail pilot, air racer, and a test and demonstration pilot.

His experience did come in handy when war struck Europe in 1939. He joined the Royal Air Force and helped organize the RAF Ferry Command, of which he become the Senior Captain in 1941. The Ferry Command was responsible for flying aircraft made in the United States and Canada to England to be used in the Battle of Britain. In his time with the RAF he flew 170 trans-oceanic flights and in nearly every multi-engine plane used in the war. Combatants Allied Powers Axis Powers Commanders {{{commander1}}} {{{commander2}}} Strength {{{strength1}}} {{{strength2}}} Casualties 17 million military deaths 7 million military deaths {{{notes}}} World War II, also known as the Second World War (sometimes WW2 or WWII or World War Two), was a mid-20th century conflict that engulfed much of the... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Royal Air Force (often abbreviated to RAF) is the air force branch of the British Armed Forces. ... The RAF Ferry Command had a short life, but it spawned, in part, an organisation that lasted well beyond the dark war years during which is was formed. ... Combatants British Royal Air Force and allies Nazi German Luftwaffe Commanders Hugh Dowding Hermann Göring Strength approx 700 fighters (at the beginning) 1,260 bombers; 316 dive-bombers; 1,089 fighters Casualties 1,547 aircraft; Civilian: 27,450 dead, 32,138 wounded 1,887 aircraft {{{notes}}} A major campaign...

He was discharged from the RAF in 1946 and continued with his career as a commercial pilot. He pioneered commercial flight paths, tested and helped engineer better aircraft, among other things.

At the end of his life, he was instrument-rated to fly any single or multi-engine, land or sea plane and had more than 24,000 flight hours in the cockpit from his 40 years of piloting. Clyde Pangborn died on March 29, 1958, and was laid to rest with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. March 29 is the 88th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (89th in Leap years). ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Arlington Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia, is an American military cemetery established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Robert E. Lees home. ...

Clyde "Upside-Down" Pangborn Clyde Edward "Upside-Down" Pangborn made crowds gasp when he performed his daring aerial stunts during the Roaring Twenties. He was among the period's finest aerial showmen. As his nickname suggests, he was anything but a conventional pilot, and people loved him for it. But Pangborn was much more than an entertainer. In 1931, he and a fellow aviator set a world record when they became the first people to fly nonstop from Japan to the United States. Pangborn also served as a test pilot in his later years. During his career, Pangborn not only knew the thrill of entertaining crowds and establishing records, but also the painstaking process of thoroughly testing a plane and making it safe for other pilots to fly.

Pangborn was born on October 28, 1894, in Bridgeport, Washington. At age two, he and his family moved to Idaho. After graduating from high school, Pangborn took classes in civil engineering for about two years at the University of Idaho before enlisting in the army.

During World War I, Pangborn served as a flight instructor for the U.S. Army at Ellington Field in Houston. There he taught cadets how to fly the Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" biplane. Although Pangborn had a relatively uneventful military career, he did acquire a rather unique talent. Pangborn learned to slow-roll his plane onto its back and fly upside down. His fellow pilots subsequently began calling him "Upside-Down Pang," a name that would stick with him for life, although most people would shorten the nickname to either "Upside-Down" or "Pang."

After the war, many military aviators, like Pangborn, wanted to use their new skills as pilots to earn a living. The U.S. military had a surplus of Jenny biplanes, and many of them bought Jennys and set out across the country performing aerial shows. "Barnstorming," as the phenomenon became known, was an extremely popular form of entertainment.

Pangborn became one of these professional barnstormers, thriving as an aerial stuntman and performing all sorts of tricks. One of the first stunts he attempted was an automobile-to-airplane transfer at Coronado Beach, California, in 1920. During the stunt, Pang was supposed to hop off the back of a speeding car onto a rope ladder that was hanging from a cruising airplane, and then climb up into the aircraft. Although Pang got hold of the ladder, he lost his grip and plunged to the ground. Remarkably, he only sustained three dislocated vertebra and some muscle strains and bruises. This would be the only serious accident of his career.

View of Clyde Pangborn caught mid-air, falling, during his unsuccessful attempt to make an airplane-to-automobile transfer at Coronado Tent City, Coronado Beach, California, on May 16, 1920.

In 1921, Pangborn joined Ivan Gates and formed the Gates Flying Circus. Pang was part owner of the show and the chief pilot and operating manager. The troupe toured internationally and became famous. One of the key stunts Pangborn performed was to change planes while in flight. He held the world record for the feat. In 1924, he also made news when he rescued a stuntwoman in midair whose parachute had gotten tangled in his plane's landing gear. Pangborn flew countless miles during his barnstorming days without sustaining any serious injuries or inflicting any on his passengers.

Like most barnstormers, Pangborn's stunting days were limited because of a series of new federal safety laws. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, barnstormers found it increasingly difficult to meet the new standards and many aerial shows went out of business. The Gates Flying Circus dissolved in 1928. Although Pang would work with other shows, each of them would fold within a few years. In 1931, Pangborn's barnstorming career ended.

Clyde Pangbornïs plane Miss Veedol.

Pang began looking for a new challenge almost immediately and decided to attempt a new around-the-world speed record. He believed he could easily better the previous mark of 20 days, 4 hours, established by the German Graf Zeppelin in 1929. Pang chose Hugh Herndon, Jr., a friend and former barnstormer, as his navigator. Herndon, an easterner from a wealthy family, was only an average pilot, but more importantly, he had the money to sponsor the venture. With Herndon's capital, the two men purchased a Bellanca "Skyrocket" monoplane.

