Round-the-World Flights


First Air Mail Cover forwarded for RTW journey via Pan Am's Yankee Clipper



Page 2gg (rev: 1000)

Flown Cover Chicago Cancel Remkersleben,Germany Calcutta BackStamp Hong Kong BackStamp
Pix #1 Pix #2 Pix #3 Pix #4 Pix #5

	During the spring of 1939 a number of countries were competing for the honor 
of establishing the first regular air service across the Atlantic Ocean linking the 
new world with the old.  Pan American's fleet of Martins M-130 flying boat Clippers 
were aging and becoming extremely expensive to maintain.  Delivery of the new Boeing 
B-314 flying boat Clippers began in January 1939.  The "Yankee Clipper" was christened 
by Mrs Franklin D. Roosevelt on March 3, 1939 at an impressive ceremony at the 
Anacostia Naval Air Station in Washington DC.  This flying boat was symbolic of the 
new age of easy, fast long-range travel and vividly captured the public imagination.  
	On March 26, 1939 the "Yankee Clipper" piloted by Harold Gray left Baltimore 
for a survey flight to Southampton, England via the "Southern route."  The 
round-trip flight was a total success with the "Yankee Clipper" returning to 
Baltimore on April 19th.  Pan Am announced it would inaugurate transatlantic 
mail air service on May 20, 1939.  
	Who would be the first to send mail to be carried on this inaugural transatlantic 
flight?  On April 25, 1939 Charles Broad Jr sent an air mail cover from Chicago to 
New York on TWA to be held in anticipation of the announced Pan Am first flight.  
This air mail cover was not only carried on the "Yankee Clipper" on the "Southern Route" 
air service on May 20, 1939 but was further carried round-the-world before it was 
returned to Broad in Chicago.

Cover Itinerary:

Departed Chicago, IL                                04/25/39
   Remkersleben, Germany                            04/26/39
   Calcutta, India                                  05/22/39
   Hong Kong                                        05/28/39
   San Francisco, CA                                06/xx/39
Arrived Chicago, IL                                 06/xx/39


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