Got this from the avcom Forum, thanks Gerard:

The Cessna endurance flight

On Dec. 4, 1958, a Cessna 172 took off from McCarran Field on a nonstop endurance flight. On Feb. 7, 1959, 64 days, 22 hours, 19 minutes and 5 seconds later, it landed in the Guinness Book of World Records. The nonstop flight record remains unbroken.

The pilots, Bob Timm and John Cook, took turns at the controls of the Cessna, flying it in four-hour shifts. Except for the pilot's seat, everything was removed from the interior. A 95-gallon fuel tank was added, along with a mattress and internal access to both fuel and oil lines.

With 47 gallons of fuel in the wings and 95 gallons in the belly tank, the 172 had to be refueled only once a day. The ground crew, Norbie Prada, Doyl Hickman, Roy Young and Bill Marhold, supervised that portion of the refueling.

Once each day, the Cessna was flown 20 feet above a desert road. A line dropped to the fuel truck raised a hose up to the aircraft so that 95 gallons of fuel could be pumped into the belly tank. The process took three minutes.

When the fuel truck malfunctioned during the marathon flight, Alamo Airway's '56 T-Bird again came to the rescue. While the Cessna flew above the convertible, five-gallon fuel cans were hauled by rope from the car to the plane. The Cessna was able to remain airborne.

For the Cessna pilots, sleeping had become a problem. They couldn't sleep on a regular schedule and often drifted off while flying the airplane. Bob Timm admitted that he had dozed off at 2:55 one morning, while flying over Blythe, Calif. Waking up 20 minutes later, he saw the lights of Yuma, Ariz., and realized they had crossed over a range of mountains. Without an autopilot, they may not have made it.

"Doc" Bayley and the Hacienda Hotel sponsored the flight. Called the "Flight against Cancer," it served as a fundraiser for the Damon Runyon Cancer Fund. Today, the restored Cessna 172 is suspended above the baggage claim area at McCarran International Airport as part of the Howard Cannon Aviation Museum. A replica of the '56 T-Bird is also on display.

Johan van Wyk