An Amazing Odyssey: A Congressman’s Solo Flight Around the World

In 1951, Peter F. Mack Jr., a 34-year-old U.S. congressman from rural Illinois, made an extraordinary journey for peace. He borrowed a single-engine airplane from the Smithsonian, rechristened it the Friendship Flame, and flew it around the world alone on a self-funded, self-directed goodwill mission. Along the way, without aides or security, he met ordinary citizens and dignitaries and extended his hand in friendship and became the first person to fly across the Pacific Ocean alone.

Aviation historian Paul Glenshaw offers a fascinating snapshot of a troubled globe in the aftermath of World War II and the start of the Cold War as he uses original images, film, news reports, and audio recordings made during Mack’s epic odyssey to tell this inspiring story.

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