Round-the-World Flights

Odom Solo Round-the World Flight

Page 3i (rev: 1000)

Flown Cover	Cachet	William P. Odom	Plane	Autographed Card

	Odom's earlier RTW flight in April 1947 with Tex Sallee and Milton Reynolds was not 
official as they did not apply to the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) before 
starting their flight.

	Odom was dissatisfied with the unofficial status of this flight and with his recent 
experience wanted to try it again.  He was determined to make a solo RTW flight without a 
co-pilot, navigator or mechanic. Reynolds who had vowed he would never make another RTW flight 
endorsed Odom's plan and lent him the "Bombshell" for his flight. 

	After an aborted first start, Odom began his solo RTW flight on August 7, 1947.  The first 
half of his flight was on auto-pilot (he called it "Little Willie").  As he progressed he was 
plagued by bad weather.  He lost his auto-pilot over Burma and flew hands-on to Tokyo. He fell 
asleep out of Anchorage and wasted fuel as he wandered off course.  He re-fueled in Fargo, ND 
and landed at Chicago's Douglas Airport on August 11, 1947.  He posted a flight time of 
73H 5M 11S having flown 19,645 miles RTW. 
	
	View some additional pix (copyright Elmer Johnson) taken before Odom's Chicago 
take-off (Pix-1), (Pix-2) & (Pix-3).

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