Misawa Sister City

The people of Misawa, Aomori Prefecture, Japan were very kind and helpful to Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon, Jr. as the American pilots prepared for their historic nonstop flight across the Pacific Ocean. The pilots had chosen Misawa’s Sabishiro Beach for their takeoff spot because of its location (in the northeastern corner of Japan’s main island, Honshu) and because it offered a natural runway. The beach had a firm clay-sand surface and was almost completely flat, providing an uninterrupted straight line of 2000 meters (6,500 feet) for takeoff. It had been used in several previous trans-Pacific attempts.

Misawa residents cooked meals for Pangborn and Herndon and invited them to stay in their homes. They lent them tools and worked hard to prepare the runway, adjusting wooden boards across the upper part and packing down the sand toward the ocean. The record-setting flight was a success.  Miss Veedol belly-landed safely at Fancher Field in Wenatchee, Washington (now East Wenatchee) on October 5, 1931, after 41 hours and 13 minutes, and Misawa’s contribution was gratefully noted. 

In 1981, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the historic flight, dignitaries from Misawa, Wenatchee and East Wenatchee enacted a sister-city agreement. Misawa’s mayor came to Wenatchee for the Apple Blossom Festival, and a delegation of 16 from Wenatchee-East Wenatchee flew to Misawa later that year. Annual visits have been exchanged ever since. Members of each delegation are welcomed into host homes, participate in their sister city’s festival parades, and enjoy a bond of friendship forged by the world’s first nonstop trans-Pacific flight in 1931.

Voortex Production’s 26-minute video celebrates the contributions of the people of Misawa to the 1931 flight and the cities’ continued efforts in maintaining the “Bridge of Friendship.” Misawa celebrates the historic flight and the sister city relationship, and maintains its own website.