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| September 1999 Vol. 82, No. 9 |
Seventy-five years ago this month, Army Air Service biplanes
touched down in Seattle after circumnavigating the Earth. |
Around the World
By C.V. Glines
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Among the airmen who attempted the first around-the-world flight were
(l-r) TSgts. Arthur Turner and Henry Ogden; Lts. Leslie Arnold, Leigh
Wade, and Lowell Smith; Maj. Frederick Martin; and SSgt. Alva Harvey.
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It has been 75 years since eight daring men of the
US Army Air Service, flying in four single-engine,
open-cockpit biplanes, took off from a lake near Seattle
for a flight around the world. It was to be an ultimate
test. If successful, it would stand as a historic milestone
for aviation and especially for the young US flying
service.
Early 1924 was a time of frail airplanes built of
wood, wire, and cloth, with uncertain engines and wooden
propellers. There were few instruments, and airports
were mostly farmers' fields. Immediately following
World War I, there had been a spirited national debate
about the future of the armed services, which was resolved
with the passage of the National Defense Act of 1920.
It provided for a Regular Army, National Guard, and
the Organized Reserves. It established the Air Service
as a combatant arm of the Army.
The Air Service pilots who remained in uniform were
encouraged to show that airplanes had a vital role
in national defense. They began setting altitude, endurance,
and speed records and were the first to cross the nation
in less than a day, refuel in midair, and fly nonstop
across the country. Each flight was carefully planned
and, although there were failures, the successes were
newsworthy and expanded the range of possibilities
for the airplane.
The announcement by the Air Service that eight of
its airmen would attempt a round-the-world flight captured
the public's attention.
Planning Begins
Maj. Gen. Mason M. Patrick, Chief of the Army Air
Service, authorized his staff to begin intensive planning
for such a world flight in the summer of 1923. There
were scoffers who said it couldn't be done; others
said that, if it were attempted, it certainly should
not be at government expense. The obstacles to be overcome
were formidable. Extremes in climate and the lack of
facilities for aircraft posed the greatest threats
to success.
The preparation was the most thorough that the Air
Service had ever undertaken for a single mission. Working
under then-Lt. Col. James E. Fechet (later Chief of
Army Air Corps) was a 10-man committee headed by Lt.
Robert J. Brown. Four basic decisions were recommended.
Five two-place, open-cockpit biplanes with interchangeable
wheels and floats should be built to Air Service specifications.
One would be a prototype for testing, and four would
actually make the flight, to improve the likelihood
that at least one would succeed.
Second, it was decided that, with an early spring
1924 departure, the crew would fly westward to fly
the safest route available. By flying against the prevailing
winds, they would traverse Alaska before the arrival
of intense spring fogs, advance through Japan and China
ahead of the typhoon season, miss the monsoons in Burma
and India, and cross the North Atlantic before Arctic
winter weather arrived.
Third, other government agencies should be asked to
support the effort. The State Department had to exert
extensive diplomatic effort to arrange for visas and
overflight permissions. The Navy, other Army branches,
the US Coast Guard, the Commerce Department, the Aeronautical
Chamber of Commerce, and American companies located
in the countries to be visited were to be asked to
support the effort logistically and stand by for search
and rescue assistance.
Last, the eight fliers were to be the most experienced
Air Service airmen available, preferably experienced
in long-distance flying. They would have to take training
in operating seaplanes and be able to perform their
own maintenance throughout the flight.
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Top construction of the modified Douglas World
Cruisers took place at Douglas facilities in
Santa Monica, Calif. The aircraft were based
on Navy torpedo bombers but received modifications
for long-range operation. Right, near the end
of the historic flight, the Cruisers fly over
New York City Sept. 8, 1924.
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All recommendations were approved by the War Department
by the fall of 1923. Lt. Erik H. Nelson drew up the
specifications for the five aircraft, and Donald W.
Douglas, a young aircraft manufacturer of seaplanes
in Santa Monica, Calif., agreed to make them, based
on his Navy DT-2 torpedo bomber but with significant
changes for long-range operation.
The airplanes, called Douglas World Cruisers, were
to be dual-controlled, have gas capacity increased
to 644 gallons for a range of 2,200 miles, have a larger
radiator for the 12-cylinder water-cooled 420-hp Liberty
engine, increased rudder surface, strengthened bracing,
increased upward visibility for the pilot, and the
mechanic's seat in the rear moved closer to the pilot.
They would each have engine instruments, altimeter,
turn-and-bank indicator, drift indicator, and compass
but no radio.
