Max Conrad and his crazy endurance flights

I was thinking about long range General Aviation planes that could be in my price range and who should I start thinking about but Max Conrad. 

Mr. Conrad came before my time but his records still stand today.  

soloflights.org has some wonderful information about Mr. Conrad and I highly suggest that you visit. 

Below you will find some information that came from the soloflights.org web site. 

Here is a link to the Wikipedia page on Mr. Conrad.

THE PILOT
Names : Maxm,,imilien Conrad
Date of Birth : 21 January, 1903
Place of Birth : Winona, Minnesota, USA
Nationality : American
Licences: Commercial
Past : Suffered motor and mental troubles after a skull fracture.

THE AEROPLANE
Max Conrad, used several aircraft, all made by Piper., starting by the Pacer of the Atlantic flight, then a Comanche, a Twin Comanche and several Aztec.

The aircraft of the round the world flight:
Name : New Frontiers.
Registration : N4445P
Made : Piper
Type : Atzec
Length :9.52 m.
Wing span :11.34 m.

THE FLIGHT
Departure point : Miami (Florida)
Departure date : 27 February, 1961
Arrival point : Miami
Arrival date : 8 March, 1961
Duration in days : 10 days
Duration in hours : Average speed : 123.19 mph, 198.27 km/h..
En route stops : Long Beach (California), Honolulu, Wake Island, Guam Island, Manilla (Philippines), Singapore, Bombay (India), Nairobi (Kenya), Lagos (Nigeria), Dakar, Amapa (Brazil), Atkinson Field (British Guyana), Poet of Spain (Trinitad), Miami.
Equator : Two crossings.
Incidents/accidents : No major breakdown. An incident when the ADF lost its audio on the speaker. Conrad turn the fuel "OFF" while changing tanks.

Let's fly."
Max Conrad.

Maximilien Conrad is more famous for his extremely long flights and his records, than for his 'round the world' flight. In his round the World flight he set a record that is still unbeaten to this day. This flight was not flown solo, as he had an observer of the NAA on board, the American representative of the FAI. I must therefore bend my own rule of only describing solo flights around the World in order to pay tribute to Max Conrad, a very remarkable general aviation pilot. Conrad may have had company on his World Flight, but he was solo in all the long record-setting flights. Sitting in a cramped cockpit among fuel tanks and other gear, it is incredible that he was able to last so long in the air.

Maximilien Conrad was born on January 21, 1903, in Winona Minnesota, in the USA, and was raised in the strict German catholic tradition. He was fond of sports and competed in a lot of athletics. He was very impressed by Lindbergh's flight across the Atlantic in 1927.

Conrad learned to fly in the same year. In 1928, he bought his first airplane: a Swallow, and started to give flying lessons. In 1929, following a joy flight, one of his passengers alighted from the aircraft toward the front of the machine, and although Max tried to stop her, they were both hit by the spinning propeller. The young woman was killed instantly, and Conrad received a fractured skull which resulted in him taking years to regain his speech and normal motions. Religious and sporting groups were in a large way responsible for helping Conrad make his recovery.

In 1931, Conrad married Betty Biesanz. Slowly, he reopened his flying school and gradually his operations increased, including some transport and charter flights. The Government put him in charge of organising a series of flying schools: the Civil Pilot Training scheme. After the Pearl harbour attack, these schools became military flying schools.

Conrad experienced both good and bad fortunes during and after the war. In 1942, his hangar and all his aircraft were burned to the ground. In 1943 he became Chief Pilot for the Honeywell Company in Minneapolis. Just three years after the war, in 1948, Betty and the children went to live in Switzerland in the hope of cheaper living expenses than those in the U.S. With two aims in mind, Conrad decided to fly across the Atlantic. His first aim was to visit his family at a lesser cost than by sailing on the Queen Mary as he had done in 1948, and secondly to promote the new Piper Pacer whose sales were stagnant. The flight in N7330K was not an easy one, with American authorities in Greenland thinking him to be a communist spy. Finally Conrad was freed, and he landed at Toussus le Noble, south of Paris and spent September with his family. He now had nine children, including young Fransesco whom he had not yet seen. Betty and the children finally returned to the States on the liner Liberté .



To read the remainder of the story, visit soloflights.org
Max Conrad