Richard C. duPont
Albemarle County, Albemarle County, Virginia
Marker Inscription
Flight of Richard C. duPont. Near this site on September 21, 1933, Richard C. duPont was launched from Afton Mountain in his Bowlus sail-plane, Albatross. Four hours and fifty minutes later he landed at Frederick, Maryland, establishing a United States distance record for sail planing of 121.6 miles, almost double the previous U.S. record of 66 miles.
Erected by Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission
The Story
Near this spot on September 21, 1933, Richard C. duPont was launched from Afton Mountain in his Bowlus sailplane Albatross. Riding the air for four hours and fifty minutes, he glided 121.6 miles to Frederick, Maryland, nearly doubling the existing United States distance record for motorless flight.
Why it matters
DuPont's record flight marks a pioneering moment in American soaring, part of the interwar experimentation that advanced the science of flight.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
The early 1930s were a golden age of experimentation in the air. The airplane was barely a generation old, and pilots and engineers were still discovering what flight could do. Motorless flight — soaring, or gliding — had its own passionate following, drawing enthusiasts who wanted to understand the invisible architecture of the sky: the rising currents, the mountain winds, and the ridge lift that could carry a wing for miles without an engine.
The Blue Ridge of Virginia, where the land heaves up into long mountain walls, was ideal country for it. When wind strikes a ridge like Afton Mountain and is forced upward, it creates exactly the kind of lift a glider pilot lives for. Launch into that rising air, read it correctly, and a craft with no motor at all can stay aloft for hours.
This was a moment when a single well-flown flight could rewrite the record books, and when the science of soaring was being worked out in the open air by the people brave and curious enough to try it.
People & events
On September 21, 1933, Richard C. duPont launched from Afton Mountain in a sailplane named the Albatross, built by Bowlus — a name well known among the era's glider builders. What followed was not a quick hop but a sustained feat of airmanship: four hours and fifty minutes aloft, reading the air and coaxing distance out of a craft with no engine to fall back on.
When he finally came down at Frederick, Maryland, he had covered 121.6 miles and set a United States distance record for sailplaning. The measure of the achievement is in the comparison the marker itself draws: the previous American record stood at 66 miles, and duPont very nearly doubled it in a single flight.
A leap like that is not luck. Staying up for the better part of five hours and crossing that much ground meant chaining together lift source after lift source across changing terrain — an act of patience, nerve, and hard-won skill as much as daring.
Its place in the American story
DuPont's flight belongs to a larger American story of interwar aviation, when the country was pushing the limits of flight on every front — speed, altitude, distance, and endurance. Soaring was the quiet, elegant edge of that effort. Because a glider must extract everything from the air itself, the pursuit sharpened pilots' and designers' understanding of aerodynamics and atmospheric currents in ways that rippled outward into aviation as a whole.
Records like this one also captured the public imagination in a decade hungry for heroes of the air. Each new mark — nearly doubling the national distance record, in this case — showed a country what was newly possible and inspired the next attempt. Progress in early flight came in exactly these increments, one bold effort at a time.
That a Blue Ridge mountain launch could set a national record is a reminder that aviation history was not made only at famous airfields. It was made wherever the wind and the terrain and a determined pilot came together — including on a Virginia mountainside on an autumn day in 1933.
If you visit
Come for the air and the view. Afton Mountain sits along the Blue Ridge, where the long mountain wall and the sweeping vistas make it easy to understand why this was soaring country. Stand where the land drops away and imagine a fragile wing lifting off into the rising wind, then think about staying up there, silent and engineless, for nearly five hours.
The distances involved are the thing to hold in your mind. It is one matter to read "121.6 miles" on a marker; it is another to picture that motorless craft crossing ridge after ridge all the way to Frederick, Maryland. Trace that line north in your imagination and the achievement lands.
This stretch of the Blue Ridge is a natural pairing with a scenic drive, and the marker makes a rewarding pause — a small, surprising story of flight tucked into a landscape most people visit for the mountains alone. Read it, look up, and you will never see this ridgeline quite the same way again.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- Waynesboro Heritage Museum5.5 mi away · 420 West Main Street, Waynesboro, VA
- Plumb House Museum5.9 mi away · 1012 West Main Street, Waynesboro, VA
- Lisa Geiman Studio & Shop8.7 mi away · 2014 Goose Creek Road, Waynesboro, VA
- Rockfish Valley Foundation Natural History Center12.4 mi away
- American Frontier Culture Museum14.9 mi away · VA
Attractions
- Apple Cannon9.5 mi away
- Endless View Farms9.5 mi away · 2513 Rockfish Road, Crimora, VA
- Ridgely's Fun Park11.9 mi away
Food & drink
- King's Gourmet Popcorn3.7 mi away · 130 Afton Circle
- The Showroom4.6 mi away · 1006 East Main Street, Waynesboro, VA
- Happ Coffee4.7 mi away · 1010 East Main Street, Waynesboro, VA
- Jo's Place4.8 mi away · 751 North Delphine Avenue, Waynesboro, VA
- Dani's Pizza5.1 mi away · 325 East Main Street, Waynesboro, VA
- Weasie's5.2 mi away · 130 East Broad Street, Waynesboro, VA
Places to stay
- Grey Pine Lodge3.5 mi away · 494 Three Notched Mountain Highway, Waynesboro, VA
- Belle Hearth Bed & Breakfast5.5 mi away · 320 South Wayne Avenue, Waynesboro, VA
- Quality Inn5.7 mi away · 640 West Broad Street, Waynesboro, VA
- Econo Lodge5.8 mi away · 640 West Broad Street, Waynesboro, VA
- Iris Inn & Cabins6.1 mi away · 191 Chinquapin Drive, Waynesboro, VA
- Royal Inn Motel7.0 mi away · 2112 West Main Street, Waynesboro, VA
Places data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change — call ahead.
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Related people
- · Richard C. duPont
Related events
- · U.S. glider distance record, 1933
Themes & tags
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