Roger Q. Williams

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Roger Quincy Williams (April 30, 1894 - August 12, 1976) was an American aviator, born in Brooklyn, New York.

In July 1929 Williams, with Lewis Yancey, broke the over-water flying record by making a non-stop flight from Old Orchard Beach, Maine to Santander, Spain. The 3,400 mile flight took 31 hours and 30 minutes. After minor repairs in Spain, the Bellanca monoplane continued on to Rome.

Williams worked as a barnstormer in the 1920s and a test pilot in the 1930s. During World War I, Williams served with the U.S. Army Air Corps. Between 1942 and 1946 Williams served with the U.S. Army Air Force.

Williams was the author of Flying to the Moon and Halfway Back (1949), and established his own school, The Roger Q. Williams School of Aeronautics. He designed the Yankee Aerocoupe. In 1971, Williams received an Aviation Hall of Fame award from the OX-5 Club.

Williams died in Alameda, California^[1]

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Old Orchard Beach Airfield
• OX-5 Aviation Pioneers

[edit] References

• ”Flights and Fliers” Time Magazine, June 17, 1929
• ”Wives of Fliers Happy”, The New York Times, July 11, 1929
• Heinmuller, John Paul Virgil. Man's Fight to Fly; Famous World-Record Flights and a Chronology of Aviation. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Co, 1944.
• Roseberry, Cecil. The Challenging Skies; The Colorful Story of Aviation's Most Exciting Years, 1919-1939. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1966.
• Scott, Catherine D. Aeronautics and Space Flight Collections. New York: Haworth Press, 1985.
• University of Wyoming, D. C. Thompson, and John Hanks. Guide to Transportation History Resources at the American Heritage Center. Laramie: The Center, 1996.