REYNOLDS BACK

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25161, 17 April 1947, Page 7

REYNOLDS BACK

RECORD BROKEN BY 11 HOURS

(Rec. 11.20 p.m.) NEW YORK, April 18. Mr Milton Reynolds’s aeroplane landed at La Guardia airport, breaking the record by 11 hours 19 minutes. A crowd of 2000 broke through the police lines to the airmen, who were met by Customs officials and health authorities, who planned to vaccinate them against smallpox. Municipal officials welcomed them on behalf of New York City. Nobody has made a world flight under the conditions specified by the International Air Federation. The fastest unofficial round-the-world flight previously was that by Mr Howard /Hughes, in July, 1938, who flew over 14.824 miles in 91 hours 14 minutes. Hughes flew over European Russian and Siberia, but the Soviet Union declined to permit Reynolds to use a similar route, explaining that Russia’s reconstruction problems wbre so great that no technicians were available to service the flight. “I wouldn’t make the same trip for 109,000,000 dollars,” said Reynolds after landing. Odom (the pilot) is a great guy, but I had a hard time keeping him awake, .even for the landing in New York. He had only half an hour’s petrol supply left, and I was worried. The ‘Bombshell’ ran into real trouble for the first time when she battled ice and fog between Minneapolis and Detroit.” Asked why he had made the trip, Reynolds said that he just wanted to set a record.

No official time was made of the landing.