In this day and age, we fly all over the globe, but in the first part of the 20th century, most flying was over short distances. As a result of that many "firsts" could be achieved, Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh all ready featured on earlier blogs on this website, achieving one of these firsts! On this day in aviation history, another first flight was achieved, in this case, it was the first Trans-Atlantic flight between New York, the USA to Eisleben, Germany (although their intended destination was Berlin). This flight was made by Clarence D. Chamberlain and Charles A. Levine in a Wright-Bellanca WB-2 monoplane.
Wright-Bellanca WB-2 "Columbia"
They were initially competing for the Orteig Prize for the first New York - Paris flight but were beaten to it by Charles Lindbergh.
So they decided to go for a distance beating record.
Their 3905 miles trip took 42 hours and 45 minutes. Beating Lindbergh by 315 miles and 9 hours and 6 minutes.
A nice anecdote on this flight is that Charles Levine told his wife they were just going on an extended test flight, while actually heading across the Atlantic!
His wife was notified by a letter from him handed over to her by his lawyer. History doesn't tell us how she took the news.....