Los Banos Rotary Club History
Captain Stevens Tells Of Globe Circling Trip

Members of the Rotary Club got an exceptionally interesting first-hand report of the round-the-world flight of three B-52 bombers Tuesday from one of the participants of the epoch-setting hurdle through space.
The speaker was Captain Mike Stevens, navigator assigned to the B-52 bomber Lonesome George, based at Castle Air Base with the 327th Bombardment group. Recalling highlights of his 45 hours and 19 minute stay in the air, the Captain traced the route of the flight northeastward from Castle over Canada, Newfoundland and across the Atlantic, over Africa and the Sahara desert, sweeping along within 50 miles of Egypt at a 600 mile an hour clip, over the Arabian Sea, across the Malayan peninsula, Indo-China, over the Philippines, Guam and hence homeward in a straight line that brought them in over Point Reyes, and to an unscheduled landing and Parks Air Base rather than their intended home base at Merced, due to bad weather at home.
Captain Stevens said that orders for the journey came from Washington, D.C., only 48 hours before take-off time, and was probably scheduled on orders of President Eisenhower for the dual purpose of proving the capability of the B-52s and to demonstrate to the world that the United States has the power and ability to deliver a mass bombing attack any place in the world.
Of the five planes that took off from Castle Base one was forced out of the flight over eastern Canada because of re-fueling trouble, another by plan, turned off over Africa and went to England, the remaining three continued around the world. Mostly they flew at an altitude of 50,000 feet, coming down somewhat only during re-fueling operations.
Captain Stevens was introduced to the club by program chairman Mike Dambrosio.
February 1, 1957

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