First aerial circumnavigation
The first aerial circumnavigation of the world was completed in 1924 by four aviators from an eight-man team of the United States Army Air Service, the precursor of the United States Air Force. The 175-day journey covered over 26,345 miles (42,398 km). The team generally traveled east to west, around the northern-Pacific Rim, through to South Asia and Europe and back to the United States. Airmen Lowell H. Smith and Leslie P. Arnold, and Erik H. Nelson and John Harding Jr. made the trip in two single-engined open-cockpit Douglas World Cruisers (DWC) configured as floatplanes for most of the journey. Four more flyers in two additional DWC began the journey but their aircraft crashed or were forced down. All airmen survived.
In the early 1920s several countries were vying to be the first to fly around the world. The British had made one unsuccessful around-the-world air flight attempt in 1922. The following year, a French team had tried; the Italians, Portuguese, and British also announced plans for a world-circling flight.
The War Department instructed the Air Service to look at both the Fokker T-2 transport and the Davis-Douglas Cloudster to see if either would be suitable and to acquire examples for testing.[N 1] Although deemed satisfactory, the planning group considered other U.S. Air Service military aircraft both in service and production, with a view that a dedicated design that could be fitted with interchangeable landing gear, wheeled and pontoons for water landings, would be preferable.[5]
When the head of Davis-Douglas,
Douglas, assisted by Jack Northrop,[8] began to modify a DT-2 to suit the circumnavigation requirements.[5] The main modification involved its fuel capacity.[9] All the internal bomb carrying structures were removed with additional fuel tanks added to the wings and fuselage fuel tanks enlarged in the aircraft. The total fuel capacity went from 115 gallons (435 liters) to 644 gallons (2,438 liters).[5]
Lt. Nelson took the Douglas proposal to
The aircraft were equipped with no radios[2]: 253 [13] nor avionics of any sort, leaving their crew to rely entirely on their dead reckoning skills to navigate throughout the venture.
Douglas World Cruiser aircraft and crew
- Seattle (No. 1): Maj. Frederick L. Martin (1882–1956), pilot and flight commander, and SSgt. Alva L. Harvey (1900–1992), flight mechanic (failed to circumnavigate)
- Chicago (No. 2): Lt. Lowell H. Smith (1892–1945), pilot, subsequent flight commander, and 1st Lt. Leslie P. Arnold (1893–1961), co-pilot
- Boston (No. 3)/Boston II (prototype): 1st Lt. Leigh P. Wade (1897–1991), pilot, and SSgt. Henry H. Ogden (1900–1986), flight mechanic (failed to circumnavigate)
- New Orleans (No. 4): Lt. Erik H. Nelson (1888–1970), pilot, and Lt. John Harding Jr. (1896–1968), co-pilot[6][2]: 43
The pilots trained in meteorology and navigation at Langley Field in Virginia, where they also practiced in the prototype. From February to March 1924, the crews practiced on the production aircraft at the Douglas facility in
: 10–12Four aircraft, Seattle, Chicago, Boston, and New Orleans, left
On 6 April 1924,
The three remaining aircraft continued, with Chicago, flown by Smith and Arnold, assuming the lead. : 100
On 25 May, whilst in Tokyo, the team received a cable reporting "
The aircraft continued relatively uneventfully via Korea and down the coast of China to French Indochina (now Vietnam). After leaving Haiphong in the Gulf of Tonkin, the Chicago's engine broke a connecting rod and it was forced to land in a lagoon near Huế. The aircraft was considered a novelty in this region of the world and missionary priests supplied the pilots with food and wine while locals climbed aboard its pontoons. The other flyers, who had continued on to Tourane (Da Nang), searched for the Chicago by boat and found the crew sitting on the wing in the early morning hours. Three paddle-powered sampans with local crews towed the aircraft for 10 hours, and 25 miles (40 km), to Huế, where the engine was replaced with a spare urgently shipped up from Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City):[2]: 167–74 "[T]he fastest – and undoubtedly the first – engine change that had ever been made in Indochina."[19]
The flight continued through
After carrying out the major operation of exchanging the Cruisers' floats for wheeled undercarriage at
They then proceeded into the Middle East and then Europe.[7] The flight arrived in Paris on Bastille Day, 14 July. From Paris the aircraft flew to London and on to the north of England in order to prepare for the Atlantic Ocean crossing by re-installing pontoons and changing engines.[15][2]: 247
On 3 August 1924, en route from the Orkney Islands to Iceland, an oil pump failure forced the Boston down onto an uninviting sea less than halfway to the Faroes. The accompanying Chicago flew on to the Faroes where it dropped a note onto the supporting U.S. Navy light cruiser USS Richmond about the troubled aircraft.[19] The crew having been rescued unhurt, the Boston, then on tow, capsized and sank shortly before reaching the Faroes.[2]: 255–63 The Chicago and New Orleans had flown on to Hornafjörður, Iceland, the most northerly point of the circumnavigation (65 deg N).
