2RHPZ
06-06-2005, 09:08 AM
Magellans of the Sky
Lessons learned from the epic 1924 around-the-world flight are visible in today’s Air Force, but the memory of those who made it possible have faded with the years.
by Master Sgt. Chuck Roberts
photos courtesy National Air and Space Museum
http://www.af.mil/news/airman/0703/firsts.jpg
They were eight officer and enlisted aviators from the Army Air Service who set out in 1924 in the open cockpits of four Douglas World Cruiser biplanes to become the first to fly around the world. Two of the original four aircraft endured the 26,345-mile flight encompassing 175 days — 363 hours and seven minutes of flying time divided into 73 separate flights. The Army aviators visited 29 nations, made five forced landings, used 68,950 gallons of gas and 8,738 gallons of oil, and required 17 engine changes. They averaged four hours of sleep each night, according to Frank Donovan in his book “The Early Eagles.”
“It was a very underappreciated event,” said Maj. Braxton Eisel, an Air Force reservist on active duty and air defense liaison with the Federal Aviation Administration. Eisel researched and co-authored with Daniel Watkins, a retired Reserve colonel, a 2003 magazine article in “Air Power History” about the historic flight.
“They were real heroes,” Watkins said. “They captured the spirit of the time. They had a vision of what it could be.”
He likened their status at the time to the first astronauts to orbit Earth and walk on the moon.
http://www.af.mil/news/airman/0703/firsts_r1_c1.jpg (http://www.af.mil/news/airman/0703/firsts.html)
Lessons learned from the epic 1924 around-the-world flight are visible in today’s Air Force, but the memory of those who made it possible have faded with the years.
by Master Sgt. Chuck Roberts
photos courtesy National Air and Space Museum
http://www.af.mil/news/airman/0703/firsts.jpg
They were eight officer and enlisted aviators from the Army Air Service who set out in 1924 in the open cockpits of four Douglas World Cruiser biplanes to become the first to fly around the world. Two of the original four aircraft endured the 26,345-mile flight encompassing 175 days — 363 hours and seven minutes of flying time divided into 73 separate flights. The Army aviators visited 29 nations, made five forced landings, used 68,950 gallons of gas and 8,738 gallons of oil, and required 17 engine changes. They averaged four hours of sleep each night, according to Frank Donovan in his book “The Early Eagles.”
“It was a very underappreciated event,” said Maj. Braxton Eisel, an Air Force reservist on active duty and air defense liaison with the Federal Aviation Administration. Eisel researched and co-authored with Daniel Watkins, a retired Reserve colonel, a 2003 magazine article in “Air Power History” about the historic flight.
“They were real heroes,” Watkins said. “They captured the spirit of the time. They had a vision of what it could be.”
He likened their status at the time to the first astronauts to orbit Earth and walk on the moon.
http://www.af.mil/news/airman/0703/firsts_r1_c1.jpg (http://www.af.mil/news/airman/0703/firsts.html)