Around the World in 175 Days: The First Round-the-World Flight (review)

After World War I, declining military budgets often led advocates of stronger air forces to promote long-distance flights in an effort to garner headlines and perhaps win more funding for aviation as a promising new military technology. In 1924, aviators in a quartet of United States Army biplanes set out on an ambitious bid to become the first to fly around the world. Two planes made it. The flight was completed amid a flurry of international interest, initially stirred by the fact that several nations, including Britain and France, had also dispatched airmen and aircraft on similar aeronautical quests. The British and French eventually dropped out, along with other aspirants, so that considerable attention focused on the Americans as they made their way across oceans, mountains, and deserts. Their journey became an impressive demonstration of not only gritty determination but also remarkable organization; considerable advance planning was needed for diplomatic and financial arrangements, maintenance, and replacement parts to keep their wood-and-fabric biplanes flying.

Some of the most interesting facets of Carroll Glines' story involve the multifarious details that had to precede this ambitious undertaking. The coterie of flying officers who pursued the idea won the endorsement of the secretary of war, whose office enlisted the assistance of the Department of State in obtaining the clearances and documentation necessary to cross the airspace of numerous countries and use airfields and harbor facilities of nations around the globe. The latter involved considerable liaison with the secretary of the navy, since American naval vessels (as well as Coast Guard ships) would be strung out along the path of the flight to offer weather forecasting services and other mission assistance as required. In many instances, American military officers or diplomatic personnel made trips to diverse locations to smooth out financial and diplomatic hassles prior to the start of the flight.

In choosing the type of plane to be used, a selection board seriously considered a foreign design, the Fokker T-3 transport, manufactured under license in the United States for use by the Air Service. But finally the board settled on the Douglas DT-2, a two-seat, open-cockpit, biplane torpedo bomber in production for the United States Navy. Douglas agreed to make modifications, including a larger oil tank, a redesign of the engine cowling, and beefed-up landing struts that allowed for the use of wheels for conventional takeoffs and landings from airstrips or pontoons for operations on water. The planes were also fitted with special attachment points by which they could be hoisted aboard U.S. Navy ships for maintenance and repairs en route. With all the changes, the planes received a special appellation: DWC, for Douglas World Cruiser.

Modifications were also made to the planes' Liberty engines, such as larger radiators, improved oil pumps, more reliable ignition equipment, and redesigned gear trains. Thirty spare engines, similarly modified, were distributed along the route for emergencies. Agreements for delivery of an appropriate grade of fuel were signed with various countries. All this suggests the magnitude of the logistical planning that preceded the flight itself. The logistical issues, along with myriad administrative arrangements for transnational passage, local disbursements of fuel and parts, lodging for crews, and so on, were often obscured by the headlines of the flight itself, which in turn was often forgotten amid the attention given to more dramatic efforts by Charles Lindbergh, Wiley Post, Amelia Earhart, and others.

Most of Glines's text covers incidents along the journey. Colorful and interesting, the narrative is a reminder of the primitive state of aviation during the 1920s. It is easily read, lightly footnoted, and useful as collateral reading for undergraduates or as a starting point for further research in this dynamic era of aviation history.