Nathan Hoch on LinkedIn: From Cheyenne, Russell Maughan flew to Salduro, Utah. Salduro was a small… (2024)

Just landed an hour ago! We touched down at 9:49pm local time. Maughan is reported to have landed at 9:47pm. The pilots did their best and that’s pretty dang close. All the Delta Air Lines pilots did a great job throughout my trip. I looked out the window the whole flight and used the flight tracker to identify cities and landmarks along the way. As the exact 100 year anniversary came and went, there wasn’t any transcendental experience. Besides myself and a few friends, nobody knows or cares about this random centennial event. I’m okay with that because as we circled and descended from 32,000 feet, I simply enjoyed the view of the Bay Area at night. I’ve flown a fair amount, but I’ve never seen or appreciated a view quite like that. I’m glad I could create a personal connection to Russell Maughan and a piece of aviation history. Thanks to my wife for letting me take this crazy trip. And thank you to the Cradle of Aviation Museum and everyone else that took an interest in Maughan’s story and followed my trip. The photos from my flight show Salt Lake City, Sacramento, and San Francisco with Crissy field circled to the right of the Golden Gate Bridge. A final note: The Army admitted Maughan technically arrived after Dusk 😬. A perfunctory google search says dusk was at 9:07pm today. If you look in the top left of of the San Francisco photo (taken at 9:37pm) there’s maybe a little bit of dusk light left. By the time I landed, I didn’t really see any light on the horizon. Oh well, it was still a Maughan-umental feat 100 years ago to fly across the country in 21 hours and 48.5 minutes. It took me 4 days!

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100 years ago today, on June 23rd, 1924 Russell Maughan Flew from Long Island New York to Crissy Field in San Francisco in 21 hours and 48.5 minutes. He made 5 refueling stops and finally landed at 9:47pm local time. He was received by a large crowd of spectators that cheered and honked car horns. While I was coming up with different ways I could commemorate the flight, I found this Delta Air Lines flight that is scheduled to land at 9:50 pm (3 minutes after the exact 100 year anniversary). I chatted with Captain Jonathan Scheets and First Officer Alex Zaletal about the flight and we’ll see if they can coordinate a 9:47pm landing!

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100 years ago today on June 24th, 1924, Russell Maughan took off from Long Island New York just before 4 am local time. After 21 hours, 48.5 minutes, and 5 refueling stops, he landed at Crissy Field in San Francisco at 9:47 pm local time. As I was looking into how I could recreate the journey with commercial flights, I came across this Delta Air Lines flight from SLC to San Francisco that is scheduled to land at 9:50 pm. I chatted with Captain Jonathan Scheets and First Officer Alex Zaletal and told them about the flight. We’ll see if they can manage a 9:47pm touchdown!

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When Russell Maughan refueled in St Joseph, rain had caused the ground to be too soft to take off with a full fuel load. He therefore had to stop for fuel at the airfield in North Platte, Nebraska. He then continued on to his intended destination of Cheyenne, Wyoming. Limited commercial flights are offered at North Platte and Cheyenne, but logistically it made more sense for me to rent a car and drive to these places. The North Platte airport has a well documented history in its small terminal. It was visited by Amelia Earhart and was an important refueling stop for aircraft crossing the country in WWII. It’s main claim to fame is having the worlds first lighted runway. While I was chatting with the small airport’s staff, there was some commotion about someone famous flying in. I left before just before this mystery celebrity arrived, but as I was driving through a very busy town, I realized I had just missed seeing the “country” singer Jelly Roll arrive for a concert that evening. I would have tried to give him one of my Dawn to Dusk post cards haha. I then had my own little race against the sun. I wanted to make it to the Cheyenne airport by dusk and I was able catch a twilight photo of the terminal. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to meet with anyone at the Cheyenne airport since I arrived so late. From Cheyenne, Maughan flew to the Salt Flats west of Salt Lake City. I drove down to Denver and will fly to Salt Lake Cory this morning. My wife Kristin Hoch, MPH will pick me up and drive me out to Maughan’s refueling site called Salduro. One more note: as I was taking an airport shuttle in Kansas City, the driver asked where I was headed and I explained my journey. He used to be an Air Force C-17 pilot and his wife was a Navy P-3 pilot. That warranted a Dawn to Dusk card for him and a selfie with him. Most people seem interested in Maughan’s and my story, especially those with a connection to aviation.

