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#MIS - 5 - Postal Air Letter Sheet Commemorating the Global Flight of the Atlas Sky Merchant - 1948 - $45.00 On January 13, 1948, a Douglas DC-4 took off from Miami, Florida on a remarkable round-the-world flight that ended on April 15th of that year, when the plane landed in New York, NY, 100-days and 44,500 miles later! Stops were made at 31 cities, spanning every continent! The flight was commemorated by the placing of cancels at each of the stops on a 10¢ United States P.O. air letter sheet (Scott Catalog # UC-16). The purpose of the trip was 2-fold. It was a goodwill trip for Standard Oil of New Jersey, the plane being named the Atlas Sky Merchant. Atlas was one of the trade names of the company. It was also a fund-raising enterprise, for 5000 specially printed copies of the air letter sheet had been prepared in advance, and each was canceled at each of those 31 stops. These were then to be awarded to donors to the Damon Runyon Memorial Cancer Fund. On these particular sheets are the words “Sky Merchant World Flight - January 13 - April 15, 1948” on the flap, and “Atlas Supply Company - Tires, Batteries, Accessories - 744 Broad Street - Newark, New Jersey” in the return address area. Further, there are hand stamps reading “American Air Mail Society, Atlas Sky Merchant Cover Committee, Damon Runyon Memorial Cancer Fund, RKO Building --- Room 2005, New York 20, N.Y.” in the extreme LL corner... and “Atlas Sky Merchant completes Global Air Tour - 100 days, 44,500 miles - New York, NY - April 15, 1948” in green at the bottom center. The overall effect is really spectacular. With this air letter sheet, we will include several pieces of provenance, including a color photocopy of our 8” x 10” original of the Atlas Sky Merchant. There are also other items, including the names of the pilots, E.M. Harvey and L.J. VanMansaart; Pilot Advisor, Col. Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Sr. (father of Col. “Buzz” Aldrin, astronaut, and second man to walk on the moon!)...and Foreign Pilot Advisor, Ivan W. Smirnoff, formerly a key pilot for KLM (Dutch airlines). The condition of the air letter sheet is VeryGood, with a bit of wrinkling of the flap, two small chips at the LL corner, and a few small closed tears and creases at the right edge. The longest of these is 3/8”, the balance all being 1/8” or less. Otherwise this item is crisp, clean, bright and complete!