On October 10, 1927, Famed female aviator Frances Wilson Grayson, niece of President Woodrow Wilson, landed her Sikorsky S-36 amphibian plane on Old Orchard Beach. Her goal was to set up base in Old Orchard for her transatlantic flight to Copenhagen.

Poor weather hampered her attempts to make the flight from Maine; during the first attempt the plane turned around immediately due to high winds, and the second flight her pilot Wilmer Stultz made the decision to turn around after 500 miles due to dangerous weather.