The intrepid flight of the "Cape Cod" was made in a specially modified Bellanca monoplane. The rugged Bellancas were, in essence, "The Model-T Ford of the Skies," as many long-distance and endurance records set in the 1920's and 1930's were made in this type of aircraft. Mavi Boncuk | World Record for longest distance, non-stop 5014 miles, 49 hours Commemorative New York to Istanbul Non-stop Flight [1] Cigarette Case and Lighter; Obverse: relief profile busts of Russell Boardman and John Polando surounded by a relief map of Cape Cod depicted; embossed text "EPIC NON-STOP FLIGHT 5011 MILES, RUSSELL BOARDMAN - JOHN POLANDO, WELCOME HOME HYANNIS, MASS., AUG. 28, 1931"; on hinged cigarette case door; relief of an front view of an aircraft depicted; embossed text "NEW YORK U.S.A. ISTANBUL TURKEY"; on lighter.
National Air and Space Museum Collection.
[1] Preparation for Russell Boardman and John Polando's record-breaking two-day flight from the New World to the new Republic of Turkey lasted about two years. Though this was to be the first direct flight from the continental United States to a Moslem country, it was not the first visit to Turkey made by American airmen.
That honor belongs to aeronaut Rufus Gibbon Wells, who flew in a balloon over Istanbul 60 years earlier, in 1871. The first heavier-than-air flight in Istanbul by an American piloting an American aircraft was made by John Cooper who, on June 1st, 1914, flew a Curtiss F2 seaplane from Europe to Asia, that is, from Küçükçemece Lake on the European side of Istanbul, across the Marmara Sea to Kadýköy on the Asian side of the city.
There were two other significant aviation events involving Americans in Turkey prior to the historic flight of the Cape Cod. The first was the visit of the famous Douglas World Cruisers, which were the first aircraft to circumnavigate the globe during a six-month flight of 23,452 miles through 28 countries in 1924. Of the four aircraft that had originally taken off from Seattle in April of that year, three of them, the "Chicago," the "New Orleans" and the "Boston" had made it all the way to the newly-founded Republic of Turkey via Syria. The three planes made a non-stop flight from Konya to Istanbul with a 36-hour stopover at the former capital of the Ottoman Empire (10-11 July). Back then, Yesilköy, where the airfield was established in 1912, was known as "Ayastefanos" and Istanbul was officially known as "Constantinople."
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