Scheduled airline service from Seattle to the Far East begins on July 15, 1947.

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On July 15, 1947, scheduled airline service to the Far East from Seattle begins with the departure of a Northwest Airlines DC-4 from Boeing Field. The three-times-a-week flight serves Tokyo, Shanghai, and Manila from Boeing Field using the Great Circle route (heading northwest from Seattle rather than west) across the North Pacific Ocean.

Present at the inaugural ceremonies was Erik Nelson of Toppenish, Washington, a technical adviser for Scandinavian Air Service. In 1924, Nelson was one of the U.S. Army flyers who took off from Sand Point Naval Air Station on the world's first circumnavigation of the globe by airplane.

Sources:
The Seattle Times, July 15, 1947, p. 4.

By Dave Wilma, January 01, 2000

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First scheduled flight to Asia, Boeing Field, 1947
Courtesy MOHAI (P-I Collection)