1927 transatlantic flights from Old Orchard Beach
Before paved airstrips, the hard-packed sand at low tide gave pilots one of the longest natural runways in New England. Pioneer aviator Harry M. Jones flew from the beach, and from 1927 to 1929 it launched a string of transatlantic flights.
Harry Jones and the beach runway
Harry M. Jones (1890 to 1973) ran a flying service from the beach. The long, flat sand at low tide let heavily fueled planes build speed, which drew transatlantic crews, including Old Glory's, here instead of Long Island's Roosevelt Field.
1927: Pride of Detroit, Old Glory, and Dawn
On August 26 to 27, 1927, Edward Schlee and William Brock took off in the Stinson monoplane Pride of Detroit, the first transatlantic attempt from OOB. They crossed via Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, to England and flew on toward Japan before ending their round-the-world attempt.
On September 6, 1927, the Hearst-sponsored Fokker Old Glory left the beach for Rome with pilots James DeWitt Hill and Lloyd Bertaud and editor Philip Payne aboard. An SOS was heard the next morning, and wreckage was later found at sea. None of the three survived.
In October 1927 the Sikorsky amphibian Dawn, carrying Frances Wilson Grayson, waited on the beach and twice turned back. It was lost that December after leaving from New York.
1929: Yellow Bird and Pathfinder
On June 13, 1929, the French crew of the Yellow Bird (L'Oiseau Canari), Jean Assolant, René Lefèvre and Armand Lotti, took off from OOB with a stowaway, Arthur Schreiber, aboard. They landed near Comillas on Spain's north coast the next day, the first French nonstop transatlantic flight.
On July 8, 1929, Roger Q. Williams and Lewis Yancey flew the Bellanca Pathfinder from OOB to Spain and then on to Rome.
What about Chamberlin and Levine?
In June 1927 Clarence Chamberlin and Charles Levine flew the Bellanca Columbia nonstop from Roosevelt Field, New York, to Germany, and Levine became the first transatlantic airplane passenger. That flight did not start or end at Old Orchard Beach. OOB's 1927 story is the departures above.
See it today
A 1971 'Runway to Glory' historical marker, placed by the Old Orchard Beach Historical Society and the Maine Aviation Historical Society, lists the flights. The Historical Society's Harmon Museum holds the Harry Jones scrapbook photos of these planes on the beach.
Compiled from Town of Old Orchard Beach, RSU 23, FEMA, Maine Revenue Service, US Census, and MLS. Deemed reliable but not guaranteed; verify before any transaction.