The Long Way Round

Boeing 314

Great story about a flying boat that circled the world at the outbreak of WW2. Getting across the Pacific took some doing. The aircraft did not have the range to reach across the really long stretches, so they set up refueling stops at otherwise uninhabited islands.

Pan American flying to New Zealand used Kanton Island. Not much there.

The would send a schooner with fuel in advance of the flight. God forbid you made an error in navigation. Photo by Ken Barber 1944.

Canton Island. British base buildings in background.

The Long Way Round

Update February 2019. Clear Lake, California appears on the above map, but it isn't mentioned in the story. A quick check turns up this bit:

Clear Lake was used as an outlying seaplane base for Alameda Naval Air Station during World War II and the early years of the cold war. Flying boats could land on Clear Lake when landing conditions were unsafe on San Francisco Bay. - Wikipedia