This is an antique Japanese ashtray commemorating the Eurasia crossing flight of the aircraft named Kamikaze (not to be confused with the later suicide planes) in 1937. This flight was sponsored by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, and was the first Japanese aircraft to fly from Japan to Europe. It took 51 hours to complete and made stops along the way. The ashtray is decorated with a plane flying with the words "Kamikaze" on the body of the plane. The map behind has the stops - Tokyo, Taipei, Hanoi, Rangoon, Calcutta, Karachi, Basra, Baghdad, Athens, Rome, Paris, and London. The words on the ashtray are "Eurasia Record Flight Completion Commemoration" and "15000 km long journey" "Total time needed 94 hours 17th minutes and 56 seconds" - probably including rest time and refueling.

The two pilots were army trained, and both died during WW2, one in Phnom Penh in an accident on the runway four days after Pearl Harbor, and one as a test pilot leaving Singapore in 1943.

Condition: Mint

Size: 4" tall x 3.75" across