The Junkers W33 D-1167 Bremen made the first successful non-stop transatlantic flight from east to west on 12-13 April 1928, landing on Greenly lsland, Quebec. Lt Richard Cobb flew this US Army Loening trying to help. Cobb was acting on the orders of, and sometimes transporting, Gen Brown of the Army's 1st Corps Area, headquartered in Boston. Thus the winged 1 emblem, also seen in photo 640547, may be related to the 1st Corps Area. Photo by: Lesly Jones / Boston Public Library

Light parasol monoplane designed by Harvey and Wilson Doyle and built by Vulcan company of Portsmouth, Ohio, which made golf clubs. Name American Moth chosen to capitalise on popularity of DH Moth. Photo taken at National Air Races and shows Robert Dake (pilot, left) and Ted Taney (navigator) who were the crew for the American Moth during the 1928 transcontinental race. After eight examples, assets and rights taken over by Davis Aircraft, which produced the modified Davis V-3 and D-1, of which some 60 were built. The Doyle brothers left Vulcan to build the Doyle O-2 Oriole. Photo from: San Diego Air & Space Museum

The Cessna CW-6 six-seater, first flown in November 1928 and on display here at the 1929 Wichita Auto Show. Apparently no series production. Design downsized to four-seat Cessna DC-6. NC6446 sold to Mexico as X-BACX in 1930. Photo from: Museum of Flight

Despite its fighter designation, the F2W was a dedicated racing aircraft. The manufacturer's designation was apparently Wright TX. It was powered by a Wright T-3 Tornado engine, cooled by wing surface radiators, and reportedy achieved 398.5 km/h (247.7 mph). In the 1923 Pullitzer Trophy race, the two red F2Ws took third and fourth place behind the Curtiss R2C racers also entered by the US Navy. The four planes are seen together in photo 648891. A-6743 / 8 ran out of fuel and crashed after finishing just before A-6744 / 7, which reportedly had greater fuel capacity. A-6744 was converted to F2W-2 floatplane but crashed on its first flight as such. Photo from: Museum of Flight

Air racing rivalry between the US Army and Navy did stimulate technological progress. The R-3 was one of the first aircraft with fully retractable main landing gear. It was designed at the Engineering Division of the USAAS by Alfred Verville and manufactured by the Lawrence Sperry Aircraft Company. Powered by the inferior Wright H-3 engine, the three R-3s built were unsuccessful in the 1922 Pulitzer Trophy race. 22-328 is seen here at the 1923 race, which it did not finish. This plane had received a Curtiss D-12 engine and managed a FAI speed record over 500 km in March 1923. It won the 1924 Pulitzer race, but that edition was less competitive. Photo from: Museum of Flight

Four US Navy entries dominated the Pulitzer Trophy race at the 1923 National Air Races, brought to you by Purina Chows (animal feeds). From left to right, the two Curtiss R2Cs and the two red Wright F2Ws came second, first, third and fourth, although Lt 'Sandy' Sanderson ran out of fuel and wrecked his Wright, A-6743 / 8, just short of the landing field. Photo from: Museum of Flight

Seeking revenge for its defeat in the 1922 Pulitzer Trophy race, the US Navy successfully procured a new Curtiss racer. A-6692 / 9, flown by Lt Alford Williams, won the 1923 edition and Lt Harold Brow in A-6691 / 10 came second. Both pilots also broke the absolute world speed record, with Williams bringing it to 429 km/h (267 mph). A-6692 was fitted with floats for the cancelled 1924 Schneider Trophy race. A-6691 was sold to the US Army for a sporty $1 to become the Curtiss R-8, serial 23-1235. Photo from: Museum of Flight

The US Army ordered a new variant of the US Navy's CR racer and used it to beat the Navy aircraft in the 1922 Pulitzer Trophy race. Other photos show that the winning race number 43, flown by Lt Maughan, was serial number 68564; thus number 44, flown by Lt Maitland, was 68563. Flying 68564, Gen Billy Mitchell himself set a new absolute world speed record of 358.84 km/h (222.973 mph) three days later on 18 October. Photo from: Smithsonian Institution

A Curtiss CR racer built for the US Navy had won the 1921 Pulitzer Trophy race, although flown for Curtiss by Bert Acosta. Sources disagree whether this was the CR-1, A-6080, or the modified CR-2, A-6081. With the CR-1 upgraded to CR-2 standard, the Navy flew both in the 1922 edition at Selfridge Field, but was beaten by the US Army's variant of the CR, the Curtiss R-6. The CRs were then changed to CR-3 floatplanes to win the 1923 Schneider Trophy. A-6081 also set a speed record for seaplanes and was modified to CR-4 testbed and trainer for the 1926 Schneider races. Photo from: Smithsonian Institution

