Howdy!

Welcome to the official site of the Seattle World Cruiser Project. Celebrating the first circumnavigation of the globe by air.

Douglas World Cruiser Landing at Sand Point Naval Air Station upon completion of round the world flight.
DWC boxes

FIRST WORLD FLIGHT CENTENNIAL 1924-2024

On September 28th, 1924 the Douglas World Cruisers flew the last leg of their 27,550-mile journey around the world and touched down where they took off from 175 days earlier - Sand Point, Washington.

In this modern age where traveling by air anywhere across the globe is largely taken for granted, it can be difficult to imagine what a monumental undertaking this flight was in 1924. With that in mind, we’ve collected some writings from those that were part of that age when air travel was still a new and exciting phenomenon that we feel demonstrates the spirit and excitement of this epic achievement.

The celebrated WWI French Ace Captain Charles Nungesser wired this letter to the crew on the completion of their flight:

To my Glorious Comrades Lowell Smith, Erik Nelson, Leigh Wade, Henry Ogden, John Harding, and Leslie Arnold: I have rarely witnessed a more heart-stirring home-coming than that at which I have the pleasure to assist at Mitchel Field upon this impressive termination of your flight around the world - for this voyage which you have just accomplished assuredly marks an epoch in the history of aviation, and all those who have so enthusiastically welcomed the appearance of your wings in the sky of New York, have most certainly been associated with a new page in history.

In memory of the close and affectionate comradeship which united the French and American Aviation Services during the War, I am indeed happy to be present at your triumphant return and to bring you an expression of admiration which I am sure is shared by all the aviators of France.

At this moment, so glorious for you and American aviation, I cannot but recall with emotion the shadows of all my departed French comrades, who, hallowed in flames, their wings broken or their brows pierced by steel, fell from the skies, leaving their famous names to history. Heroes such as Guynemer, Navarre, Garros, Vedrines, Pegoud, and many others among our brothers in arms come to my mind at this great moment - and I have only to follow the impulse of my own sentiment to know with what warm admiration these great knights of the air would open their arms to you in fraternal greeting.

For you are worthy of them, dear comrades. Even as they, you have given to history names which will be among those we call the aces of aviation. You have won the right to take your place among the greatest of those whose names will never be forgotten. You have been the first to accomplish a voyage around our planet, and thanks to your endurance, your energy, your splendid technical abilities, you have won a victory which is the more brilliant since it is a peaceful one. This victory will be a fertile one - never doubt it - and one day all humanity will enjoy its fruitful promise.

In the name of all my French comrades, in the name of our glorious dead, in the name of all the French aviators who, by their daily exploits are ever working for the progress of aviation, I am most happy to be here to-day, to salute you upon your arrival on American soil and to express to you my personal sentiments of profound admiration. I know what great difficulties must be overcome to accomplish such a voyage as you have just completed, and I extend to you my heartiest congratulations for having so brilliantly conquered them.

My dear comrades, your Country can well be proud of you.

- Nungesser

The *Chicago* touching down at Sand Point.

The Seattle Post Intelligencer welcomes home the fliers.

As an addendum to Nungesser’s words, noted journalist, broadcaster, fellow adventurer, and author Lowell Thomas wrote these thoughts in the closing of his book "First World Flight" which was based on official firsthand accounts with the crew:

“These compliments to the Fliers are true and well said, but history will forget both the plaudits of foreign contemporaries and the enthusiasm of their own countrymen. It will forget even the long labor, American in its thoroughness, that made the World Flight possible. It will forget that these dauntless lads faced death a hundred times on their long journey and that their assistants achieved miracles. We shall remember rather that Erik, a knightly figure, carried his sweetheart's picture as an oriflamme on his instrument board, that Leigh's touch on the controls was that of a master evoking the melody of motion, and· that the strange, shy Smith, who navigates as well as he speaks badly and is as modest as he is brave, possesses one of the rarest combinations of the human mind - selflessness and strength.

The boys won through because they thought of the day's work and of that alone. They took few photographs, kept few notes of their high adventure: and when it was over they did not talk, but chucked caps in air and danced for glee. The gesture was typical of the spirit in which they approached their task and laid it down when it was very well done. 'Other men will fly around the earth,' as Admiral Robinson said at San Diego, 'but never again will anybody fly around it for the first time.'

