Air travel from Seattle to New York in just 56 hours begins at Boeing Field on October 23, 1929.

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On October 23, 1929, the first all-air coast-to-coast air service from Seattle to New York begins. The first of the series of flights takes off from Boeing field. The trip will take 56 hours including air time and time waiting on the ground for connecting flights.

Not a Direct Flight

West Coast Air Transport planes flew the first leg from Seattle to Los Angeles. After a nine-hour layover, Western Air Express took 12 hours to fly to Kansas City. Thirteen hours later Universal Air Lines took off on the final leg from Kansas City to New York. Fokker tri-motored, 12-passenger monoplanes were used for the entire Seattle-to-New York flight. Time in the air was 32 hours.

Sources:
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, October 24, 1929, p. 1.

By Greg Lange, January 01, 1999

Travel through time (chronological order):
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Fokker Tri-motor, 1928
Courtesy National Air and Space Museum