What is the endurance record for flying a small plane the longest amount of time?

In the 1920s, endurance records were recorded in hours—the first record time aloft of 35 hours, 18 minutes, and 30 seconds was established by Lt. John Macready and Lt. Oakley Kelly on October 5 and 6, 1922, in a Fokker T-2. In June and July 1935, aerial refueling permitted Fred and Al Key to stay aloft above Meridian, Mississippi, for 653 hours, 34 minutes (over 27 days) in Ole Miss, a Curtiss J–1 Robin. Both the Fokker T–2 and the Curtiss J–1 were large cabin-class airplanes. They were much larger than the Cessna 172 that still holds the record.

In 1949 the light plane aloft record jumped to 721 hours, then to 1,124 hours, where it held for nine years until Jim Heth and Bill Burkhart flew their Cessna 172, The Old Scotchman, for 1,200 hours and 16 minutes over Dallas, Texas, during August and September 1958. That record stood for only 123 days before Bob Timm and John Cook broke it once and forever on January 23, 1959.Then they flew on for an additional 15 days before landing on Saturday, February 7. Oddly enough, this record also ended the record-setting flight fever.

During the months of December 1958 and January and February 1959, two young men flew a mission-modified Cessna 172 around and around over the desert Southwest for 64 days, 22 hours, and 19 minutes. The world endurance record in a propeller-driven airplane was set in that little Cessna almost 60 years ago.