- Lowell Thomas

Miss America 1924, Ruth Malcomson - pins a flower on “Smiling” Jack Harding during the landing celebration.

This is the last photo taken of the world fliers with their trusty steed, the Douglas World Cruiser.

With their mission accomplished, the crew heads back east by rail.

This is essay is from an unnamed NY Times writer reporting on the Cruisers stopover in New York City:

The Circumaviators

The chief value of the Earth-girdling flight of the aviators will not be commercial nor military. It will lie in the effect that the return of these ships of the air, which sailed ever westward and have reached again the land from which they flew forth, has upon the minds of men, women and children. Some tangible physical results may come ultimately in the wake of these ships, as they did in the wake of the caravels of Columbus.

But the greatest contribution of this hazardous and victorious voyage will be its incentive to make closer friendship with the wind and clouds (for as Lord Montagu of Beaulieu said, this the secret of air conquest), and especially a more vivid consciousness that the Earth is one and indivisible in the atmosphere that envelops it. “The up-world " is not national; it is not even international; it is universal.

By all who saw the aerial fleet over New York City it will be remembered not because of the mere fact of the flying, which would have been regarded as utterly and crazily impossible a few years back, but because of its import. The sky procession in which the three planes were escorted high above the city down Fifth Avenue had not the warm appeal to the emotions which the processions of those who came back from the Great War had to the crowds along the curb; but this spectacle of the skies stirred the city, none the less, because of what these planes had passed through to reach the homeland again, and because of their thrilling prophecy in their sure movements through the newly charted seas of international intercourse.

It has never been proved that the Copernican conception of the universe has ever had any appreciable effect upon the lives of the individuals accepting it in place of the old Ptolemaic system, but it is hardly possible that it should not have given to thoughtful persons a sense of the immensity of this universe in which the Earth was no longer the center. But flying about the Earth, while it suggests a higher potency in man, who, tethered to the Earth, has from the first, pictured the perfect creature as equipped with wings, also gives a new idea of the solidarity of mankind in the presence of that immensity.

"If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea” was but a dream of the ancient writer. But those wings have now been put within reach of the thought of all. The imagination of everyone can now travel around the Earth with ease and become habituated to look upon the world as having a common interest. This is a noteworthy service, and for the present the greatest service that these circumnavigators have given to America. They have made the eagle a fitter symbol than ever in the shield of this nation. And they are worthy to be received at Washington with national honors. Their intangible contribution to the spirit of the nation will be greater even than any benefit to the country's material resources.

12 CYLINDER SYMPHONY

As things continue to wind down with the project and in continued celebration of the First World Flight, we feel it’s a fitting time to take a moment to share the roar of the Cruiser’s Liberty V-12 and the blast of her prop with the public, press, and wonderful volunteers one last time.

The event will take place at the Chehalis-Centralia airport. Just look for the signs on Airport Road at the airport entrance to find us.

HOWDY NEW YEAR!

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the first flight around the world. Unfortunately, due to a variety of circumstances, we will not be flying the Cruiser around the world. We know this will come as a disappointment to many, as certainly it is to us. For a variety of reasons, not the least of is the logistics of trying to navigate around the events on the world stage these days (especially in an open cockpit biplane), we have decided it is no longer practical or safe to proceed with our own world flight.

However, we still have plans to celebrate the centennial in other ways. Stay tuned to this website and our Instagram feed for more information as we finalize those plans.

As always, we thank all of you for your support of the project, particularly our amazing crew of volunteers that have helped us over the years.

Our best wishes to all of you for a happy and healthy New Year.

Cheers,

Bob & Diane

1924 WORLD FLIGHT CHRONICLE

In observance of the 100th anniversary of the Douglas World Cruisers, we are providing daily year to date information of the 1924 world flight as it progressed around the globe. The information and content provided here is based on, and courtesy of the National Museum of the United States Air Force’s 1999 celebration of the 75th anniversary of the World Flight. Click here to go directly to the Chronicles.