Round-the-World Flights

Air Transport Command Globester Round-the World Flight

Page 3d (rev: 1002)

Karachi/SF Cover	Flown Cover	Cachet Details	Plane	Manila/SF Cover

        On May 8, 1945 the US celebrated VE Day. This victory in Europe Day formally celebrated the defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. Several months later on August 6, 1945 the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima followed by a second atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki on August 9th. The Allied victory over Japan (VJ Day) took place on August 15, 1945 marking the formal end of WW-II.

        The US Army Air Forces, Air Transport Command, fresh from its role in the victorious WW-II was ready to devote its efforts to the emerging post war prosperity. The commander of the Air Transport Command (ATC), Lt General Harold George ordered a round-the-world flight using a relay of six different ATC C-54's. The purpose of this flight was to set a speed record for carrying passengers and mail and to demonstrate the reliability of the C-54's and the efficiency of the ATC.

        The round-the-world Globster flight started from Washington's National Airport, September 28th on the 21st anniversary of the conclusion of the Army's first round-the-world flight in 1924. 5,000 round-the-world flight covers were carried on the Globester. They were sold by a special Globester committee in Washington for the benefit of the National War Fund to take care of the widows and orphans of airmen who lost their lives and to assist needy airmen and their families.

        The flight schedule did not permit the canceling of covers at intermediate ports of call and the Army was forbidden to carry civilian mail, except in emergency or as a courtesy. Accordingly, the covers that made the world circuit did not enter the mails proper until after the finish of the flight and therefore only bear a cachet and one stamp cancellation.

        Altogether thirteen different crews (6 to 8 per leg) took part in the flight as well as six different planes, making the round-the-world Globester flight a relay, with only eight passengers making the complete circumnavigation. A ninth passenger, Arthur Mayer (Red Cross official) flew only as far as Calcutta, India.

        Civilian Passengers: Fred Othman (United Press), Paul Miller (Associated Press) and Ms Inez Robb (International News Service).

        Military Passengers: Colonel MS White (ATC Surgeon General), Colonel Carl B Allen (aviation writer), Major James W Spear and Captain Philip R Warth (airport manager) and Quentin Porter (War Department photographer).

        The Globster returned six days later to the National Airport in Washington DC on October 4, 1945 after flying 23,279 miles in 149H 44M. A special cover, flown on the complete flight was autographed by each pilot on each relay leg of the flight. On the rear of this special cover are the autographs of the eight passengers making the complete circumnavigation.

AAM Trans-Ocean #1365

Departed Washington, DC		09/28/45	Pilot: Capt. John J. Ohlinger
   Bermuda			09/29/45	Pilot: Capt. Roderick R. Elliott
   Santa Maria, Azores		09/29/45	Pilot: 1st Lt. Robert W. Johnson
   Casablanca, Morocco		09/30/45	Pilot: Lt. Col. Paul M. Norman
   Tripoli, Libya		09/30/45	Pilot: Lt. Col. Paul M. Norman 
   Cairo, Egypt			09/30/45	Pilot: Maj. Thomas M. Scoggina III
   Abadan, Iran			09/30/45	Pilot: Maj. Thomas M. Scoggina III
   Karachi, Pakistan		10/01/45	Pilot: Maj. Thomas L. McKissock
   Calcutta, India		10/01/45	Pilot: Capt. Richard H. Drake
   Kunming, China		10/01/45	Pilot: Capt. Richard H. Drake
   Manila, Philippines		10/02/45	Pilot: Maj. James S. Sammon
   Guam				10/02/45	Pilot: Capt. Marion H. Click
        (Engine trouble necessitated return to Guam) 
   Kwajalein, Marshall Isl.	10/03/45	Pilot: 1st Lt. Joe L. Pakarovich
   Honolulu, HI			10/03/45	Pilot: Capt. Kenneth W. Healy
   San Francisco, CA		10/04/45	Pilot: Maj. James A. Worrell Jr.
Arrived Washington, DC		10/05/45 

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