US Army Air Service Fokker T-2

Additional Information:

The Fokker F.IV was an airliner designed in the Netherlands in the early 1920s. Only two were made, both for the United States Army Air Service, and was designated the T-2.

One of the T-2s, A.S. 64233, was used for several long-distance flights across the United States. Piloted by Lieutenant Oakley G. Kelly, and Lieutenant John A. Macready, the aircraft was specially modified to carry more fuel and had a connecting doorway installed between the cabin and cockpit so that the pilots could take turns flying and resting. Additional controls were also installed to facilitate the handover between pilots.

In 2 May 1923, the aircraft left New York to make another attempt at a transcontinental flight. After traveling for 26 hours and 50 minutes and covering 2,521 miles, the plane arrived in San Diego on 3 May, becoming the first nonstop transcontinental flight across the country.

The aircraft flew over a cloud layer in Texas and Oklahoma along with eastern New Mexico’s Tucumcari and Santa Rosa. As the clouds cleared the aircraft flew over Manzano Mountains within sight of the City of Albuquerque on May 3. This gave the pilots a chance for a visual fix after dawn upon seeing the Rio Grande valley between Albuquerque and Los Lunas as it continued on to San Diego, California.

This aircraft is preserved and on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

GALLERY: