Capt. James Gallagher, a 28-year-old Air Force pilot from Melrose, Minnesota, makes the world’s first non-stop around the world flight in 1949. Capt. Gallagher is a cousin of my husband.
Capt. Gallagher was the commander of a B-50 bomber called the “Lucky Lady II” as it made the world’s first non-stop around the world flight. On February 26, 1949, the “Lucky Lady II” took off from Caswell Air Force Base in Forth Worth, TX. A four-day plane trip averaging at about 249 miles per hour, the flight required mid-air refueling four times. Captain Gallagher is quoted from a press conference as saying that this endeavor proved that now “you could go anywhere you want.”
To read the article in full from the Salt Lake City, Utah Tribune, the link is below.
http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FlashViewer/FreeArticles.aspx?img=94776108&sterm=James Gallagher
