The plane promptly left New York at 12:30 pm Eastern Standard Time and finally arrived at San Diego the next day at 12:28 pm Pacific Standard Time (3:28 pm EST). Twenty-six hours and fifty minutes, that's how long the coast-to-coast flight lasted.

Everyone roared with relief when the Fokker T-2 Liberty touched down on the landing strip. Pilots Lieutenant John Macready and Oakley Kelly, appearing disheveled, dogeared, and tired, were treated with loud cheers and resounding applause. And why shouldn't they have been? After all, they had just completed the first nonstop flight across the country. The year was 1923.

Story and Cover Illustration Copyright © 2023 by Michael DeFrancesco

The Omaha Morning Bee, May 4, 1923, page 1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_A._Macready