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Received Enthusiastically by Hundreds at Detroit City Airport
Escorted by a three-ship element of naval reserve planes, Walter E. Lees and Frederic A. Brossy, holders of the world's non-refueling
endurance record, landed at Detroit city airport at 10 a.m. Friday. They were greeted by Detroit Board of Commerce officials, Packard
Motor Car company executives, members of their families and several hundred spectators who pushed aside barriers and rushed out
onto the field to surround their monoplane.
Pilots Lees and Brossy, Detroiters, set their record at Jacksonville Beach, Fla., May 28, when they
surpassed the previous mark by a margin of nine hours and 10 minutes. They flew a Bellanca Pacemaker powered with a Packard
Diesel engine. Their performance was particularly remarkable in that when the old record was set, engineers held that it could not be
taken from the French fliers who established it.
Oil Burner Changes Status
Apparently the Frenchmen had perfected a formula for fuel cargo, hourly fuel consumption and engine power which could not be
surpassed. The advent of an oil-burning engine in lieu of the conventional gasoline-burning type, however, upset the calculations and
permitted the Detroit men not only to beat the record by a wide margin, but to come down with a few gallons of fuel still in the ship's
tanks.
Among those who greeted Pilots Lees and Brossy when they landed Friday was Mrs. L. F. R. Bellows,
vice-president of the Women's Aeronautical Association, of Detroit. Mrs. Bellows, on behalf of the association, presented each of the
fliers with an especially bound
On the committee of welcome were Ray Cooper, manager of the Board of Commerce's aircraft
bureau; Harvey J. Campbell, vice-president and secretary of the Board of Commerce; E. F. Roberts, vice-president of the Packard
Motor Car company; J. W. Leranger, that firm's general sales manager; M. A. Cudlip, vice-president and secretary of the Packard
organization; G. H. Brodie, business manager of its Diesel engine division; Edward Macauley, sales manager of the firm's aircraft
division; H. W. Peters, vice-president in charge of distribution, H. J. Ferry, treasurer.
From the Detroit Free Press, June 6, 1931
Gallery 9
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