Holder Of Nonstop Trascon Record Was 85

ANN has learned of the passing of a veteran test pilot and helicopter pioneer.

Robert G. Ferry served as an Air Force lieutenant colonel, and flew 90 helicopter missions in the Korean War. He was a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base from 1954 to 1960 where, according to his wife, Marti, "He flew everything... He'd break the sound barrier one day, and fly a helicopter the next."

She told the Associated Press Ferry was once testing a helicopter on floats, and wound up having to extricate himself from the aircraft as it sunk in Califonia's Lake Piru. Another time, he suffered a broken back in a crash.

He retired from the service in '64, and started what would be an 18-year career as a civilian test pilot for Hughes in Culver City, CA. In 1966, he set a record that's stood for 43 years.

Ferry made a transcontinental, 2,213-mile non-stop flight from Culver City to Ormond Beach, FL in a Hughes YOH-6A turbine helicopter (similar to type shown above) stripped of excess weight, and equipped with an auxiliary fuel tank. He made it in 15 hours, eight minutes, without refueling.

Marti says her husband passed away at his Lake San Marcos home on January 15. Robert Ferry was 85.

We salute you, Colonel.

FMI: www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004551.html