Douglas World Cruiser Aviation Art Print by Artist Chris French FGAvA
Four aircraft, the Douglas World Cruisers, were specially built for the U.S. Army Air Service to attempt a circumnavigation of the globe in 1924. The 2-seat biplanes were christened 'Seattle', 'Chicago', 'Boston', and 'New Orleans'. Their undercarriage could be swapped from wheels to floats (pontoons) to enable them to land on both water and land.
The aircraft departed Seattle on April 6, heading up the West coast via Canada and on to Alaska. This painting depicts the four aircraft hauled up onto the beach at Seward, Alaska for maintenance and resupply. This would be that last staging post where all four aircraft were still together as 'Seattle' crashed in fog en route to the next stopover at Chignik. The crew spent several days in the snowy wilderness before being rescued with only minor injuries.
Only New Orleans and Chicago completed the arduous 44,085 km (27,553 mi) flight, arriving back at Seattle on September 28th. It took 175 days, with a flying time of 371 hours 11 minutes.
