21. The Ends Of The Earth
His destination was not really the Alaskan mainland though, he had another goal. He wanted to soar over the popular Aleutian Islands. This remote chain of 14 volcanic islands and 55 tiny isles are found west of Alaska, in the Bering Sea. When the weather unexpectedly turned, Smith found himself grounded for three weeks on the island of Adak, about 1,190 miles southwest of Anchorage.
22. Abandoned Islands
The previously mentioned Aleutian Islands are generally abandoned, and their isolated locale worked in Smith’s favor. He did not have permission to land anywhere in Russian territory and was concerned about how his little aircraft would make it from Alaska to Japan without running out of fuel. He decided to stop at Attu, another Aleutian Isle, roughly 500 miles from Adak. Then he would fly to Japan. What he did not know was that the only residents of Attu were huge rats.
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