Monotony

Back and forth like the shuttle of a loom, around and around like a weary butterfly, up a bit into a smoother path, then down, then up again, two American pilots last week flew an airplane for 53 hours 36 min., thereby setting a world's record for continuous flying.*

Voluntary prisoners in the air, Eddie Stinson and George Haldeman spent more than two days and two nights in the air above Jacksonville beach, Fla., beating the previous record by more than an hour. They jockeyed their single-motored Stinson-Detroiter monoplane to take every advantage of breeze and altitude, until they had but five gallons of gasoline left of the 550 with which they took off.

Said Flier Stinson, the occasion marking the second time he has held the endurance record: "Tired, yes, but happy that we were able to bring the record back to this country."

The world's record for sustained flight has passed back and forth between Germans, French, and Americans. It is considered of the greatest importance by airplane designers and well-wishers, for it creates public confidence in the ability of ships to stay aloft without danger.

*The previous record was 52 hr. 22 min., 31 sec., held by the German aviators Johann Risticz and Cornelius Edzard at Dessau, Germany, in July 1927--in the Europa, sistership of the Bremen.