Preparing the Route
The route selected went from Sand Point on Lake Washington
near Seattle through the Aleutians, across the Pacific
to Japan, down the China coast, west to India, through
the Middle East, across Europe and the Atlantic, and
back to Seattle via Washington, D.C. The route was
divided into six segments. Advance officers were assigned
to inspect and set up the facilities for the airplanes'
arrival at 68 locations. Aircraft parts, engines, and
replacement wheels and pontoons were to be procured
and placed in appropriate locations.
Capt. St. Claire Streett, who was responsible for
the route planning, pored over maps and weather charts
in Washington while Lt. Clarence Crumrine spent the
summer and winter of 1923-24 exploring Greenland, Iceland,
and the Faeroe Islands for the trans-Atlantic hop.
Capt. Lorenzo L. Snow was assigned to make diplomatic
arrangements. Lt. Clayton L. Bissell was the advance
man for the flight from Seattle to Attu in the Aleutians.
Lt. Clifford C. Nutt, was assigned to arrange for the
Japanese stops, while Lt. Malcolm Lawton was responsible
for the route through China and Southeast Asia to Calcutta,
India. Lt. Harold A. Halverson departed to prepare
for the segment from there through the Middle East.
Maj. Carlyle Wash, assistant attaché for aviation
in Paris, prepared for the European crossing.
Lts. Crumrine, Bissell, and LeClaire D. Shultz made
preliminary arrangements for the trip across the Atlantic
to Boston and Capt. Burdette S. Wright, the balance
of the flight across the US to Seattle. They immediately
departed for their respective areas. Maj. William R.
Blair, Signal Corps meteorologist, began a search for
worldwide weather information.
The other departments of government offered cooperation
without hesitation. Despite the controversy over defense
appropriations and the vigorous debate about the future
role of the Army Air Service being stirred by Brig.
Gen. William L. "Billy" Mitchell, deputy
Air Service chief, the Navy furnished charts along
coasts where water landings could be made and assigned
ships to patrol positions along the ocean routes. The
Coast and Geodetic Survey supplied maps of Canada,
the Aleutians, and the Atlantic route. The Coast Guard
and Bureau of Fisheries also assigned patrol ships
along the Aleutians, and the National Geographic Society
supplied additional regional information. Streett then
prepared a detailed guidebook and maps covering the
28,000 miles of the planned route.
Personnel were selected based on recommendations from
commanding officers throughout the Air Service. The
leader chosen was Maj. Frederick L. Martin, 41, a Purdue
University mechanical engineering graduate, then commanding
the Air Service technical school at Chanute Field,
Ill. Lt. Lowell H. Smith, 31, was recommended by Maj.
Henry H. "Hap" Arnold. Lt. Leigh Wade, 27,
who had trained with the RAF in Canada and had service
in France, was the nominee from Bolling Field, D.C.
The fourth pilot was Nelson, 35, a veteran of the 1920
flight to Nome, Alaska, and experienced in testing
aircraft. The pilots then selected their "mechanicians." Martin
chose SSgt. Alva L. Harvey; Smith selected TSgt. Arthur
Turner; Wade chose TSgt. Henry H. Ogden (promoted to
second lieutenant during the flight). Nelson requested
Lt. John Harding Jr.
Building the Aircraft
During the winter of 192324, the pilots and mechanics
stayed at the Douglas factory, monitoring the construction
of the five airplanes. Nelson made several test flights
in the prototype and recommended several minor changes
to increase stability. He flew it to McCook Field,
Ohio, and then to Langley Field, Va., where the pilots
practiced operating with floats and took ground school
courses in meteorology, navigation, and survival.
The crews returned to Santa Monica, tested the other
four airplanes, and flew to Seattle, the official starting
point, in mid-March 1924. There, they learned that
Turner had a lung condition that disqualified him from
flying. He was replaced by Lt. Leslie P. Arnold, 29,
a pilot and mechanic. Meanwhile, 15 engines, 14 extra
sets of floats, spare parts, and fuel were sent to
advance positions in various parts of the world.
When the day of departure neared, the four airplanes
were christened for American cities. Martin's airplane
became Seattle; Smith's, Chicago; Wade's
was named Boston; and Nelson's became New
Orleans.
During this time of planning and preparation, the
pilots of other nations were also attempting or planning
to embark on world flights. British, Portuguese, French,
Italian, and Argentine pilots announced their intentions
to claim the coveted title of first to circumnavigate
the globe. The press saw it as a race and began to
follow the American preparations intensely. Some newspaper
columnists predicted that none of them could win. The
dangers were too great. Airplanes had not yet proven
they were reliable enough to be operated over such
long distances, especially over water, they said.
On the morning of April 6, 1924, the four rugged Douglas
biplanes on pontoons lifted skyward and headed toward
Alaska. The route took them northward to Sitka, Cordova,
and Chignik, then westward to Dutch Harbor. However,
Martin and Harvey, battling fog and high winds on the
segment between Chignik and Dutch Harbor, became lost
and crashed on a mountainside near Port Moller on the
west side of the Alaska Peninsula. The Coast Guard
immediately started a search.
