The first aerial circumnavigation of the world was conducted in 1924 by a team of aviators of the Army Air Service, the precursor of the United States Air Force. The trip took 175 days, covering over 44,000 kilometres (27,340 mi), without crossing the equator into the southern hemisphere.
In 1929 Australian Charles Kingsford Smith would complete the first aerial circumnavigation flying within both hemispheres, in an expedition which also included the first trans-Pacific flight in 1928.
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American preparation
In the early 1920s several countries were vying to be the first to fly an airplane around the world. In the spring of 1923 the U.S. Army Air Service became interested in having a squadron of military planes make a round-the-world flight. It assigned a group of officers the job of finding a suitable aircraft and planning the mission. The group first looked at the existing pool of military planes, none proved satisfactory, so they began looking outside of the Air Service for a plane that could be fitted with interchangeable landing gear, wheeled and pontoons for water landings.[1] The War Department instructed the Air Service to look at both the Fokker F-5 transport and the Davis-Douglas Cloudster to see if either would qualify and to acquire examples for testing.[1]
When the head of Davis-Douglas, Donald Douglas, was asked for information on the Cloudster he instead submitted data on a modified DT-2,[2] a torpedo bomber that Douglas had built for the U.S. Navy in 1921 and 1922. The DT-2 had proven to be a sturdy aircraft that could accommodate interchangeable wheeled and pontoon landing gear. Since the plane was an existing model, Douglas stated that a new fleet of planes, which he named the Douglas World Cruiser,[3] could be delivered within 45 days after a contract was awarded. The Air Service agreed and sent Lieutenant Erik Nelson, a member of the planning group, to California to work out the details with Douglas.
Douglas, assisted by John Northrop, began to modify a DT-2 to suit the circumnavigation requirements.[1] The main modification involved its fuel capacity. All the internal bomb carrying structures were removed and additional fuel tanks were added to various parts of the plane. The total fuel capacity went from 115 gallons (435 liters) to 644 gallons (3,438 liters).[1]
Lieutenant Nelson took Douglas' proposal to Washington where Major General Mason M. Patrick, Chief of the Air Service, approved it on August 1, 1923. The War Department awarded an initial contract to Douglas for the construction of a single test plane.[4] The test plane met all expectations, and a contract was awarded for four more planes and spare parts.[2] The last plane was delivered on March 11, 1924. The spare parts included 15 extra Liberty engines, 14 extra sets of pontoons, and enough replacement airframe parts for two more planes.[4] These were sent ahead along the route around the world the planes would follow.[4]
The northern hemisphere circumnavigation
Four planes, Seattle, Chicago, Boston, and New Orleans[3] left Santa Monica, California, on March 17, 1924, for Seattle, Washington the official start of the journey. On April 6[5] they left Seattle for Alaska. One plane, Seattle, needed repairs and remained behind. When it was repaired the crew attempted to catch up with the other three planes, but on April 30 Seattle crashed in dense fog into a mountainside near Port Moller on the Alaska Peninsula.[6] The crew survived[2] and were picked up on May 10, but the plane was destroyed.
The three remaining planes continued. Avoiding the Soviet Union, which had not given permission for the planes to cross into their airspace,[1] they crossed Japan, Korea, the coast of China, Hong Kong, French Indochina, Thailand, Burma, and India, and proceeded into the Middle East and then Europe.[2] They arrived in Paris on Bastille Day, July 14. From Paris they flew to London and on to the north of England in order to prepare for the Atlantic Ocean crossing.
On August 3, while flying across the Atlantic, Boston was forced down and capsized[2] while being towed by a cruiser that had picked up the crew. The two remaining planes crossed the Atlantic via Iceland and Greenland and reached Canada. The original test plane, now named Boston II,[4] met them in Canada and the three planes flew on to Washington DC. After a hero's welcome in the capital, the three planes flew to the West Coast, stopping briefly in Santa Monica and finally landing in Seattle on September 28, 1924.[5]
The trip had taken 175 days,[3] and covered 27,553 miles (44,085 kilometers).[3][2] The Douglas Aircraft Company adopted the motto, "First Around the World – First the World Around".[7] The American team had greatly increased their chances of success by using several planes and prepositioning support along the route.
The world circumnavigation
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.[8]
After completing the first trans-Pacific crossing in 1928, flying from Oakland to Brisbane, Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm flew the Southern Cross on to England, then across the Atlantic and North America, returning to Oakland where their trans-Pacific flight began. The first cross equator world circumnavigation flight was completed in 1929.
North hemisphere aircraft and crew
- Seattle, Maj. Frederick Martin (pilot and flight commander) and SSgt. Alva Harvey (flight mechanic);[2]
- Chicago, Lt. Lowell Smith (pilot) and 1st Lt. Leslie Arnold;[2]
- Boston, 1st Lt. Leigh P. Wade (pilot) and SSgt. Henry H. Ogden;[2]
- New Orleans, Lt. Erik Nelson (pilot) and Lt. Jack Harding.[2]
Chicago was restored in 1971–1974 and moved into the National Air and Space Museum in 1976.[3]
New Orleans is owned by Los Angeles County and is on loan to the Museum of Flying in Santa Monica, California.[7]
The wreckage of Seattle is on display at the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum.[6]
Major Martin was in command of Army aviation units in Hawaii at the time of the Japanese attack of December 7, 1941. His mechanic Alva Harvey was commissioned and commanded heavy bomb groups during the Second World War. Lt. Nelson rose to the rank of colonel and became one of General Henry Arnold's chief trouble-shooters on the development and employment of the B-29 Superfortress.
World aircraft and crew
- Southern Cross, Charles Kingsford Smith (lead pilot), Charles Ulm (relief pilot), James Warner (radio operator), and Harry Lyon (navigator and engineer).[8]
Before Kingsford Smith's death in 1935 he donated the Southern Cross to the Commonwealth of Australia, for display in a museum.[9] The aircraft is preserved in a special glass 'hangar' memorial on Airport Drive, near the International Terminal at Brisbane Airport in Queensland, Australia.
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e Centennial Of Flight.gov
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Did You Know.org
- ^ a b c d e Chicago National Air and Space Museum
- ^ a b c d Aviation Central.com
- ^ a b USAF fact sheet
- ^ a b Alaska Air Museum
- ^ a b Santa Monica Museum Of Flying
- ^ a b Culture.gov.au
- ^ ADF Serials
External links
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