National Archives Launches New 'Inside the Vaults' Video Short

Video highlights "Magellans of the Sky"-- Army Airmen who were 1st to circle the globe

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Archives today launched its fourth "Inside the Vaults" video short featuring a group of eight Army airmen who set out in 1924 to be the first humans to circle the globe by air.  On their journey over Arctic mountain passes and vast Indian deserts, they would lose half their planes and set numerous records to become what were dubbed the "Magellans of the Sky" (named for Ferdinand Magellan, who led an expedition to circle the globe by sea in 1519).

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Prologue staff writer Rob Crotty describes their journey in the National Archives' 2:24 minute produced "Inside the Vaults" video short: http://tiny.cc/FLY  

More information on these daring men can be found in Crotty's "Magellans of the Sky" article in the Summer 2010 issue of Prologue magazine, the award-winning quarterly publication of the National Archives:  http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2010/summer/magellans.html

Background on "Inside the Vaults"

"Inside the Vaults" is part of the ongoing effort by the National Archives to make its collections, stories, and accomplishments more accessible to the public. "Inside the Vaults" gives voice to Archives staff and users, highlights new and exciting finds at the Archives, and reports on complicated and technical subjects in easily understandable presentations.  Earlier topics include the conservation of the original Declaration of Independence, the new Grace Tully collection of documents at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library, and the Federal Register 2.0 website.  The film series is free to view and distribute on our YouTube channel at http://tiny.cc/Vaults.

Created by a former broadcast network news producer, the "Inside the Vaults" video shorts series presents "behind the scenes" exclusives and offers surprising glimpses of the National Archives treasures.  These videos are in the public domain and not subject to any copyright restrictions.  The National Archives encourages the free distribution of them.

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SOURCE National Archives