Linda Finch flight of Earhart was known as "World Flight 1997." Finch's flight marked the 60th anniversary of Earhart's failed effort as well as centennial of her birth. History records that Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, the first woman to fly nonstop across the United States and first woman to fly from Hawaii to the west coast of California. The whole world was watching Amelia Earhart when she began her global attempt and of course then mourned her when the plane came up missing without a trace. Earhart was lost somewhere in the south Pacific
Dawn-to-dusk transcontinental flight across the United States a recently established mail route. Maughan was chosen to make the flight because he was an experienced test pilot and a combat veteran accustomed to dealing with in-flight emergencies, and because he had already established speed records in 1922 and 1923 in the R-6. The first attempt to establish the record was flown on July 10, 1923. Maughan took off from Mitchel Field, Long Island, at 4:56 a.m. The Allegheny Mountains were obscured by a thick undercast, and unable to navigate by landmarks, Maughan flew by dead reckoning, arriving at McCook Field 90 minutes behind schedule, where a broken tail