It’s a long read, but there’s a fascinating travel tale at medium.com/...
“What’s up Gene?!” Asked Rod Brown the plane’s Second Officer, who’d been close enough to witness the radioman’s reaction and now moved to his side.
“The Japs have attacked Pearl Harbour!”
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
“No! No!” Leach insisted, “Just now… they bombed Pearl Harbour! No joke man!”
Seeing the expression of horror on Leach’s face soon dispelled any doubt in Brown’s mind. And then the reality of what this meant hit him: if the Pacific was no longer a friendly sea then they were cut off. They had no route home.
Pan Am’s California Clipper was now on the wrong side of the Pacific. This is their epic journey back to the States: The Long Way Round: The Plane that Accidentally Circumnavigated the World.