Magellans

Four weary "air Magellans," burnt by the wind, lined by the sun, reached Seattle, their round-the-earth goal. There they endured their final ovation, with sirens shrieking, crowds cheering, orators expanding. Among the first to greet them was Major Martin, who commanded the flight at the start, 175 days before. Major General Charles G. Morton was there, representing President Coolidge and Secretary of War Weeks. He summarized in a few well-chosen words:

"The conquering by air for the first time in history of the hitherto uncharted air route over the Pacific Ocean by the perilous traversing of typhoon-swept areas of Japan and China; the pushing on through days of sweltering heat and tropical rains of Indo-China, Burma and India; and, after the comparative safety of Europe, the unflinching answering of the formidable challenge of the fog-encompassed and ice-locked stretches of the North Atlantic--these are facts that are dipped in an indelible dye, the nucleus of a story that will fire the imagination of old and young alike as long as appreciation of human accomplishment shall endure."

Four international records were established when the flyers completed their 27,000-mile flight: the crossing of the Pacific by plane; the crossing of the China Sea; the circling of the globe in a heavier-than-air machine; and a speed-mark for the same of 366 hours flying time. In the past year, aviators of four other nations attempted to circle the globe. They were:

P: Lieut. Locatelli, the Italian airman who came to grief off Ivigtut, Greenland, and was rescued by the U. S. cruiser Richmond.

P: Major Sarmento De Beires and two other Portuguese officers who flew from Lisbon to Macao (China), wrecking one plane, replacing it and landing the other in a cemetery whence they could not take off and where the machine was dismantled.

P: Major A. Stuart MacLaren and two other British soldiers who left Calshot, England, March 25, in one plane, put a new machine into service at Akyab, India, and wrecked the latter by hitting a heavy sea when trying to avoid a small island in alighting near Nikolski Bay off Kamtchatka on Aug. 3.

P: Major Pedro Zanni of Argentina who started at Amsterdam, July 26, and at last accounts was pushing his way through the Ordient, intending to follow the route of the Americans in the reverse direction.