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Robert Nietzel Buck (January 29, 1914 – April 14, 2007) broke the junior transcontinental air speed record in 1930 and for a time was the youngest licensed pilot in the United States.
Early life
He was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, on January 29, 1914, to Abijah Orange Buck (1869–1932) and Emily Nietzel. Emily was Abija's second wife, and she was the daughter of Elizabeth Bellingrath.
In 1930 at age 16 he took lessons in a Fleet Aircraft using a Kinner engine. He received the United States Department of Commerce license #13478.
On October 4, 1930, he beat the junior transcontinental airspeed record of Eddie August Schneider in his PA-6 Pitcairn Mailwing he named "Yankee Clipper". His time was 23 hours and 47 minutes of elapsed flying time. The junior record only counts time in the air and excludes time spent on the ground.
In December 1933, he flew to the Yucatan with Bob Nixon. As part of that trip, they stopped in Los Angeles and spoke at a meeting of Alpha Eta Rho, an aviation fraternity.
In 1965, he flew around the world from pole to pole in a Boeing 707. This was done with several other pilots in shifts. and in the same year wrote Weather Flying.
Personal life
Buck married Jean Pearsall in 1938.