After a long stay in
On 31 August, they reached
The trip had taken 363 flying hours 7 minutes, over 175 calendar days, and covered 26,345 miles (42,398 km),[2]: 315 [1] succeeding where the British, Portuguese,[23] French, Italians and Argentinians failed. The Douglas Aircraft Company adopted the motto, "First Around the World – First the World Around".[N 4] The American team had greatly increased their chances of success by using several aircraft and pre-positioning large caches of fuel, spare parts, and other support equipment along the route. They often had several US Navy destroyers deployed in support.[2]: 149, 154 At prearranged way points, the World Flight's aircraft had their engines changed five times and new wings fitted twice.[7]
Itinerary
The flight traveled from east to west, beginning in Seattle, Washington, in April 1924 and returning to its start point in September. It flew northwest to Alaska; across northern Pacific islands to Japan and then south Asia; across to Europe and the Atlantic Ocean. The route's most southerly point was Saigon in Vietnam[2]: 175 (10° N), while the northernmost stop was in Reykjavík, Iceland at 64°08' N. The refueling stops were:[2]: xxii
- United States: Sand Point, Lake Washington, Seattle, Washington 6 April 1924
- Canada: Seal Cove, Prince Rupert, British Columbia
- Alaska: Sitka, Seward and Chignik
- Aleutian Islands: Dutch Harbor, Atka and Attu
- Soviet Union: Bering Island
- Japan: Paramushiru, Hitokappu, Minato, Lake Kasumigaura, Kushimoto and Kagoshima
- China: Shanghai, Tchinkoen (Qingchuan) Bay, Amoy (Xiamen)
- Hong Kong
- French Indochina (Vietnam): Gulf of Tonkin (Haiphong), Tourane (Da Nang), Huế (Chicago only), and Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)
- Thailand: Bangkok
- Rangoon and Akyab (Sittwe)
- Raj India: Chittagong, Calcutta, Allahabad, Ambala, Multan, Karachi
- Persia: Chabahar, Bandar Abbas and Bushehr
- Iraq: Baghdad
- Syria: Aleppo
- Turkey: Istanbul
- Romania: Bucharest
- Hungary: Budapest
- Austria: Vienna
- France: Strasbourg and Paris
- United Kingdom: Croydon (London); Brough (Yorkshire); Scapa Flow (Kirkwall, Orkney)
- Iceland: Hornafjörður and Reykjavík
- Greenland: Fredricksdal and Ivigtut (Ivittuut)
- Newfoundland and Labrador: Icy Tickle and Hawkes Bay
- Canada: Pictou Harbor, Nova Scotia
- United States: Casco Bay, Maine; Boston, Massachusetts; Mitchell Field, New York; Bolling Field, Washington, D.C. Across the U.S. – 14 cities in nine states; and Seattle, Washington: 28 September 1924[2]
Subsequent disposition of equipment and crew
At the request of the Smithsonian Institution, the U.S. War Department transferred ownership of the Chicago to the museum for display. It made its last flight from Dayton, Ohio, to Washington, D.C., on 25 September 1925. It was almost immediately put on display in the Smithsonian's Arts and Industries Building. In 1974, the Chicago was restored under the direction of Walter Roderick,[27] and transferred to the new National Air and Space Museum building for display in their Barron Hilton Pioneers of Flight exhibition gallery.[1]
Beginning in 1957, the New Orleans was displayed at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton.[28] The aircraft was on loan from the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History and was returned in 2005.[29] Since February 2012, the New Orleans is a part of the exhibits at the Museum of Flying in Santa Monica, California.[30]
