The Golden Age of Flight (1919-1939) is remembered for the rapid development of aircraft following World War I and the heroic flights made by aviators during that era. The flight of Charles Lindbergh from New York to Paris in 1929, and the ill-fated flight of Amilia Earhart, along with the evolution of the biplane to the monoplane are what most people know about that period of flight. Yet the Golden Age of Flight was marked by numerous records attempted, made and quickly broken.
Most of these records set by aviators and the planes they flew have been virtually forgotten, along with the men who lost their lives in trying what was then thought impossible.
One of these obscure records was set by the United States Navy in a flight of six P2Y-1 Ranger flying boats made in 1934 to Hawaii. While it was not the first flight to Hawaii, it was the first made by a group of aircraft, and more importantly it was made aircraft that had not specially modified to attempt the flight. This website is dedicated to men who made the flight, and all the pioneers of the Golden Age, many of whom gave their lives to push the boundaries of flight.
Below are links to various pages discussing the background of the flight, the flight itself, and the development of the planes that were employed.
I wish to thank the National Naval Aviation Museum for providing the majority of photographs used in this presentation. I also wish to thank Marc Levitt, Digital Lead Archivist, and the Naval History and Heritage Command in general, for their help in my research for this site.
