Nearly a century after the Douglas World Cruisers completed the first flight around the world on Sept. 28, 1924, local aviators are preparing to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the historic flight.
They will fire up the engine on the Seattle II — a reproduction Douglas World Cruiser aircraft — at the Chehalis-Centralia Airport at noon on Saturday, June 8.
The event is being dubbed as “The Last Roar of the Mighty Liberty V-12,” referring to the Douglas World Cruisers’ legendary Liberty V-12 engine. The public is invited to attend.
An avid aviator, Robert “Bob” Dempster started the Seattle World Cruiser Association in 2001 with the goal of creating a flying reproduction of a Douglas World Cruiser in preparation for the 100th anniversary of the flight.
The Seattle II was the result of those efforts, and aside from some modernization modifications made for safety purposes, Dempster was faithful to the original design of the Douglas World Cruisers which made the flight.
Dempster spoke with The Chronicle on Wednesday to talk about his plane and this Saturday’s event. Having moved to Centralia about five years ago, Dempster stores the Seattle II at a hangar at the Chehalis-Centralia Airport.
“This Saturday, we’ll be out at the airport, and we’ll have a bluegrass band playing, a food truck, classic cars and, of course, we’ll be firing up the engine,” Dempster said.
While the Seattle II is still flightworthy, it won’t be taking to the air. After the engine is fired up for the last time on Saturday, Dempster will begin the decommissioning process on the plane in order to prepare it for delivery to the Museum of Flight in Tukwila, where it will be displayed.
The original plan was to fly the Seattle II around the world following the same route taken in 1924. Dempster and his wife, Diane, also a pilot, previously completed a flight around the world after the couple purchased a new plane in 1993.
By 2016, Dempster and his team helping him had finished building the Seattle II and had it certified by the Federal Aviation Administration as safe to fly.
His wife even flew the Seattle II around Seattle in 2016 as part of Boeing’s 100th anniversary celebration.
Unfortunately, by the time the plane was completed in 2016, tensions with some countries on the original 1924 world flight route made attempting to recreate the flight impossible.
“Even if we could’ve gotten the OK with some of those countries, the (U.S.) State Department is going to say ‘no.’ And the State Department is gonna be first on the list in checking the boxes when you’re doing your flight planning, so we can’t fly around the world,” Dempster said.
Dempster has been able to take it on legs of the first flight around the world.
“We even flew up to Alaska and then out toward the Aleutian Islands,” he added.
Even though the Seattle II was never completed the flight around the world the original Douglas World Cruisers made a century ago, Dempster doesn’t regret the work he and his team have done on the plane and is proud it will still be displayed at the museum.
After the plane’s decommissioning process is completed, which will involve deconstructing the plane into parts small enough for transport, it will be reassembled at the Boeing Field for another celebration on the 100th anniversary of the flight around the world’s completion on Sept. 28 before being taken to the museum.
The history behind the first flight around the world
Following the end of World War I, the U.S. Army Air Service began drawing up plans and coordinating to stake its claim for first successful flight around the world, following several unsuccessful attempts by European aviators to fly around the world in 1923.
The engine was developed in 1917 by Jesse G. Vincent of Packard Motor Car Company and Elbert J. Hall of Hall-Scott Motor Car Company after the U.S. government asked for a standard four-, six-, 8- and 12-cylinder engine that could be quickly mass produced and equipped on a wide variety of combat aircraft.
Along with powering the Douglas World Cruisers around the world, the Liberty V-12 also helped power the Curtiss NC-4, which made the first successful flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1919, and the Fokker T-2, which made the first successful nonstop flight across the U.S. in 1923, according to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
When it came to the plane, the Army Air Service worked with the Douglas Aircraft Company to modify five Douglas DT-2 torpedo bomber aircraft, one as a prototype and four to make the flight around the world. They were originally built at the Douglas factory in Santa Monica, California.
Built in 1921, the DT-2 was also the U.S. Navy’s first torpedo bomber.
The modifications made to the DT-2s included increasing the plane’s fuel capacity, upgrading the cooling system, strengthening the fuselage, increasing the size of flight control surfaces and changing the cockpits locations.
They could also be equipped to land with both wheels and pontoons, enabling them to land and take off from the water.
Those original Douglas World Cruisers were named the Seattle, Chicago, Boston and New Orleans, along with the prototype which would end up becoming a spare.
With the Douglas World Cruisers delivered and preparations for the flight around the world completed, the Seattle, Boston, Chicago and New Orleans began their historic flight on April 6, 1924, departing from Seattle.
Each aircraft had one pilot and one mechanic as the four planes began making their way up the Pacific Coast toward Alaska. The original Seattle had engine trouble early on requiring repairs, and ended up crashing during a leg of the flight from Chignik, Alaska, to Dutch Harbor, Alaska, on April 30, 1924.
Both crew members survived the crash and were found alive 11 days later.
Following the loss of the Seattle, the Boston, Chicago and New Orleans carried on, eventually making their way eventually to Japan.
The historic flight continued taking the Douglas World Cruisers through China, down to Myanmar, then through India and the Middle East before eventually making their way to Europe.
However, after departing from the northern tip of England on a leg of the trip taking them to Iceland, bad weather forced the three remaining planes to split up, and the Boston was forced to make an emergency landing in the ocean near the Faroe Islands.
While the crew members were safe and the plane was repairable, the Boston sank while being towed to the Faroe Islands for repairs on Aug. 4, 1924.
Following the loss of the Boston, the prototype was utilized as a spare and dubbed the Boston II. It was flown to join the Chicago and New Orleans to complete the last legs of their flight around the world.
After originally departing from Sand Point on April 6, the Chicago, New Orleans and Boston II returned and landed in Seattle on Sept. 28, 1924 — 175 days after they had taken off.
Over those 175 days, the aviators spent 354 hours and 47 minutes flying in the air and traveled a distance of 25,180 miles, making a total of 74 landings in 22 different countries along the way.
To learn more about the historic flight of the Douglas World Cruisers along with Dempster’s reproduction Seattle II, visit https://www.seattleworldcruiser.org/.
