| Oakley George Kelly | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 3, 1891 |
| Died | June 5, 1966 San Diego, California |
| Awards | Mackay Trophy 1922 & 1923 |
Oakley George Kelly (December 3, 1891–June 5, 1966) was a record setting pilot for the United States Army Air Service.
He was born on December 3, 1891 in Pennsylvania.
In May 1922, Lieutenant Oakley G. Kelly and Lieutenant John Arthur Macready were awarded the 1922 Mackay Trophy for the beating the world's air endurance record and staying aloft for 36 hours, 4 minutes, and 32 seconds.[1]
On May 2, 1923, Lieutenants Kelly and Macready flew their single-engine, high wing Army Fokker T-2 over 2,625 miles from Mitchel Field, New York to San Diego, California in an official time of 26 hours, 50 minutes and 38⅗ seconds,[2] setting the record for transcontinental flight by a heavier than air craft [3] winning the 1923 Mackay Trophy.
In October 1924, Kelly piloted Ezra Meeker along portions of the Oregon Trail to generate support for marking and preserving the historic route using the same airplane in which Kelley had set the record: a single-engine, high-wing Army Fokker T-2. Traveling by air at 100 mph, Meeker traveled the same distance in an hour that had taken him a week to travel by ox at 2 mph.[4]
Between 1924 and 1929, Kelly was the squadron commander for the 321st Observation Squadron at Pearson Field, Vancouver, Washington.[4] Kelly retired from military service as a Colonel on March 31, 1948. He died at age 74 in San Diego, California in 1966.[5]