Pan American Airways 50th Anniversary Flight - Over North & South Poles

Description

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, Pan American World Airways flew an attention-getting round-the-world mission that went over both the North and South Poles.
It was flown in four legs: San Francisco-London via the North Pole; London-Cape Town; Cape Town- Auckland via the South Pole; and Auckland-San Francisco. Total elapsed time was 54 hours, 7 minutes.
Speed records were broken on each of the four legs.
The aircraft was the 747SP “Clipper New Horizons.” Pilots on the first leg were Capt. Walter H. Mullikin, chief pilot, Capt. Albert Frink, and First Officer Stewart W. Beckett. Relief crews flew the subsequent legs.
This cover
was carried on the October 28-30, 1977 anniversary flight from San Francisco, California to San Francisco, California
.