Frank Goldsborough - Transcontinental Speed Record

Transcontinental Speed Record

Frank held the junior transcontinental air speed record until his death. The record was then broken by Eddie August Schneider (1911–1940) on August 19, 1930 just a month after Frank's death. In 1930 Frank was living with his stepmother at 4114 75th Street in Queens, New York. In April and May 1930 he wrote a series of exclusive first-person accounts for The New York Times about his exploits in the National Air Tour and his breaking of the transcontinental air speed record. Time magazine wrote the following on May 12, 1930:

A flight from New York to Los Angeles, begun on Monday and completed Sunday, is not in itself remarkable. But if the flyer be the young son of a crack airman who met spectacular death; and if the boy seeks a "junior speed record," public fancy is captured. Last week Frank Goldsborough, 19, son of the late Brice Goldsborough, crossed the United States in 34 hour 3 minutes flying time, in a biplane named American Boy. Previous "record" of 48 hours, set last year by 18-year-old Richard James, was spread over a month elapsed time. Young Goldsborough's flight was punctuated by forced landings. Overtaken by darkness near El Paso, he settled down on the desert beside a truck. "Two prospectors were in it. They treated me royally, shared their food and water with me. In taking off next morning along a narrow road lined by telegraph poles, I had a cross wind and just clipped the lower left wing tip, but I got into the air safely."