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This morning I began the driving portion of the journey. From the Kansas City Airport, I drove 30 miles to St. Joseph. Russell Maughan landed at Rosecrans airfield in St. Joseph. Rosecrans was a local World War 1 pilot that died during the war. The current airport is still named after Rosecrans, but the airfield has changed locations multiple times. So far from my research I narrowed it down to 2 locations: Lake Contrary and Waterworks road. I don’t know which site was the active airfield when Maughan landed, so I went to both. I didn’t find any signs marking the old airfields and reaching out to the city and county hasn’t yielded any leads. I am now having lunch in Omaha, then driving to North Platte.

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Leg 2: Dayton, Ohio to St Joeseph, Missouri. After refueling at McCook Field, Russell Maughan then flew to Rosecrans Field in St. Joseph, Missouri. Due to the timing of available flights, I am flying from Dayton to Atlanta, then to Kansas City, Missouri which is only a 30 min drive to St. Joseph. Maughan had to deal with some thunderstorms between Dayton and St. Joseph, but I’ve had good weather all day. Captain Alan Schmidt and F.O. Jordan Green were the pilots for the hop to Atlanta. Captain Joshua Brett and F.O. Patrick Beesley (A Salt Lake based crew) were the pilots flying to Missouri.

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Long Island isn’t the only place that claims to be the “Cradle of Aviation”. Dayton, Ohio also makes this claim, and it’s a strong argument! Today I found a sign marking McCook Field. I spent the rest of the day visiting Wright Brothers sites including:-Site of the Wright’s house on Hawthorne Street-Wright Cycle Co.-The 1905 Flyer lll-Huffman Prairie flying Field-Wright Brothers’ gravesI also met up with Benjamin Moulton from the Utah State University AeroLab at the National Museum of the USAF. The museum is HUGE and deraerves a full day, but I only had a few hours. I was able to see a SPAD XIII (the same type Maughan flew in WWI) and a Curtis P-6 Hawk. On his Dawn to Dusk Flight, Maughan flew a Curtis PW-8 which was developed into the Curtis P-1 Hawk which was then developed into the P-6 Hawk. This is the only surviving P-6, so I believe this is the closest aircraft in the world to Maughan’s PW-8. I was also got to see the Blue Angels practice for the Dayton Airshow this weekend!

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June 20th Post 2:The first leg of Russell Maughan’s Dawn to Dusk flight was from Mitchel Field on Long Island to McCook Field in Dayton Ohio. Neither of these airfields are operational anymore, so I flew from New York LaGuardia to Dayton International on Delta Air Lines. I told the Captain Doug Feiner and First Officer Jakob Michel about my commemorative journey and they were AWESOME. They made an announcement about Russell Maughan and my project and the whole cabin applauded! 😂 They sent me a screenshot of their flight plan. The CRJ900’s instruments are a bit more sophisticated than Maughan’s PW-8. Once I got to Dayton I drove to the site of McCook Field on the bank of the Great Miami River. It is now an industrial park and baseball complex.

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June 20th Post 1:Today was so eventful, it requires 2 separate posts. Lt. Russell Maughan started his Dawn to Dusk journey at Mitchel Field on Long Island. I knew Long Island had some aviation history, but at the Cradle of Aviation Museum I learned about the countless contributions to aviation the region has brought. The museum is aptly named and is 100% worth a visit. My favorite artifacts in their collection are: -A 1909 Bleriot (one of the oldest aircraft in America)-Charles Lindbergh’s JN-4 Jenny-Grumman F3F-2-Republic RC-3 Seabee-Lunar Module 13 (would have flown for Apollo 18 or 19)-Numerous Apollo Artifacts THAT HAVE BEEN ON THE MOONSpecial thanks to Rod Leonhard, Jerelyn Zontini, for hosting me. Rod took a special interest in Russell Maughan’s story and found some archived photos of him. The Cradle of Aviation Museum is built between some of the original hangars that were around when Maughan made his flight.

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