Page:The Fun of It.pdf/193

Rh the marks made by any other flyer whomsoever, they may hold title to world records.

While no woman at present holds a world record, Maryse Bastie of France has been officially credited with staying aloft for thirty-seven hours and fifty-five minutes consecutively—longer than anyone else has ever done alone. She does not rate a world rec­ord, however, as a solo performance is not differen­tiated from that where two or more pilots are to­gether and can “spell” each other. As a matter of fact, the United States holds this particular Inter­national one with eighty-four hours and thirty-two minutes.

Perhaps I should explain what world records are. There are only five of them and they are—greatest altitude, maximum speed over a three kilometer straightaway course, greatest distance measured in a straight line, endurance flying around a closed cir­cuit, and endurance flying just staying aloft and landing at the place of take off.

In other words the most successful performance in any of these fields rates as a world record, no matter who makes it nor what type of aircraft he or she uses. However, there are many, many other official records besides these to be tried for. They are in a group classified not as World but as Inter­national and are subdivided into many categories. Thus there are altitude and speed records for small land planes, for example, and similar ones for large models. Speed runs may be made empty or with specified loads over specified distances, depending