After a monumental flight in the Fokker C-2 Bird of Paradise from Oakland, California, to Hawaii on June 28, 1927, Lieutenants Lester J. Maitland and Albert F. Hegenberger landed at Bolling Field on July 21. Greeted by an enthusiastic crowd and dozens of top officials, the flyers received their citations for the Distinguished Flying Cross (which would be pinned on later when President Coolidge returned from the west coast).

"The control of the Eastern Pacific hinges upon the control of Hawaii," said Major General Charles P. Summerall, Chief of Staff of the Army. "The flight has made the reinforcement of the islands from a point on the mainland a matter of assurance and a few hours."  The Washington Post summed up the events of the day at Bolling Field: "Like a giant droning bat, their plane came out of the west across the path of the descending sun. Down the field they came, the Army Band playing 'Stars and Stripes Forever'."