A better photo of the Daily Express, taken in England during its transatlantic return flight. Interestingly pilot Dick Merrill preferred Ainsdale Beach near Southport over any British runway for the heavy westbound take-off, as he had done flying NR13770 the previous year. Photo from: Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)

Australian polar explorer and pilot Hubert Wilkins took part in the search for the famous Soviet pilot Sigizmund Levanevsky, who disappeared over the Bering Strait in URSS-N209 on 13 August 1937. The search continued while the Alaskan coastal waters froze and to replace his Catalina URSS-L2, Wilkins bought this long-range Electra, formerly NR16059. While the terrain looks barren, the aircraft is still in New York here, but Wilkins covered a vast area in Arctic winter conditions before the search was given up in March 1938. The Electra was then flown to Moscow for evaluation. The registration was reapplied as CCCP-N214 with a H-shaped Cyrillic N. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

In May 1937 Dick Merrill and Jack Lambie made a fast transatlantic return trip in this long-range L-10E Electra, to get high-quality photographs of King George VI's coronation to the USA as quickly as possible. This photo was taken a few days later. The first owner of this L-10 was Harold Vanderbilt. It later became USSR-N214. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution