195209 – Fahey – American Railway Signalling Practice

Departing for the United States of America from Mascot Airport, Sydney, on the morning of March 5th, 1952, by British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines’ DC6 airliner “Adventure,” brief stops were made en route on Canton Island; and after “crossing the Line,” Honolulu, in the territory of Hawaii, was reached about lunchtime the following day.

This was the first “port of call” in United States territory and after passing customs formalities, passengers were free for about eight hours to “take in the sights” of the Island of Oahu on which Honolulu is situated.

Leaving again that evening, the coastline of California was sighted early the next morning and a landing was made at the airport at San Francisco after 29 hours 5 minutes of actual flying time for the journey of over 6,000 miles.

Standing out in sharp contrast to the sea and land formation, a long thin black “line” was observed from the air when “circling” over San Francisco, and it was learned later that this was the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge which, with approaches, is 8½ miles in length.