Pangborn next attempted to launch the New Standard Aircraft Corporation of Paterson, New Jersey, but the Depression also ended that effort. He then went to work for the Bergen County, New Jersey police department as a pilot. That lasted only a short time, however, and in 1930 he tried barnstorming again.

Having dropped their landing gear at sea to gain speed, Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon, Jr., prepare to land at Wenatchee, Washington. They flew 4,558 miles nonstop in 41 hours.

Everything seemed to be proceeding according to plan, but then Wiley Post and Harold Gatty established a new around-the-world record in June, about a month before Pangborn and Herndon's scheduled take off. Discouraged at first, Pangborn and Herndon still believed they could better Post and Gatty's record of 8 days, 15 hours, and 51 minutes. On July 28, they took off from Roosevelt Field, Long Island, heading northeast.

For a while, Pangborn and Herndon looked as if they might catch up to Post and Gatty's record. When they left Moscow, they were only ten hours behind the previous record setters' time, but then Herndon made a serious mistake. While Pangborn was sleeping, Herndon got lost over Mongolia. Although Pangborn corrected the problem, another major mishap occurred. In Siberia, a driving rainstorm turned a dirt runway into a quagmire, and when the two men could not take off in enough time to better Post and Gatty's mark, they decided to abandon their attempt at the record.

As Pangborn and Herndon were waiting out the bad weather, they came up with another record setting option. At that time, a Japanese newspaper was offering a $25,000 prize to whomever made the first non-stop flight between Japan and the United States (Post and Gatty had stopped off in Alaska during their flight). Focusing on their new plan, Pangborn and Herndon set out for Japan.

Once again, the former barnstormers ran into trouble. Because of a miscommunication between American and Japanese officials, Pangborn and Herndon did not have permission to fly over Japan. This caused serious problems, especially when coupled with the fact that Herndon had taken some photographs of the Japanese countryside, including, unintentionally, some military installations. When the two men landed, Japanese authorities arrested them on charges of espionage. Although the Japanese government detained them for several weeks, the U.S. Embassy successfully intervened on their behalf, and Pangborn and Herndon stood ready to attempt the record.

A few days before take off, Pangborn, who had grown concerned about the plane's limited fuel supply, developed a plan to reduce the aircraft's weight and thereby increase its range. He rigged a device so that he could jettison the plane's landing gear shortly after lift off. He calculated that the aircraft would travel approximately 600 miles (966 kilometers) farther without the gear. While many feared that Pangborn would be unable to land safely without wheels, he felt confident that he could "belly land" the plane intact.

On the morning of October 4 (Japanese time), Pangborn and Herndon took off from Samishiro Beach, Japan, in route to Washington state. Like on some of their other flights, the two men ran into trouble quickly. Although Pang jettisoned the landing gear, two of the gear's struts remained behind. Pangborn, realizing that they could not land safely with the struts still attached, performed one of his old barnstorming feats to remedy the situation. Approximately 14,000 feet (7,267 meters) above the Pacific, Pangborn climbed out onto his plane's wing, and in freezing weather and 100-mile per hour (161-kilometer per hour) winds, loosened the remaining struts.

Despite their in-flight challenge, Pangborn and Herndon persevered and brought their plane in for a successful belly landing at Wenatchee, Washington, on October 5, after a journey of some 4,500 miles (7,242 kilometers). They had made their record setting trip in 41 hours, 13 minutes (although some sources cite 15 minutes).

After his trans-Pacific flight, Pangborn took on a variety of challenges but few could compare with his record setting journey. In 1932 Pangborn went to work for Clarence D. Chamberlin in New York City, but in less than a year he had left that venture and was selling Fairchild Aircraft Company airplanes in South America. In 1934, he and Roscoe Turner, a famous air racer and aviation advocate, flew a modified Boeing 247D--a revolutionary, twin-engine, all-metal monoplane than helped bring about the airline revolution of the 1930s--from London to Australia in the MacRobertson Race. They left on October 20, and landed only 92 hours, 55 minutes, and 38 seconds later in Melbourne after flying 11,325 miles (18,226 kilometers). Even so, they finished second in the race, following closely behind the record-setting De Havilland "Comet."

Beginning in 1935, Pangborn became a test pilot and worked for several aircraft companies. Among other ventures, he recruited American fliers for the Royal Air Force (RAF), helping them violate the Neutrality Laws by getting them into Canada where they could legally enlist to fight the Nazis alongside the British. Several members of the RAF's Eagle Squadron, the unit made up of Americans that fought in the Battle of Britain, were recruited by Pangborn. He also joined the RAF Ferry Command and was instrumental in helping organize the effort to ferry aircraft and air weapons across the Atlantic to Britain in 1940 and 1941. During the conflict, he delivered more than 170 airplanes to the Allies and also served with the U.S. military when it entered the war. After the war, Pangborn returned to his life as a test pilot. On March 29, 1958, Pangborn died. He received a burial in Arlington National Cemetery with military honors.

Pangborn amassed an impressive set of aviation credentials and accomplishments during his life. In addition to all of his barnstorming feats, and his trans-Pacific flight, Pangborn was licensed to fly a wide variety of planes, including most single- and multiengine aircraft, and even seaplanes. He also compiled more than 24,000 hours of flight time during his career and never lost a plane or injured a passenger.

Pangborn's career was similar to that of many other second-tier fliers of his generation. He was able to make a life flying but never on the scale of a Charles A. Lindbergh or an Eddie Rickenbacker. He was a capable airman, recognized as such both by the public and his fellow aviators. The record-setting flights he made between 1931 and 1934 were highlights of his career, but his service in 1940 and 1941 on behalf of the British opposing Nazi Germany may have been his greatest contribution.

Little known fact: the memorial to Pangborn's historical flight is actually at Fancher field in East Wenatchee (Source: Diane Clark)