More than 300 people spent part of the Pioneer Day holiday Tuesday honoring "pioneer pilot" Russell L. Maughan, a Logan native, who made the first dawn-to-dusk flight across America on June 23, 1924.
A monument honoring the late Air Force colonel was dedicated by Wendell J. Ashton, a founder and former national president of the Sons of the Utah Pioneers.The monument was erected in front of the old rock house in Logan's historical district where Maughan was born March 28, 1893.
Former Logan Mayor Desmond Anderson, a member of the dedication committee, recalled the banner headlines in the San Francisco and national newspapers after Maughan touched down at Chrissy Field, where almost 40,000 people greeted him with cheers.
Anderson's brother, Wendell, who died last February, worked several years gathering information about Maughan, with some of the information coming from Smithsonian Institute archives.
Maughan made his historic daylight flight in the Curtiss PW-8 duel-engine aircraft averaging 150 miles an hour at altitudes of 500 to 1,000 feet.
Anderson said Maughan left Mitchell field in New York at dawn and touched down in San Francisco 21 hours, 48 minutes and 30 seconds later, "only moments before dusk."
Although some of those attending the ceremony had never heard of the flight, Utah State University history professor emeritus George Ellsworth said, "In some ways, I would say this flight was more important than Charles A. Lindbergh's, which came three years later."
Ellsworth said it was appropriate that the granite memorial was unveiled on Pioneer Day, as the pilot's grandfather, Peter Maughan, crossed the plains in a covered wagon and later founded Wellsville, the first settlement in Cache Valley.
Maughan served as a fighter pilot in France during World War I and as a colonel in the 8th Air Force in Britain during World War II. He was awarded the distinguished service cross and the distinguished flying cross.
He died in 1958 and is buried in the Logan Cemetery.
His three children, Weston Maughan, Ila May Russen and Mary Ann Jacks, attended Tuesday's ceremony.