The Question Mark

In 1923 the US Army Air Service successfully completed the first mid-air refueling between two airplanes. Six years later the US sought to break a 1928 aerial refueling endurance record set by Belgium. Aircraft at Middletown Air Depot (Olmstead Airforce Base, presently the site of Penn State Harrisburg) were adapted for the task. The "Question Mark", an Atlantic-Fokker C-2 pictured here, was the receiving plane. The refueling began in California on New Years Day, 1929 to coincide with the Rose Bowl. The crew consisted of Carl Andrew Spaatz, Ira Eaker, Elwood Quesada, Harry Halvorsen, and flight mechanic S. Sgt. R. W. Hooe. Major Spaatz, who conceptualized and planned the mission, was also responsible for hanging outside of the plane, catching the refueling hose, and inserting it into the receiving plane's receptacle. The successful mission lasted 6 days, 40 minutes, consisted of 37 refuelings, and broke existing world records for sustained flight, refueled flight, and distance. Spaatz, Eaker, and Quesada became generals in World War II.

Sources: General Carl A. Spaatz and "The Question Mark.", Historical Review of Berks County, Summer 1995 and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Question_Mark_%28aircraft%29 Photo ID: A05522.