"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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