Frank Fuller learned to fly in 1927. After only 20 hours of instruction, Fuller was issued the first commercial pilots license in Hawaii. In 1932, Fuller became fascinated with the cross country Bendix race. In 1936 he asked Alexander de Seversky to build him a civilian version of the Seversky P-35 to fly in the Bendix race. Seversky took a military P-35 and had the guns taken out and extra fuel tanks added. With his modified P-35, Frank Fuller won the Bendix race in 1937 and 1939.