The third SM.75, registered in April 1938. In November 1940, I-TITO was involved in airlifting Italian troops from Brindisi to Tirana, Albania - no doubt for the war against Greece. Photo from: Smithsonian Institution

First flown on 10 November 1937, the Z.509 was an enlarged Z.506, intended for air mail route to South America although LATI opened a landplane route in 1939. Project abandoned and the three aircraft built were impressed by the Regia Aeronautica in December 1939. Photo published in Flight in April 1939 after I-ATLA broke several FAI records for seaplanes. Photo from: Smithsonian Institution

The Z.506C model of the Airone seaplane was a 14-passenger airliner but this first airframe, I-ALAL, was a special which in March and April 1938 made a route proving flight from Lido di Roma to Buenos Aires and back, covering 24,000 km at an average speed of over 300 km/h. Small Ala Littoria titles worn in cheatline. Where is that tall lighthouse? I-ALAL impressed for military duties in June 1940. Photo supplied by the Fasisct era Italian Library of Information in New York City. Photo from: Smithsionian Institution

The sole Bellanca K was built for a transatlantic flight to Rome. Cesare Sabelli's crew took off from Old Orchard Beach, Maine on 20 September 1928 but returned with a loose piston and ditched. The aircraft was repaired but subsequent users also experienced engine problems: a flight from Argentina to Spain didn't happen, a record endurance flight failed due to high oil consumption and finally Thor Solberg ditched NX4864 off Newfoundland on his way to Norway on 23 August 1932. The odd design of the aircraft, with lifting surfaces forming a sort of W-shaped lower wing, was supposedly very efficient and led to the Model P Airbus/Aircruiser. Photo from: Smithsonian Institution

The Bellanca Aircruiser is often described vaguely as the ultimate development of the Bellanca Airbus airliner. We believe the name Aircruiser refers to executive models of the Airbus, since this is the first Aircruiser, already built in 1930 or 1931 with a comfortable nine-seat interior. The generic designation Bellanca Model P changed to Model 66 in the mid-1930s. The US Army designation was C-27. This airframe was sold to Fred M King's Fidelity Investment Company of Wheeling, West Virginia. To Mexico in 1944. Photo from: Smithsonian Institution

A few C-74s were sold on the civilian market. In March 1959, 42-65408 was bought by Akros Dynamics 'for a Cuban party'. On 22 May, ten men and a 'shapely red-headed woman co-pilot' were arrested at MIA while loading the aircraft with guns and ammunition. This photo was published the next day. The arms smugglers were anti-Castro and had ties with the Dominican Republic government. Did they also operate that F4U Corsair? The USA had recognized Castro's government and didn't support rebels yet in 1959. N8199H to Aeronaves de Panama which operated three C-74s until the fatal crash of N3182G (c/n 13915) near Marseille in 1963. Photo from: The Miami Herald

Photo from the Smithsonian's Giuseppe M Bellanca Collection, presumably showing CF-ARW before delivery at Bellanca Field. This plane was used by the Eldorado mining company's uranium oxide mine at Port Radium, Northwest Territories, operated by Mackenzie Air Service of Edmonton. Nicknamed 'Flying W', the Aircruiser was used predominantly in Canada as a result of the 1934 US regulation banning single-engined airliners. Photo from: Smithsonian Institution

LAV acquired two L-14H-2 Super Electras in 1939. YV-ADI crashed on 25 July 1944 on arrival in Barcelona, Venezuela. Photo from: Smithsonian Institution

'The first in-flight photo of Seaboard's first Connie, N6501C American Airtrader, 1954.' This was the first L-1049D convertible passenger/cargo Super Connie, fitted with reinforced flooring and maindeck cargo doors on the port side. Already upgraded in 1955 to L-1049H, equivalent to pax L-1049G. To Capitol Airways in 1962. Broken up in 1967. Photo from: Smithsonian Institution

CCA operated from Burbank from 1949. In 1951 they acquired five Martin 202s dumped by Northwest Airlines. CCA went bankrupt in 1954. The thick cheatline is blue with red stripes on the tailfin and nose. Photo from: Smithsonian Institution

New York Airways operated the Boeing Vertol 107 between the roof of the Pan Am Building, near Grand Central Station in Manhattan, and New York airports between late 1966 and early 1968. Despite noise complaints, the service briefly resumed in 1977 with the S-61L. Photo from: Pan Am Historical Foundation