It was a far cry from the propeller-driven days of Jimmy Doolittle, Jackie Cochran, reciprocating engines, wheel pants and struts. Civilians no longer could afford to compete, and according to present procedure, only one service was invited. But early one day last week, five Navy F4H-1 Phantom II jets roared down the runway at Los Angeles International Airport and raced eastward. Their goals: Brooklyn's Floyd Bennett Field, a new transcontinental speed record, and the Bendix Trophy—one of the most coveted awards in U.S. aviation.
Aboard each of the two-man, tvvin-engined jets was a Navy pilot and a radar-intercept officer, whose job was...