Shown here as the planes begin to arrive at Chignik, Alaska, the first flight around the world was flown by United States Army Air Service pilots in specially-built Douglas World Cruisers, DWCs, between 6 April and 28 September 1924. The world flight officially started from Seattle's then-municipal airport at Sand Point on the shores of Lake Washington.
The magnitude of that flight, in terms of preliminary study, engineering, and world-wide logistic support, crew training, inter service cooperation, diplomatic clearances, and personal skill and determination is almost directly comparable to a moon landing today.
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