Nippon (aircraft)

Nippon (ニッポン) was a converted Mitsubishi G3M2 Model 21 bomber operated by the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper and used to make a round-the-world flight in 1939.

The round the World flight
Nippon took off from Haneda airport in the district of Kamata in Tokyo on 25 August 1939, flew around the globe and returned to Tokyo, after 55 days, on 20 October 1939 having flown 52886 km in 194 flying hours.

The aircraft
Nippon had the armament removed, was equipped with the latest autopilot and could carry 5,200 L of fuel enabling it to fly continuously for 24 hours.

Flight course
Tokyo - Chitose - Nome, Alaska - Fairbanks, USA - Whitehorse - Seattle - Oakland, USA - Los Angeles - Albuquerque, USA - Chicago - New York - Washington D.C - Miami - San Salvador, El Salvador - Cali, Colombia - Lima - Arica - Santiago - Buenos Aires - Santos (Brazil) - Dakar - Casablanca Morocco - Seville, Spain - Rhodos, Greece - Basra (Iraq) - Karachi - Kolkata, India - Bangkok - Taipei - Haneda, Tokyo

Occupants
There were seven occupants in total.
 * Captain : Sumitoshi NAKAO 中尾純利
 * Flight engineer : Hajime SHIMOKAWA 下川一
 * Communication operator : Nobusada SATO 佐藤信貞
 * Pilot : Shigeo YOSHIDA 吉田重雄
 * Professional Engineer : Hiroshi SAEKI 佐伯弘
 * Flight engineer : Nagasaku YAOKAWA 八尾川長作
 * Ambassador of goodwill: Takeo OHARA 大原武夫, Aerial director of Mainichi Shimbun.