Operation AXIOM: Between the Wars
6 April-28 September 1924: Two Douglas World Cruiser aeroplanes of the U.S. Army Air Service, the
Chicago & the
New Orleans, completed the first aerial circumnavigation of Earth, without radios or avionics; the planes switched between wheels & floats depending on the route; the
Seattle crashed on the Alaska Peninsula & the
Boston sank under tow in the North Atlantic Ocean; all crew survived.
Commentary: Expedition commander Lieutenant Lowell Smith & Lt. Leslie Arnold (the Chicago
) & Lt. Erik Nelson & Lt. John Harding Jr. (the New Orleans
) completed the circumnavigation; Lt. Leigh Wade & Staff Sergeant Henry Ogden (the Boston
) rejoined the expedition in Nova Scotia in a replacement aeroplane (the Boston II
); original expedition commander Major Frederick Martin & S.Sgt. Alva Harvey (the Seattle
) were ten days in the Alaskan wilderness before reaching civilization.
Semper exploro.
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