H.F’s team included four others: J.A. Hoy, co-pilot and radio operator; E.H. Schlanser, pilot; R.P. Gardiner, Purchasing Agent; and J.V. Steinle, Research Director.
They set off from Milwaukee Airport in a small, amphibian airplane. The Sikorsky S-38 was known to be the safest aircraft of the time since it was a twin-engine plane but could maintain itself on only one engine if needed.
This trip, however, was anything but safe. Satellites had not yet been invented and people rarely flew such ambitious distances. H.F. and his crew often went long stretches without seeing a soul. But H.F. loved the adventure.
Sam recalled childhood stories of his father’s adventure – stopping in Cayenne, where H.F. met murderers from Devil’s Island, and the time a crowd on the shore began screaming at the team because they were wading in water full of piranhas.
All told, the trip covered 15,550 miles over Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Virgin Islands, Antigua, St. Lucia, Trinidad, British Guiana, Dutch Guiana and French Guiana, and then Para, Maranhaa, Amarracao, Camocin and finally Fortaleza, Brazil, and back. The total air time was 168 hours, and the plane traveled at an average speed of 96 miles per hour.