Martin received minor injuries, but both managed to
make a difficult 10-day hike to a cannery where they
reported by radio that they were safe. They returned
to the States on a fisheries steamer. Smith, next ranking
man, was made acting commander and received orders
at Dutch Harbor "to proceed to Japan at the earliest
possible moment." The three remaining airplanes
landed at Atka and Attu where they were delayed for
several days because of the infamous Aleutian williwaws
before continuing to Japan. Meanwhile, Navy ships carried
fuel, spare parts, and supplies to the Japanese stops.
The three airplanes, en route to the Kuriles, had
to deviate and land at Nikolskoye in the Komandorski
Islands, forbidden Russian territory. Prevented from
going ashore, they refueled from the US Coast Guard
cutter Eider and continued to Japan where they made
six stops and then three stops in China before proceeding
to Hong Kong.
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Enthusiastic crowds, like this one in Reykjavik,
Iceland, greeted the aviation pioneers. Here, New
Orleans is lifted from the water for an overhaul.
It was still outfitted with pontoons which would
be exchanged for wheels in Boston.
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Ill Fortune for Some
While the Americans, favored by good planning and
maintenance, were completing the first quarter of their
itinerary, pilots of the other five nations were being
defeated by inadequate logistics planning, poor maintenance,
and accidents, so that all eventually failed in their
quest to be first. As the World Cruisers edged into
the tropics of Southeast Asia, engine problems developed
and Smith had to make a forced landing due to engine
failure near Hue, French Indochina. A pre-positioned
engine was brought from Saigon and installed. Pontoons
still attached, the airplanes then made a risky shortcut
flight over the impenetrable jungle of the upper Malay
Peninsula from Saigon to Rangoon to save 800 miles.
During this southernmost part of the route, daily
mishaps began to hound the crew members. At Rangoon,
Arnold almost drowned, Smith collapsed from dysentery,
and Nelson's airplane was rammed by a sampan. But these
hindrances were overcome and the fliers continued to
Calcutta by way of Akyab, Burma, and Chittagong, India
(now Bangladesh), where the pontoons were exchanged
for wheels. While in Calcutta, Smith also broke a rib
when he fell into a hole.
Linton O. Wells, an Associated Press correspondent
based in Japan who had been reporting the Pacific crossing,
met the fliers in Calcutta. He was to return to Tokyo
after the airplanes departed. However, Wells believed
the big part of the story lay ahead and persuaded Wade
to take him along so he could help by doing the injured
Smith's work. He was not a stowaway as reported by
some; permission had been requested from Washington
but no reply had been received. Wade allowed Wells
to squeeze in beside Ogden in the rear cockpit of Boston
and flew from Calcutta to Karachi via Allahabad, Ambala,
and Multan. It was a miserable flight in 120-degree
heat and sand storms. At Karachi, a message was received
denying Wells permission to fly in an Army airplane.
By this time, all three airplanes needed engine changes
which were made at a Royal Air Force depot by the Americans
working 16-hour days.
The trio then flew to Chah Bahar and Bandar Abbas
in Persia (now Iran) and Baghdad, Mesopotamia (now
Iraq). Syria was next, then Constantinople (now Istanbul),
Bucharest, Budapest, and Vienna. Although very exhausted
by this point, the six fliers headed toward Paris to
be there for the annual July 14 Bastille Day celebrations.
Instead of rest, however, they had to attend luncheons,
receptions, press interviews, radio broadcasts, autograph
sessions, and an evening at the Folies Bergere where
they all fell soundly asleep.
The Most Dangerous Leg
The Americans were escorted by French and English
military and civilian airplanes on the next leg from
Paris to London, where they stayed briefly before proceeding
to Brough Airdrome on the Humber River near Hull. The
next 13 days were spent changing engines and exchanging
the wheels for pontoons. Meanwhile, the US Navy positioned
several ships along a line from Scotland to Boston,
considered the most dangerous leg of the trip.
The three airplanes left Brough for Kirkwall in the
Orkneys where USS Richmond, the flagship of the armada,
was waiting. Fog grounded the airplanes for several
days, but when the weather was reported as favorable
on Aug. 2, they took off together for Iceland, hoping
to be able to remain in contact with the surface of
the sea. But shortly after takeoff, they ran into a
thick fog bank. Chicago and Boston climbed
and came out on top, but Nelson in New Orleans nearly
spun in when he lost control briefly. He recovered
a few feet above the water and climbed to the top of
the fog layer where he found himself all alone and
continued to Iceland by dead reckoning.
