Vultee 41-A

Button shows white text and an illustration of a white monoplane with red markings over a yellow and orange background.

The Vultee V-1A, a single-engine passenger plane designed by Gerard Vultee, first flew in 1933. Though airlines bought the model, its use was greatly reduced in 1936 when the U.S. government ruled that all commercial passenger aircraft had to have multiple engines. Several private companies and pilots continued to use the plane.

In 1936, Harry Richman and Dick Merrill bought a V-1A for a planned roundtrip flight from New York to London. They had it filled with thousands of ping-pong balls to help it float in case of a water landing. They landed in Wales, went on to London, and on the return flight had to make an emergency landing in Newfoundland before flying on to New York a week later.