loughead

Allan Loughead (20 Jan 89 – 26 May 69)

Postal item mailed from their original HQ in Santa Barbara, California (1918):

The story of the attempt of a transcontinental flight from Santa Barbara to Washington starting on November 23, 1918 has been told in a thread on the Aerodrome www.theaerodrome.com/forum/aircraft/45227-crash-id-help-1... This is a summery of their eventful 'short' flight They took off from Santa Barbara on November 23rd and headed over the Coastal Mountains. Enroute they encountered severe weather, but it cleared by the time they crossed the Colorado River at Yuma, Arizona. Suddenly, near Tacna, Arizona, an engine failed and Meyerhoffer made a rough landing on the desert. Flint worked on the engine while Meyerhoffer and Ferneau caught a train back to Yuma to have the broken tailskid repaired. Then the trio cleared a make-shift runway, took off safely and landed at Gila Bend, Arizona, for fuel. However, on the second takeoff attempt, the engine quit cold and the plane crashed nose first into the ground. That ended the F-lA's transcontinental flight. A surprisingly large series of pictures have been made of the event (and have survived) =:)