Meanwhile, when Nelson was not sighted, Smith and
Wade returned to Kirkwall to sound an alarm. Smith
flew low over the town's main street and dropped a
message:
Contact Richmond. Start search for Nelson.
The pair landed in the harbor to wait for word. Early
that evening, a message arrived from Horna Fjord, Iceland:
Got into propeller wash and near tail spin Came out
just above water past fog belt Arrived five thirty
seven. Nelson
Wade and Smith departed for Horna Fjord the next day,
but Boston's engine suddenly lost oil pressure
between the Faeroe Islands and the Orkneys and Wade
landed it safely. Seeing that Wade and Ogden were not
injured, Smith decided not to land. He dropped a note
to a Navy destroyer about Wade's landing and proceeded
to Horna Fjord to join Nelson. Wade and Ogden spent
about six hours drifting on a rapidly swelling sea.
Their signal flares alerted a British fishing trawler
and they were taken in tow until USS Richmond arrived. Boston was
damaged during the trawler's tow and Wade and Ogden
hoped they could repair it aboard Richmond.
They drained the airplane's gas and oil, handed their
tools to the deckhands, and climbed aboard. Wade described
what happened next.
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President Calvin Coolidge (holding hat) and
several Cabinet members greeted the world travelers
when they stopped at Bolling Field, D.C. Shown
(l-r) are Arnold, Ogden, Smith (shaking hands),
and Wade. Although the Seattle and Boston cruisers
were lost to accidents, Chicago and New
Orleans are in museums today.
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All Hell Breaks Loose
"We stood on the ship's deck [and] watched the
crane swing over the side and drop its hook. ... The
lift signal came and the Boston started rising
out of the water. Then all hell broke loose. Five thousand
pounds of hoisting gear wrenched off its mooring and
crashed down on the plane. The Boston was a
broken mess."
When it was obvious that the airplane was so badly
damaged it couldn't be repaired, Wade signaled to cut
it loose and let it sink. "We bade farewell to
our friend who had carried us so far around the globe," he
said. "We headed for Iceland with heavy hearts."
Smith wired Washington about the loss of Boston while
Wade and Ogden proceeded aboard Richmond to Iceland
and then to Nova Scotia. Chicago and New
Orleans flew to Reykjavik, Iceland, and Frederiksdal,
Greenland. It was a harrowing 886-mile, 11-hour flight
outside the shipping lanes and the naval escort. The
last 300 miles were flown at wave-top level dodging
mist-hidden icebergs.
Chicago and New Orleans then flew on through fog and
rain to Icy Tickle, Labrador. En route, Chicago's fuel
pump failed and Arnold had to use the emergency hand
pump for the rest of the flight. "I pumped until
I thought I just couldn't pump any more," he said. "Then
I'd look down at the cold water and start all over
again."
Meanwhile, the prototype World Cruiser had been ordered
to Pictou Harbor, Nova Scotia, and Wade and Ogden joined
the other two airplanes in the hurriedly named Boston
II. The three then proceeded to Mere Point, Maine,
and Boston, where the pontoons were exchanged for wheels.
Mitchel Field, N.Y., was next, then on to Bolling Field,
where the crews were greeted by President Calvin Coolidge
and Cabinet members.
After Washington, the three crews hopscotched across
the country, stopping at 14 cities in nine states,
where they were met by hordes of enthusiastic crowds.
The reception at Santa Monica, home of the Douglas
plant, was exceptionally vigorous and Wade received
two broken ribs when an overeager greeter gave him
a bear hug; it was his only injury on the trip.
This was not the end of the unprecedented journey
since Seattle had been designated as the official starting
point. The airplanes arrived there Sept. 28, 1924,
175 days after their departure. The official statistics
show that two of the airplanes and their crews had
flown 371 hours, 11 minutes, and covered 26,345 miles.
They had flown over 28 different nations and colonial
mandates and made 72 stops. In addition to being first
to conquer the globe by air, the flight was the first
across the Yellow Sea and first to cross both of the
world's largest oceans during the same trip. A world
orbit in an open-cockpit, single-engine airplane has
never been duplicated.
Just as the men were honored for their historic aviation "firsts" during
their lifetimes, Chicago and New Orleans have also
been venerated. Chicago holds a place of honor in the
National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. New
Orleans, formerly in the US Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson
AFB, Ohio, is now located at the Museum of Flying at
Santa Monica, the birthplace of the five Douglas World
Cruisers.
C.V. Glines is a retired Air Force colonel and longtime
contributor to Air Force Magazine. His 31st book, a biography
of Col. Bernt Balchen, the famous polar aviator, will
be published by Smithsonian Institution Press this month.
Copyright Air Force Association. All rightsreserved.
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