The Pharaoh Rameses the Great had a passport

Who knew?

This goes back to the 1970s, when a French museum wanted to run a CAT scan on the mummy.  Egypt, recalling decades of looting by European powers seemed to think that issuing a passport to the mummy might make it easier to get him back:

It was his poor condition that prompted Egyptian authorities to seek help preserving him in the mid-1970s. They found their experts in France and reluctantly decided to transport the 3,000-year-old mummy to Paris.

In order to leave the country, however, even a three-millennia-old king has to follow the rules. Egypt required anyone leaving the country, living or dead, to have the proper papers. Ramses II was issued a passport. Seemingly the first mummy to receive one, Ramses had his occupation listed as “King (deceased).” The government didn’t want him to get a passport for publicity, but believed it would afford them legal protections to ensure his safe return. Countless artifacts and mummies have been plundered and stolen from Egypt, and museums in Europe didn’t always respect Egyptian claims.

Like I said, who knew?

The Pan Am Clipper that flew around the world after Pearl Harbor

This is one heck of a flying story:

LAGUARDIA TOWER LAGUARDIA TOWER. THIS IS PAN AMERICAN CLIPPER NC18602 INBOUND FROM AUCKLAND NEW ZEALAND. DUE TO ARRIVE PAN AMERICAN MARINE TERMINAL LAGUARDIA IN SEVEN MINUTES. OVER.

It left San Francisco on 1 December 1941 bound for Auckland, NZ.  They were two days out from Hawaii when they heard of the Japanese attack, and the Pacific route back from New Zealand was closed.  Instead, they flew across Australia, Java,  Ceylon, Africa, Brazil and up to New York the "long way around".

Along the way they pushed the airframe far beyond what it was designed for.  The crew adapted to the problems, they avoided being shot down over Java or crashing on takeoff from the Nile.  Giants strode the Earth in those days.