George W. Truman and Clifford Vassar Evans, both Air Force Reserve officers were instructing GI
students in flight training at College Park Airport near Washington DC. While watching a Piper Cub
taxi by, someone lamented, "With enough gas that plane could go round-the-world." A spark of an
idea ignited the combustible mixture in both Truman and Evans' minds.
Since George and Cliff were of modest means, they solicited two used Piper PA-12 Super Cruisers
and modified them removing the rear seat adding two 50 gallon fuel tanks, changed the wood props for
metal ones and added some extra instrumentation and radio equipment. They now had planes with a range
of 27 hours and 2,600 miles. George had grown up in Los Angeles CA so he chose to name his plane,
"City of the Angels." Cliff was a forth generation Washingtonian so he chose the name, "City of
Washington."
On August 9,1947, Evans in the "City of Washington" and Truman in the companion ship, "City of
the Angels," left Teterboro, New Jersey. With few exceptions, they flew within sight of each other
as they proceeded in an easterly direction round-the-world. Their flight took just over 4 months and
covered 25,162 miles. Weather was their biggest problem, causing them to sit out many days on the
ground. They returned to Teterboro on December 10, 1947. Truman landed first to make "The City of
Angels" the first light plane to circle round-the-world. The only mishap on their journey was a
damaged tail wheel on one of the landings. Enroute, flags of each visited nation were hand-painted on
the left fuselages and 53 of their 55 stops were painted onto the right side of the fuselages.
On December 16, 1947 they received a heroes' welcome in Washington DC and were greeted by
President Harry Truman.
Itinerary:
Departed Teterboro, NJ 08/09/47
Presque Isle, Maine
Newfoundland
Labrador
Greenland
Iceland
Ireland
London, England
Europe (several stops)
Rome, Italy
Cairo, Egypt
Baghdad, Iraq
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
Iran
Jodhpur, India
Akyab, Burma
Rangoon, Burma
Bangkok,Thailand
Hanoi, North Viet Nam
Hong Kong
Amoy, China
Shanghai, China
Japan (escorted across the north Pacific by a USAF B-17)
Aleutians
Anchorage, Alaska
Lethbridge. Alberta
Los Angeles, CA
8 stops across the US
Arrrived Teterboro, NJ 12/10/47