It’s easier and safer to make that flight if you can stop somewhere in the Russian far far east. Most people these days take the southern route through Hawaii,

It’s easier and safer to make that flight if you can stop somewhere in the Russian far far east. Most people these days take the southern route through Hawaii, but the problem is that Hawaii-California is about 2300 miles, and not that many planes of the day could do that. The other option is through the Aeutians, but they famously have some of the worst weather in the world and there aren’t that many places to land. Especially back then when weather reports were terrible and radionavigation wasn’t that accurate, it was extremely chancy to fly somewhere like that without a big fuel reserve, ideally enough to get back to your origin if the weather at the destination turned out to be unlandable. Stopping in the Russian far east gives you a shorter leg to the Aelutians.