At first I couldn't figure out what a Second Assistant Postmaster General was doing on a transatlantic press junket to London in late 1945. The New York Times said his name was Gail E. Sullivan, while the Boston Daily Globe had it as "Gael Sullivan." Perhaps Sullivan had to shout the spelling of his name to reporters to be heard over the drone of the Douglas DC-4's big radial engines as the unpressurized airplane cruised eastbound at 8,000 feet over the North Atlantic. The Second Assistant was one of 12 passengers on a VIP flight filled with wire-service correspondents, a radio reporter, airline top brass, and the governor of Massachusetts, the Honorable Maurice J. Tobin. There was also a crew of seven under Captain Charles C. Spencer, including the stewardess, Miss Dorothy Bohannon. But what was a Second Assistant Postmaster doing in this crowd? Then the penny dropped-stamp collectors. The Second Assistant Postmaster was flying to London for the day to oversee the postmarking of the thousands of first-flight covers packed into the DC-4's hold, each envelope declaring that it had been carried on the "First Commercial Land Plane Flight Overseas." And then it was straight home next day on the return flight, carrying a second set of covers with British stamps. Philatelists were thrilled.
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机译：起初，我无法弄清楚第二次助理邮政一般在1945年底在跨大西洋新闻局域网上做了什么。纽约时报表示，他的名字是盖尔E. Sullivan，而波士顿每日全球将其作为“盖尔沙利文。“也许沙利文不得不喊着他的名字拼写给记者，以听到道格拉斯DC-4的大径向发动机的无人机，因为未加压的飞机在北大西洋巡回北大西洋8,000英尺处巡航东行。第二次助理是12名乘客上的驾驶员之一，其中贵宾航班装满了电线服务信函，无线电记者，航空公司顶级黄铜和马萨诸塞州莫里斯·富通议员的州长。在Charles C. Spencer队长，包括空姐，多萝西小姐，也有一个七人。但是，在这群人中，第二次助理邮政局长是什么？然后是便士滴的邮票收藏家。第二次助理邮政局飞往伦敦的日子，监督数千名第一架封面的邮篮，纳入DC-4的举行，每个信封宣布它已在“海外第一张商业陆地飞行飞行中”。然后它在返回航班上直接回家，用英国邮票携带第二组盖子。百分之后兴奋不已。
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