Page "Frank Wead" Paragraph 8

On the 22nd and 23 June 1924 in Anacostia, D. C., as a lieutenant, Wead along with Lieutenant John Dale Price, using a Curtiss CS-2 with a Wright T-3 Tornado engine, set new Class C seaplane records for distance ( 963. 123 miles ), duration ( 13 hours 23 minutes 15 seconds ), and three speed records ( 73. 41 mph for 500 kilometers, 74. 27 mph for 1000 km, and 74. 17 mph for 1500 km ).

Lieutenants Wead and Price struck again on the 11th and 12 July 1924, with new Class C seaplane records for distance ( 994. 19 miles ) and duration ( 14 hours 53 min 44 sec ) using a CS-2 with a Wright Tornado engine.

In order to set these records, Wead and Price had to exchange positions at the controls, as the aircraft had only one set of controls.

One of the pair would leave the navigator / spotter position, climb out of the plane and slide along the hull on a small rail.

The two would both occupy the pilots seat as one slid into place and the other slid out and exited the aircraft and moved to the navigator's position.

Following his successful assignment at NAS Anacostia as staff officer of the Bureau of Aeronautics, Wead was assigned staff duty involving flying at NAS North Island where he served as Flag Lieutenant to Captain Stanford Elwood Moses, USN-the flight project commander at NAS North Island.

One big event Wead was involved with during 1924 – 25 was the planning for the San Francisco to Hawaii endurance and navigation tests to comprise two Naval Aircraft Factory PN-9 flying boats, and one Boeing PB-1 flying boat.