Pearl Harbor forced first around-the-world commercial flight

"He flew without any sudden course corrections and landed the flying boat in the harbor. Ford then noticed a small tender with a furiously waving boatman, who shouted that the plane had landed in a minefield."

Pucker Factor 100.

Amazingly, this article never mentioned the thrilling book "The Long Way Home" by Ed Dover, which recounts how Captain Ford and his Pan American clipper got trapped by the events and how he solved the myriad problems he encountered in this magnificent true story.

What an extraordinary story of the exploits of aviators caught up in a world at war,trying to get home.

There's also a great long-form article about it here
https://medium.com/s/story/the-long-way-round-the-plane-that-accidentally-circumnavigated-the-world-c04ca734c6bb

Sadly, not an original & complete Boeing 314 exists today, only a mock up replica in Ireland. I did a Senior Adult Lifelong Learning class on this last Summer.

When they finally broke radio silence, the Pan-AM radio operator in NY was shocked to hear a clipper approaching from the East when none was expected. I believe it had to circle out in the Atlantic for several hours until sunrise provided light for a safe landing in the harbor.

Who was the most important person in the cockpit of that huge flying boat? Here's a hint. The navigators table was 8 feet long. LOL

Awesome story.

I doubt few today could accomplish such, especially with the reliance everyone has on GPS.

Tremendous feat. I wonder how many modern flight crews could do the same today with basically just a compass, sextant, and world map from a library.

A short video here :
https://youtu.be/hW03fbBHDNI

And remember the graet circle routes abross the pacific from SFO ? wher the longest leg was about 2100 nautical miles

Damn PaywaLL!

Learn something amazing every day.
My heart goes out to the pilot and crew of this unscheduled journey.
Now to find the book.

A day that will live in infamy for other reasons, too, I see. Thank you for educating.

Merece que los estudios filmográficos hagan una pelicula, el hombre fue un heroe y en la actualidad la gente necesita de ejemplos de valor cuando el cine sólo ofrece fantasias.

WOW!!