Round-the-World Flights


1st Round-the-World Flight



Page 1d (rev: 1001)


8 Pilots/Co-pilots AAM Gov #167 New Orleans Plane Pilot Leigh Wade Landing at Santa Monica
Pix #1 Pix #2 Pix #3 Pix #4 Pix #5

"Magellans of the Air" make the First Flight Round-the-World


	On April 6, 1924 four Douglas World Cruisers under the command of 
Major Frederick L. Martin of the US Army Air Service departed from 
Sand Point Airfield in Seattle, Washington flying westward to 
circumnavigate the globe.  Three Cruisers returned to Sand Point on
September 28, 1924 to become the first ever to fly round-the-world.

Number    Plane Name       Pilot/Mechanic Names
  #1      SEATTLE          Major Frederick L Martin/Sgt Alva L Harvey
  #2      CHICAGO          Lieutenant Lowell H Smith/Lt Leslie P Arnold
  #3      BOSTON           Lieutenant Leigh Wade/Sgt Henry H Ogden
  #4      NEW ORLEANS      Lieutenant Erik H Nelson/Lt John Harding Jr

	The SEATTLE crashed into the side of a mountain in Alaska and the
BOSTON had to make a forced landing (failed oil pump) in the North
Atlantic Ocean near the Faroe Islands.  Both crews survived.  The BOSTON 
was replaced with the BOSTON II in Nova Scotia.

	On September 6, 1924 the CHICAGO, NEW ORLEANS & BOSTON II made US
landfall at Casco Bay, ME and proceeded to Boston, MA for an official
reception.

	On September 28, 1924 they returned to Seattle, WA completing their 
"World Flight" round-the-world having traveled 26,345 miles in 371H 11M 
flying time.  They landed wingtip-to-wingtip so that there would never 
be a question of who landed first.  This Round-the-World flight is 
memoralized as "A Tribute to American persistence, skill and resourcefulness."
It was said, "Other men will fly round-the-earth, but never again will 
anybody fly around it for the first time."  

	Their round-the world flight has never been duplicated by anyone flying 
in a single engine, open-cockpit airplane.  

Itinerary
United States   Seattle WA (Sand Point) (Pontoons on)                     Departed 04/06/24
Canada          Prince Rupert (British Columbia)
Alaska          Sitka, Seward, Chignik & Port Moller  SEATTLE crashed              04/30/24
Aleutian IslandsCape Igvak, Kanatak, Dutch Harbor, Atka (Nazan Bay) & Attu
Kurile Islands  Paramushiro
Russia          Harbor of Nicholski
Japan           (Six Stops)
China           Shanghai (Yangtze-Kiang River) & China coastline-south
North Viet Nam  Gulf of Tonkin & Touraine
South Viet Nam  Hue & Saigon
Thailand        Bangkok
Burma           Rangoon & Akyab
Bangladesh      Chittagong
India           Calcutta (Wheels on) (Linton Wells-passenger)
Pakistan        Karachi (Linton Wells departed)                                    07/04/24
Iran            Chahbar & Bandar Abbas
Iraq            Baghdad
Syria           Aleppo
Turkey          Constantinople
Romania         Bucharest
Hungary         Budapest
Austria         Vienna
France          Strasbourg & Paris (Le Bouret Field)
England         London & Brough-on-the-Humber (Pontoons on) BOSTON forced landing  08/03/24
Orkey Islands   Kirkwall (Scapa Flow)
Iceland         Reykjavik
Greenland       Angmassalik, Fredricksdal & Igivtut
Labrador        Icy Tickle
Nova Scotia     Pictou Harbor (Wheels on)
United States   Casco Bay ME (forced stop), Boston MA, Mitchell Field NY, Boilling Field Washington DC
                Across the US - 14 cities in 9 states & Seattle WA         Arrived 09/28/24

Air cover (AAM Gov #167), postmarked Boston, September 5, 1924 tying C-5 was sent to Major Joseph A. Steinmetz of the US Army Air Service by air to NY to connect with transcontinental air service for delivery to Cheyenne, Wyoming.

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