First Airmen to Circle the World

Six Army airmen took off from Clover Field in Santa Monica in three single-engine, open-cockpit Douglas World Cruisers, joined by a fourth plane in Seattle, in hopes of being the first to circle the Earth by plane. In the course of the journey, the planes flew through sandstorms, driving rains and Arctic winds. One plane crashed. Another had an oil leak and sank in the Atlantic Ocean. The two remaining aircraft, and a replacement for the plane that sank, returned to Clover Field 28,000 miles and 190 days later, on Sept. 23, having gone round the world and sealed Douglas Aircraft’s reputation. A crowd of 100,000 gathered to welcome them. Under the headline “Thunder of Praise Hails First to Conquer Globe,” The Times pronounced the next day: “The deed is done, the final link in the chain is forged, and the greatest of all conquests of the air is now a part of history. The world has been encircled by plane for the first time in the annals of civilization.”