Our speaker on July 23, 2020 was Bill McCutcheon. Bill is a member of the Board of Trustees and a Docent at The Museum of Flight. As a Docent, he is a tour guide and an instructor in docent training and youth education. He is a member of the museum’s Speakers’ Bureau and has been involved in all aspects of docent leadership. His public speaking engagements on aviation history include: The Museum of Flight, Seattle; Historic Flight Foundation, Paine Field; Washington Aviation Conference; Washington Seaplane Pilots Assn.; Quiet Birdmen, Seattle Hangar; 446th Airlift Wing-Jt. Base Lewis-McChord; 93rd Bomb Group reunion and other civic, community and retirement organizations. Bill is a retired CPA and business consultant. He received a BA in Business Administration in Accounting from the University of Washington. In the Navy, he served aboard aircraft carriers and on anti-sub patrol aircraft. He also holds a private pilot certificate.
Bill spoke about a 1931 effort to fly around the world. Led by Clyde “Upside Down” Pangborn (1895-1958), the endeavor was to break the world record for flying around the world. They failed at that goal on the trip, but Pangborn and co-pilot Hugh Herndon Jr. flew their plane, Miss Veedol, on the first non-stop flight across the Pacific Ocean.
Before taking off, the existing record (twenty-one days) was broken, so the new objective was to fly around the world in less than eight days and fifteen hours. Weather in Siberia grounded the plane and made that objective impossible.
In Japan, however, they learned of another prize that they could achieve: the first Trans-Pacific flight. Following seven weeks of being under arrest for taking pictures that were considered spying by Japan, they plane took off for Washington.
Co-pilot Herndon erred so badly on the flight that they nearly crashed multiple times (his mother financed the expedition), but they made it to Wenatchee, WA. They landed on October 5, 1931, after a flight of 41 hours and thirteen minutes and 4500 miles.
There was an award of $25,000. “Upside Down Pangborn received only $2500 for his efforts.
