Tim Grove - First flight around the world : the adventures of the American fliers who won the race

FOR MY UNCLE,

PAUL J. SEBASTIAN,

BORN THE YEAR OF THE WORLD FLIGHT

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Grove, Tim, 1967
First flight around the world : the adventures of the American fliers who won the race / by Tim Grove.
pages cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-4197-1482-5
1. Flights around the worldJuvenile literature. 2. United States. Army. Air CorpsJuvenile literature. 3. World recordsJuvenile literature. I. National Air and Space Museum. II. Title.
TL721.U6G58 2015
910.41dc23
2014024665

Text copyright 2015 The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
For illustration credits, see this page.
Book design by Sara Corbett

Published in 2015 by Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of ABRAMS.
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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

hen this story took place, the world was very different from what it is today. In the early 1920s, Europe was recovering from World War I, which had brought devastation and great hardship across the continent. Large parts of Asia and the Middle East that now are independent nations were governed by countries like Great Britain and France. To find out what was going on around the world, people read newspapers or watched newsreelsshort film clips that were shown before the full-length movie at a theater. Radio, a recent invention, was increasing in popularity, but televisions, mobile phones, and the Internet did not exist. Women were just beginning to make gains in a male-dominated world and were in the process of earning the right to vote in many countries. Travel was very expensive, and people relied on trains or ocean liners to go long distances. Many people had never seen an airplane, except in pictures.

In 1924, the U.S. Army sent eight young men on a grand adventure around the world. It was not a voyage of exploration but rather a bold attempt to be the first to circumnavigate the globe by flight. Airmen from five other countriesGreat Britain, France, Portugal, Italy, and Argentinahad the same goal, and so the quest became a race. Who would win?

The trip held many challenges: extreme weather, tricky navigation, fragile planes, a scarcity of airfields, and the necessity of dealing with unfamiliar countries and cultures. The world fliers would be risking their lives, facing one obstacle after another, for the sake of their countrys pride. It would be an honor for the United States to be the first to conquer the world by air. For the fliers it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

THE OFFICIAL INSIGNIA THAT WAS PAINTED ON EACH PLANE. THE LIGHT BLUE CLOUD SHAPE FEATURED TWO BALD EAGLES, SYMBOLS OF THE UNITED STATES, CIRCLING A GLOBE.

Many men applied to go on the trip, but the Army needed only eight in all: four pilots and four mechanics. First Lieutenant Leslie Arnold was upset when he found out he had been selected as one of two alternate pilots; it appeared that he wouldnt be going. But then another person got sick and couldnt go, and so he joined the crew, although as a mechanic instead of a pilot. He would fly around the world in a plane named the Chicago and keep a journal of his experiences. Both the plane and the journal would one day end up in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. More than 400 photographs taken on the flight would become part of the museums archives. This account of the World Flight is based, in part, on Arnolds journal.

THE NO. 1A AUTOGRAPHIC KODAK JR. CAMERA CARRIED BY LOWELL SMITH ON THE WORLD FLIGHT.

THE FLIERS AT SAND POINT, WASHINGTON, AT THE BEGINNING OF THEIR FLIGHT (FROM LEFT): ARTHUR TURNER (DID NOT GO ON FLIGHT), HENRY OGDEN, LESLIE ARNOLD, LEIGH WADE, LOWELL SMITH, FREDERICK MARTIN, ALVA HARVEY. ERIK NELSON AND JOHN HARDING ARE MISSING.

THE CHICAGO, READY FOR TAKEOFF, WITH PILOT LOWELL SMITH AND MECHANIC LESLIE ARNOLD.

THE BOSTON TAKING OFF AT THE START OF THE FLIGHT.

round 8:30 A.M., on April 6, 1924, three airplanes floating on the calm water of Lake Washington in Seattle taxied away from their moorings, revved their engines, and climbed steadily into the cold, gray sky. A fourth plane, weighed down by supplies, could not break the surface tension of the water and returned to its mooring to unload some weight. After a delay, it managed to join the others aloft. The biplanes were named for four major American cities: Seattle (no. 1), Chicago (no. 2), Boston (no. 3), and New Orleans (no. 4). Each plane held a pilot and a mechanic, plenty of fuel (450 gallons), and various supplies. In addition, two small stuffed toy monkeysgood-luck charmswere along for the ride.