January 19, 1956
AMERICAN FEAT: March Air Force Base, California, 18 – Three US Boeing B-52 Stratofortress heavy bombers have achieved an unprecedented feat by flying non-stop around the world, a distance of 29,147 kilometers on a flight that lasted 45 hours and 19 minutes. The three aircraft and a fourth that was forced to land in Britain a few hours into the flight, took off from March Air Force Base in California on Wednesday at 9 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time and landed again this evening at 6.19 p.m. GMT. They reduced by half the time taken in 1949 by a group of B-50s that circled the globe in 94 hours and 1 minute. The three bombers flow over Newfoundland, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, India, Ceylon, the Philippines and Guam. The gigantic aircraft undertook a bombing exercise off the coast of southern Malaysia about halfway around the world, in a show of the US Air Force’s ability to strike at any point on earth. Air force command refused to reveal the number of times or the positions of the aircraft’s refueling. Nevertheless, according to sources these took place over Saudi Arabia and near Guam. The formation was commanded by US Air Force General Archie J. Old Jr.
