On Feb 26, 1949 Lucky Lady, a Boeing B-50 Superfortress bomber, piloted by
Melrose native Captain James Gallagher, took off from Carswell Air Force
Base, Forth Worth, TX. It carried a large cargo of food, bedding, and
toiletries for the 14 crewmen who would take the plane on its 4-day trip.
The only thing Lucky Lady couldn’t carry was enough fuel to keep it
airborne for the whole trip. It was refueled in mid-air several times,
with highly flammable high octane fuel. Total air time was 78 hours 54
minutes; average 249 miles per hour.
When the news broke of this first successful non-stop
circumnavigation of the globe, it made the front page of the Minneapolis
Tribune, which also ran a series of comic strips about the adventure.
The celebration of Capt. Gallagher’s triumph started with a caravan of
cars which left Minneapolis on May 20, (coincidentally the 22nd
year of Lindbergh’s landing in Paris. Bands accompanied it through St.
Cloud.
When the caravan arrived in Melrose, it joined a 40 unit parade. The
28 year old Gallagher, his wife, Mary, and baby daughter, Kathleen rode
in an open car a F-882 fighter planes did acrobatics overhead. Governor
Luther Youngdahl and famed radio commentator Cedric Adams led the
ceremonies at the Legion Park.
Gallagher retired from the Air Force in 1972 as Vice Wing Commander.
In 1984 he received the Jimmy Doolittle Award from the Air Force for
his flight. He died in Washington DC on Feb. 24, 1985.
Aviation
Milestones
