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"Ole Miss Receives In-Flight
Maintenance"
by Jimmy Hand
Fred Key performs routine maintenance 3000 feet above the ground while his brother, Al, pilots the Ole Miss during the pair's successful world endurance flight in 1935.After two unsuccessful attempts the year before, brothers Fred and Algene Key took Ole Miss up from Meridian, Mississippi, on June 4th while no more than 100 onlookers observed this unheralded event.
When, 27 days later, the Ole Miss touched down at Meridian, it was to a crowd of 30,000 cheering people. Pilots Fred and Al Key had accomplished a non-stop endurance flight that totaled 653 hours 34 minutes. During this 52,320 mile flight, the Ole Miss used 6,000 gallons of gasoline and made 435 mid-air refueling contacts.
During the flight, Fred and Al Key took turns manning the controls and sleeping on the extra fuel tank behind them in the cabin. They received food, fuel, and supplies 432 times through a sliding roof hatch from another Robin. A metal catwalk made in-flight maintenance and lubrication of the engine possible. Their Wright Whirlwind engine consumed 6.500 gallons of gasoline, at a rate of 10 gallons per hour, and 300 gallons of oil. Their estimated ground track was 52,320 miles, or more than twice the circumference of the earth. Among the dangers they had faced were severe thunderstorms and an electrical fire.
Ole Miss over downtown Meridian
In 1955, Fred Key flew the completely restored Ole Miss to Washington, D.C., where it is now on permanent display in the National Air and Space Museum. The World Flight Endurance record set by the Key Brothers in 1935 still stands today.
"Historic Mid-Air Refueling for Ole Miss"
by Jimmy Hand
Another depiction of the famed flight, also by Jimmy hand, shows the two Curtiss Robins maneuvering for refueling in the summer sky. The refueling aircraft was flown by James Keeton while the hose was handled by W.H. Ward, Jr. The flight of Al and Fred Key proved that air-to-air refueling worked. The ability to remain in flight was limited only by the endurance of the flight crew and the structural and mechanical stability of the aircraft. The U.S. Army Air Corps (later Air Force) continued to refine and improve on the basic principal that was developed in Meridian in 1935. Today practically all military aircraft are capable of being refueled in flight.
The Curtiss Robin series was produced in the late 1920s and early 1930s as a three-place general aviation aircraft. Designed for the civil market by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company, the Robin was a slender airplane of modest performance. This three-seat monoplane flew in the spring of 1928 with a 90-hp Curtiss OX-5, the engine that had powered Curtiss JN-4 Jenny trainers in World War I. Robins offered flight characteristics as straightforward as their appealing lines. A distinctive feature (shared with Fairchild cabin monoplanes of the period) was side cockpit windows that ran almost to the floor.
The Ole Miss varies from a typical Curtiss Robin by virtue of modifications made for the flight, including a new fuel tank, engine servicing catwalk, and a sliding top hatch for receiving supplies in flight.
Ole Miss on display at the National Air & Space Museum
2002 Wings Publishing