The wreckage of the Seattle was recovered and is now on display in the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum.[31] The original Boston sank in the North Atlantic, and it is thought that the only surviving piece of the original prototype, the Boston II, is the aircraft data plate, now in a private collection, and a scrap of fuselage skin, in the collection of the Vintage Wings & Wheels Museum in Poplar Grove, Illinois.[32]
All six airmen were awarded the Distinguished Service Medal by vote of the United States Congress, the first time such award had been made for acts not in the course of war, and they were excused from the prohibition against accepting awards from foreign countries.[2]: 325
The best in flight
The first aerial circumnavigation of the world that involved the crossing of the equator twice was made using a single aircraft, the Southern Cross, a Fokker F.VIIb/3m trimotor monoplane[34] crewed by Charles Kingsford Smith (lead pilot), Charles Ulm (relief pilot), James Warner (radio operator), and Harry Lyon (navigator and engineer).[34]
After completing the
Before Kingsford Smith's death in 1935, he donated the Southern Cross to the
See also
References
Notes
- ^ During 1922–1923, the Fokker T-2 was used by the U.S. Army to set a series of long distance and endurance records.[4]
- ^ Lt. Nelson was eventually assigned to the World Flight as the pilot of DWC #4.[7]
- ^ One of the Army's best aviators, Smith was named to pilot the Chicago and was permitted to choose his own co-pilot, Arnold, who would double as a flight mechanic.[16]
Citations
- ^ a b c d "Collections: Douglas World Cruiser Chicago – Long Description." National Air and Space Museum. Retrieved: 7 July 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah Thomas, Lowell (1925). The First World Flight. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.
- ^ Swanborough and Bowers 1963, p. 548.
- ^ "Fine American Duration Flight." Flight, 19 October 1922, p. 615.
- ^ a b c d Rumerman, Judy. "The Douglas World Cruiser – Around the World in 175 Days." U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission, 2003. Retrieved: 7 July 2012.
- ^ a b "First to fly around the world." Did You Know.org. Retrieved: 7 July 2012 .
- ^ a b c Mackworth-Praed 1990, p. 235.
- ^ Boyne 1982, p. 80.
- ^ Yenne 2003, p. 48.
- ^ a b c "Douglas DT-2 World Cruiser." Aviation Central.com. Retrieved: 7 July 2012.
- ^ Francillon 1979, p. 75.
- ^ Bryan 1979, p. 122.
- ^ communicating by message bag and hand signals
- ^ Stoff 2000, p. 21.
- ^ a b "Douglas World Cruiser Transport." Archived 25 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine Boeing. Retrieved: 7 July 2012.
- ^ a b c "First round-the-world flight." National Museum of the United States Air Force, 8 July 2009. Retrieved: 14 July 2017.
- ^ "The Race to Fly First Around the World". Retrieved 26 May 2019.
- ^ "South Hangar: Douglas World Cruiser 'Seattle'." Archived 22 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum. Retrieved: 7 July 2012.
- ^ a b Roberts, Chuck. "Magellans of the sky: lessons learned from the epic 1924 around the world flight are visible in today's Air Force, but the memory of those who made it possible have faded with the years. (A Centennial of Flight Special Feature)." Airman (subscription required), 1 July 2003. Retrieved: 20 July 2012.
- ^ Wendell 1999/2000, pp. 339–372, 356–366.
