GENERAL IRA C. EAKER - ENVELOPE SIGNED CIRCA 1979 - HFSID 315451

IRA C. EAKER
The National Aviation Hall of Fame member signs an envelope commemorating the Pan American Goodwill Flight of 1926-1927, on which he was a pilot.
Commemorative Envelope signed: "Ira C. Eaker/Lt Gen USAF (Ret)", 6½x3½. Envelope with typed caption honoring the "Pan American Goodwill Flight/Began in San Antonio, Texas/December 21, 1926", postmarked San Antonio Texas, December 21, 1979. Lt. General Ira C. Eaker (1896-1987) made the first transcontinental flight purely on instruments (1936). During WWII, he personally led the first U.S. B-17 bomber strike against German occupation forces in France, the bombing of Rouen, August 17, 1942. In June 1944, after being transferred to the Mediterranean, he flew the first bombing raid from Italy into Germany, landing in the Soviet Union after striking factory and oil installations and other military targets. In 1944, he was named Commander of the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces. In 1970, Eaker was enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame. The Pan American Goodwill Flight (1926-1927) involved five US Army Air Corps aircraft (Loening OA-1A Amphibians) which journeyed through Latin American nations to Buenos Aires, and back. The mission was a dangerous one, claiming one plane and the lives of its two crewmen. Only one plane, the San Francisco, piloted by Captain Ira Eaker, made the entire journey without any delay for repairs. Pencil note (unknown hand) on verso. Otherwise, fine condition.