Page 44 - Demo

On September 2, 1930, a pair of Frenchmen, Dieudonne Costes and Maurice Bellonte, completed the first nonstop westbound airplane flight across the Atlantic Ocean from France to America. Three years earlier, on May 20, 1927, Charles Lindbergh had made the first solo airplane flight across the Atlantic, but he few the easier eastbound route from New York to Paris. The Frenchmen%u2019s flight wasn%u2019t actually the first westbound crossing. In 1928, wealthy German aristocrat, Ehrenfried G%u00fcnther Freiherr von H%u00fcnefeld, along with a pilot and navigator, had also flown the more difficult east-towest direction. They landed in Canada, but had taken off from Ireland, not the European mainland.Costes and Bellonte, in their heavily-laden biplane, Point d'Interrogation (Question Mark), covered either 3,633 miles or 3,850 miles, depending on the source, in 37 hours 18 minutes, from France%u2019s Le Bourget Field to Valley Stream, Long Island.Two weeks after arriving in America, the two Frenchmen embarked on a goodwill tour of the U.S. On September 17, the third day of their tour, they took off from Cleveland at 9:05 a.m. and headed for Indiana. After landing at Indianapolis%u2019 Stout Field (which was also known as Mars Hill) at 11:23 a.m., an hour ahead of their planned arrival time, they were greeted by Indiana Governor Harry G. Leslie and Indianapolis Mayor Reginald H. Sullivan%u2014and a crowd of 1,000 people. Neither Governor Leslie nor Mayor Sullivan spoke French, so Arthur Chevrolet, a former racing car designer and driver, now airplane designer and manufacturer, acted as interpreter. After a luncheon at the Curtis-Wright Restaurant, the two pilots were presented with special medallions in recognition of their historic flight. They took off for Detroit at 1:02 p.m., after being on the ground for only an hour and 39 minutes.Cancelled September 17, 1930, backstamped September 19, 1930 in Alton, New Hampshire. Cachet has facsimile signatures by Harry G. Leslie. Governor of Indiana from 1929 to 1933; Paul Q. Richey, President of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce; and H. Weir Cook. a World War I flying ace, who was Manager of the Curtis-Wright Flying Service in 1930, and namesake of the Colonel H. Weir Cook Terminal that was erected in 2008 at the Indianapolis International Airport. Addressee, LeGrand Payne was a long-time resident of Indianapolis and a member of the Indiana Stamp Club.