These four men, who during the period May 3–5, 1928, established a world’s record for endurance in Class C-2 seaplanes, show the effects of having spent 36 hours and 1 minute in the air in the skies over Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Pictured from left are Lieutenants Zeus Soucek and Arthur Gavin, H.F. Dayton of the Wright Aeronautical Company, and J.G. Prole. The men stand bathed in light amidst the darkness of early morning, their record-setting flight having ended well before dawn.
Behind the men sits the plane in which they droned up and down a section of the Delaware River near the Philadelphia Navy Yard. The PN-12 represented a major advance in aircraft design. Seeking to improve the performance of the flying boat, which stretched over 49 feet in length and possessed a wing span of over 72 feet, the Naval Aircraft Factory in Philadelphia (the builder of the plane) fitted the PN-12 with two air-cooled Wright Cyclone engines. This reduced the weight of the aircraft by 1,700 lb. on the record flight, which shattered the existing mark by more than 7 hours.
Residents of Philadelphia could only wonder about the recurring sound of aircraft engines, the Navy desiring to keep the news of what the PN-12 was up to a secret until the existing endurance record has been broken. The plane averaged 80.28 m.p.h. on the flight, traveling a distance of some 2,400 miles during its time aloft. This range was not lost on observers of the day, one editorial appearing in the
San Antonio Express insightful given events in the future. “Based on [sic] Pearl Harbor, PN-12 planes easily could patrol the Pacific from the Aleutian Islands to American Samoa. Their presence in that area should deter a hostile fleet from an attack either on the Hawaiian group or the Pacific side of the Canal Zone. “
Interestingly, Zeus Soucek was part of a notable naval aviation family, he and his brother Apollo known during the interwar years as the “Flying Souceks” after they established numerous altitude and endurance records. In addition, two cousins and a brother served in the Navy. Zeus Soucek retired from the Navy in 1930 and by the time of World War II was a senior executive with Brewster Aeronautical Corporation, maker of the F2A Buffalo fighter for the Navy.