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Description
Comprising two photographs of nine-year old Shirley Temple and the three Russian fliers who made the first non-stop transpolar flight from Moscow to Southern California, July 12-14, 1937, along with three cards with little notes of admiration and autographs from those fliers, Mikhail Gromov (pilot), Andrei Yumashev (copilot) and Sergei Danilin (navigator) to Shirley Temple. The notes were written in both Russian and English language, the English noting "To a charming little girl and a great actress". Along with a card from Consantine Oumansky (charge d'affairs at the Russian embassy in Washington, and then from 1939-1941, Russian ambassador to the US), who noted "Together with our Trans-Polar Flighers [sic] I am enchanted by Shirley. You can really be proud of her", and with a ruble note. Of little attention today, that flight was extraordinary at the time, flying 7120 non-stop miles in 62 hours, a new flight record. The flight plan was designed to land in San Diego, but fog conditions caused its landing in a cow pasture in San Jacinto. The fliers were wildly celebrated including a ticker tape parade in Los Angeles, a visit with President Roosevelt, and, this, a meeting with Shirley Temple.