Paul Meade Straub, M.D. (1932-) was a trailblazer in the 1960s and 197's in long-distance flight in single-engine aircraft. He crossed the Atlantic seven times in N-300MD, his 1964 Mooney Super 21. He flew many Atlantic routes using dead reckoning including Gander-Azores-Lisbon; Goose Bay-Narssalik-Reykavik-Prestwick; and direct Gander to Europe. In 1977 he flew N-300 MD around the world in 28 days flying Johnstown, Pennsylvania-Gander-Karlsruhe, Germany- Athens-Ankara-Tehran-Karachi-Calcutta-Bangkok-Darwin-Mt. Isa-Cairns-Brisbane-Suva-Pago Pago-Honolulu-Des Moines, Iowa-Johnstown. The Honolulu-Des Moines leg set a distance record for Mooneys. It is 4,000 statute miles and the flight was 27 hours and 20 minutes. He landed with two hours of fuel on board. He had intended and had fuel to go to Chicago, but weather conditions in Chicago were zero-zero due to ground fog. Dr. Straub had FAA permission to take off at 25% over gross for this flight.

Dr. Straub's long distance flights had no commercial purpose, but were only for the love of flying. He started with shorter over-the-water flights and gradually extended the distances. He began exploring the Caribbean with a Piper Tripacer in 1965 and in 1970 he purchased the Mooney which he flew for 20 years. He flew three times to South America. One flight to South America in 1971 was for the purpose of climbing the 3,000 ft. unclimbed vertical face of Angles Falls, the world's highest waterfalls. This adventure is recounted in the book Angels Four by David Nott (Prentice-Hall International Inc. London 1972).

He visited every continent except Antarctica with a single-engine aircraft. The longest distance flights were made solo because of weight considerations, but on two trips he took non-pilot passengers to Europe and back.

In 1975 N-300 MD won "Best Single-Engine Airplane" at the Reading Airshow National Aviation Awards. In theory this represented the best single-engine aircraft in the United States at that time.

The photo to the right was taken in 1999.