On this date in 1937, Howard Hughes set a transcontinental air speed record. He flew his Hughes H-1  Racer flew from Los Angeles to  New York in 7 hours, 28 minutes, and 25 seconds.   It was a nonstop flight, and  this was not the last time he broke a record. For more info: http://famousdaily.com/history/future-billionaire-howard-hughes-sets.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughes_H-1_Racer http://www.historycentral.com/Bio/people/hHughs2.html http://avstop.com/history/earlyaviators/howardhughes.htm

On this date in 1911, the first aircraft landed on a ship.  This act was carried out by Eugene B. Ely in San Francisco Bay. He landed successfully on a makeshift wooden platform on top of the USS Pennsylvania, an armored cruiser. For more info: http://www.usspennsylvania.com/flattop.htm http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/FirstAircraftLandingOnAShip101YearsAgo_206050-1.html http://www.glenncurtiss.com/first_landing_on_a_ship.htm http://famousdaily.com/history/first-aircraft-landing-on-ship.html