74 years ago today Clyde “Upside-Down” Pangborn belly-landed a monoplane in Wenatchee to complete the first nonstop flight across the Pacific Ocean.

On October 5, 1931, Clyde Pangborn (1894-1958) and Hugh Herndon Jr. land in Wenatchee, completing the first nonstop flight across the Pacific Ocean. They are flying a Bellanca Skyrocket monoplane. The flight succeeds in part because Pangborn, a stunt aviator and test pilot, dropped the landing gear into the ocean shortly after takeoff in order to lighten the aircraft. In Wenatchee he successfully belly-lands the airplane, according to plan.