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BOAC withdrew its Takoradi to Cairo service.
6 December Pan-Am first flight Miami [USA] - San Juan [Puerto Rico] - Port of Spain [Trinidad] - Belem
[Brazil] - Natal [Brazil] - Bathurst - Monrovia [Liberia] - Lagos - Leopoldville in six days.
7 December Pearl Harbour attacked.
8 December USA and UK declared war on Japan.
13 December Pan-Am first return flight arriving Miami 16 December. No stop made at Bathurst.
30 December Pan-Am second return flight which did call at Bathurst. Arrived Miami 8 January 1942.

December By end December Pan-Am were operating five flights a week Takoradi - Accra - Lagos -
Kano [Nigeria] - Maiduguri [Nigeria] - Geneina [Sudan] - El Fasher [Sudan] - Khartoum.

Late 1941 SABENA opened an additional route Gold Coast - Lagos - Cairo.

1942

2 January Gold Coast mails despatched to Lagos to pick up third Pam-Am return flight to Miami.
2 February Mails addressed to Bathurst from Leopoldville and Lagos on first Pan-Am flight, arrived at
Bathurst on 2 February having been taken to Miami and sent back on next eastward flight.
14 February BOAC Cairo to Juba service suspended. Subsequently SABENA extended its Takoradi to
Juba service to Cairo and Khartoum alternative weeks ie one week Takoradi to Cairo and
Takoradi to Khartoum the next.
28 February Capetown [South Africa] - Bathurst - Miami recorded by Muller (Ref. 3). Uncertain whether
it was PAA or BOAC.

30 April BOAC Takoradi to Khartoum service replaced by a twice weekly Lagos to Cairo (4 May)
service and a weekly Takoradi to Cairo (9 May) service.

1 May Miami - Natal - Ascension - Accra service by Air Transport Command.

15 July Military flight Pointe Noire - Accra - Cotonou [Dahomey].

18 July BOAC Short S26 G Class flying boats Golden Hind and Golden Horn introduced on UK to
West Africa services.

2 August BOAC opened an additional Asmara [Eritrea] - Khartoum - Lagos service with nine flights
per month.
14 September Flying boat Clare crashed shortly after taking off from Bathurst.

October SABENA service Leopoldville - Pointe Noire - Libreville - Douala - Lagos recorded by
Muller (Ref. 4).
20 October to Covers posted between these dates from West Africa to UK at the is 3d airmail rate were
4 November probably carried by the flying boat Guba. See The Guba Story (Ref. 5).
3 November SABENA's Takoradi to Cairo service also called at Entebbe [Uganda] to connect with the
BOAC Horseshoe Route.
8 November The advance of Allied troops from El Alamein in North Africa meant that BOAC was
required to ferry men and materials. Cairo to Lagos and Cairo to Takoradi services were
temporarily suspended.
26 November SABENA Khartoum to Takoradi service terminated at Lagos. A new Lagos to Leopoldville
service was introduced.

Abbreviations

BOAC Pan-Am Pan-American Airways (Africa)
British Overseas Airways Corporation
SABENA Societe Anonyme Belge d'Exploitation ECA
Elders Colonial Airways
de la Navigation Aerienne
References

1. Martin J.J., "West African Airmail First Flights", Cameo, Vol 6 pp194-5 & 228-9, WASC, July 1999 & Jan 2000
2. Muller F., Catalogue des Aerogrammes du Monde Entier 1950, p178, Re-edition de la FISA 1970
3. Muller F., Catalogue des Aerogrammes du Monde Entier 1950, p86, Re-edition de la FISA 1970
4. Muller F., Catalogue des Aerogrammes du Monde Entier 1950, p175, Re-edition de la FISA 1970
5. Wilson J., The Guba Story, Author 1990