The cartouche of this brilliantly designed artifact displays a Douglas DC-4, which American Airlines introduced into its passenger service just post WW2, c 1945. To celebrate the advancement of commercial flight, demonstrating political borders and distances to be meaningless to travel, this Globe was commissioned to be produced by Rand McNally. As a one time production run, this is a limited edition and due to it a very rare object. Even the construction is unusual. Rather than being constructed of two half pasteboard hemispheres, it contains an additional internal pasteboard orb for additional support. The brilliant design forgoes any display of land, which is instead represented by the alignment of airports world wide. The monochromic, one color design has a fantastic 1940s design feel to it. The black glass base was a typical simplistic product developed by Rand McNally during the WW2 era. Its simplistic, yet art deco oriented design is a splendid compliment to the design of the sphere. A perfect artifact to be added to the collection of Aviation history aficionados and discerning globe collectors alike.   Information on the DC 4 and partial history of American Airlines The Douglas DC-4 is a four-engine propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s in a military role. From 1945, many civil airlines operated it worldwide. The DC-4-C-54 proved a popular and reliable type, 1245 being built between May 1942 and August 1947, including 79 postwar DC-4s. Several remain in service as of 2014.   On the morning of April 15, 1926, a young aviator named Charles A. Lindbergh stowed a bag of mail in his little DH-4 biplane and took off from Chicago for St. Louis. Later that day, he and two other pilots flew three plane loads of mail from St. Louis to Chicago. At the time, Lindbergh was chief pilot of Robertson Aircraft Corporation of Missouri, which was the second aviation company to hold a U.S. airmail contract. It was one of scores of companies that eventually consolidated to form the modern-day American Airlines. The consolidation began in 1929, when The Aviation Corporation was formed to acquire young aviation companies, including Robertson. In 1930, The Aviation Corporation's airline subsidiaries were incorporated into American Airways, Inc. In 1934, American Airways became American Airlines, Inc. On June 25, 1936, American was the first airline to fly the Douglas DC-3 in commercial service. By the end of the decade, American was the nation's number one domestic air carrier in terms of revenue passenger miles. In 1944, American introduced the first domestic scheduled U.S. freight service with the DC-3. As the business grew, Douglas DC-4 (1945) , DC-6A (1947) and DC-7 freighters were put into service in the 1940s and 1950s. By 1949 American had become the only airline in the United States with a completely post-war fleet of pressurized passenger airplanes. REF: Wikipedia, MIT & American Airlines   Description: The sphere itself has a 12 inch diameter , consisting of two pressed pasteboard hemispheres and an additional internal orb for extra support. The globe is removable from its black glass sphere for closer view. The monochromic one color print consists of cities- airports, formed to represent land masses. Color of the orb itself is a yellow tan. Total height including base is about 13.75 inches.   Condition: Print is bold, paper has aged into a perfect yellow-tan vintage patina. Wrinkles and scuffing throughout, some loss of equatiorial band.The glass sphere is perfectly preserved, no cracks or chips.   Well packed, this artifact will ship domestic for $25.00, international $65.00 $650      SKU 1014RAIRGLOB45