I just toured the National Air & Space Museum in Washington and spent a lot of time with the exhibits on the development of aviation from 1903 through today. There’s a great exhibit on the development of navigation together with the aircraft. It was an amazing period of tech progress, bold executive leadership, great airmen (and women) and the formation of huge companies. I really enjoyed the exhibit about the Lindberghs and especially learning about Anne Morrow Lindbergh.
I had no idea that the Pan Am created “Plan A” to prevent their Clippers from falling into enemy hands. What this crew did to bring their aircraft home WESTWARD from Caledonia is astonishing.
Would you know? Did the plane continue on to Khartoum and then to Leopoldville in the Belgian Congo? That flight also went around the world, and had a terrifying takeoff on both the Nile and Congo rivers.