May 31, 2023 Non-Stop for How Long?

The Liberty Gazette

May 31, 2023

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Our recent trip to the Pacific Northwest totaled 36 hours in the air. Not all at once, mind you. We took breaks. We stopped before night fall. We stretched our legs, eliminated excess water loads, and switched seats at each fuel stop. We weren’t in a hurry – we were on vacation – and we weren’t looking to break any endurance records. If we had wanted to try that, we’d have had to fly consistently for more than 64 days, 22 hours, and 19 minutes. I cannot even imagine desiring that badge. Apparently, there aren’t too many other takers either. 

The record was set by John Cook and Rob Timm back in 1959. What in the world made them strive for such a title? Well, three years prior, Mr. Timm, a former WWII fighter pilot, got a job repairing slot machines at the Hacienda hotel in Las Vegas. The hotel was new, one of the first family-oriented resorts in the mostly non-family-oriented city. The owner was pondering ways to publicize his venture and liked Timm’s idea: paint the business’s name on an airplane and fly around over the city for a long time, breaking the flight endurance record, which was, at that time, 47 days. The record had been held for seven years when the boss agreed to the wild idea. After all, he wasn’t going to be the one who had to sit in an airplane for that long. He only had to come up with the money to pay for it.

Rob Timm modified a Cessna 172 (a four-seat airplane driven by a single propeller) to make the attempt as comfortable as possible. He would have a co-pilot and they’d take turns flying. He put in a mattress, a small, metal sink, a camp toilet, and an autopilot. The latter of these worked when it was most needed, when Timm fell asleep at the wheel for about an hour. But it broke a few days later. 

They figured they could refuel without stopping by installing an extra fuel tank to be filled as necessary. To accomplish this, they descended to just feet above the ground and flew the airplane as slow as it could go and still be airborne while a truck drove along underneath, and someone handed up a hose and turned on the pump. They took the opportunity to send up supplies at the same time, like mashed-up meals in a thermos and a quart of water every other day for bathing. On the 39th day, the refueling pump broke, so they manually filled the tank during the remainder of the record flight. In the end, lots of things were broken, like the fuel gauge and cabin heater, but the engine was going strong.

No word on how many bookings were made as a result of this stunt, but after almost 65 days of virtual inactivity, the men had to be carried out of the airplane. We’ll stick to our routine of landing every couple of hours.

*Photo credit: Howard W. Cannon Aviation Museum 

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