- ^ Haber 1995, pp. 72–73.
- ^ "Fliers At Seattle End World Flight of 27,000 Miles." The New York Times, 28 September 1924, p. 1. Retrieved: 29 July 2012.
- ^ d’Assumpção, H A (17 April 2018). "From Portugal to Macau". Club Lusitano. Archived from the original on 9 May 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
- ^ "Trademarks and Copyrights: Boeing logo", Boeing Trademark Management Group, Boeing, archived from the original on 21 June 2012, retrieved 5 July 2012
- ^ Boeing. "From Bow-Wing to Boeing". YouTube. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
- ^ McDonnell Douglas Logo History, McDonnell Douglas, archived from the original on 5 June 1997, retrieved 29 November 2020
- ^ Boyne 1982, p. 18.
- ^ Ogden 1986, p. 168.
- ^ "Exhibits." Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. Retrieved: 5 July 2012.
- ^ "Exhibits & Features." Archived 11 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine Museum of Flying, Santa Monica Airport, 2012. Retrieved: 7 July 2012.
- ^ "South Hangar: Douglas World Cruiser 'Seattle'." Archived 22 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum. Retrieved: 5 July 2012.
- ^ "Featured Artifact: Fabric from the Boston II Douglas World Cruiser." Archived 1 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine Vintage Wings & Wheels Museum. Retrieved: 5 July 2012.
- ^ "Mackay 1920-1929 Recipients - NAA: National Aeronautic Association". naa.aero.
- ^ a b Sherman, Stephen. "Charles Kingsford Smith: First to Fly Across the Pacific." acepilots.com, 16 April 2012. Retrieved: 7 July 2012.
- ^ Cross 1972, p. 71.
- ^ Cross 1972, p. 74.
- ^ "RAAF Fokker F.VIIB Southern Cross VH-USU." Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine ADF Aircraft Serials. Retrieved: 7 July 2012.
Bibliography
- Boyne, Walter J. The Aircraft Treasures Of Silver Hill: The Behind-The-Scenes Workshop Of The National Air And Space Museum. New York: Rawson Associates, 1982. ISBN 0-89256-216-1.
- Bryan, Courtlandt Dixon Barnes. The National Air and Space Museum. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1979. ISBN 978-0-810-98126-3.
- Cross, Roy. Great Aircraft and Their Pilots. New York: New York Graphic Society, 1972. ISBN 978-0-82120-465-8.
- Donald, David, ed. Encyclopedia of World Aircraft. Etobicoke, Ontario: Prospero Books, 1997. ISBN 1-85605-375-X.
- Francillon, René J. McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Since 1920: Volume I. London: Putnam, 1979. ISBN 0-87021-428-4.
- Haber, Barbara Angle. The National Air and Space Museum. London: Bison Group, 1995. ISBN 1-85841-088-6.
- Mackworth-Praed, Ben. Aviation: The Pioneer Years. London: Studio Editions, 1990. ISBN 1-85170-349-7.
- Ogden, Bob. Great Aircraft Collections of the World. New York: Gallery Books, 1986. ISBN 1-85627-012-2.
- Stoff, Joshua. Transatlantic Flight: A Picture History, 1873–1939. Mineoloa, New York: Dover publications, Inc., 2000. ISBN 0-486-40727-6.
- Swanborough, F. Gordon and Peter M. Bowers. United States Military Aircraft since 1909. London: Putnam, 1963.
- Wendell, David V. "Getting Its Wings: Chicago as the Cradle of Aviation in America." Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Volume 92, No. 4, Winter 1999/2000, pp. 339–372.
- Will, Gavin. The Big Hop: The North Atlantic Air Race. Portugal Cove-St.Phillips, Newfoundland: Boulder Publications, 2008. ISBN 978-0-9730271-8-1.
- Yenne, Bill. Seaplanes & Flying Boats: A Timeless Collection from Aviation's Golden Age. New York: BCL Press, 2003. ISBN 1-932302-03-4.