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airport Journal
June 2008
Seattle Pilot Building
1924 Cruiser to Repeat
Historic Global Flight
By Terry Stephens |
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| Courtesy World Cruiser
Association |
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| Douglas World Cruisers, flown by
U.S. Army Air Service pilots, prepare to leave Seattle
to make the first flight around the globe. |
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Seattle pilot Bob Dempster, inspired by the globe-circling
flight of two U.S. Army Air Service planes 84 years ago, plans
to duplicate their 175-day, 23,942-nautical mile journey. He's
even building his own Douglas World Cruiser to make the flight.
"Deciding to recreate that trip wasn't an epiphany moment,"
Dempster said. "The decision came from my love of flying and my
admiration for those aviators who were the first to
circumnavigate the earth by air. I particularly want to finish
the flight that the Seattle began. That's why my plane is the
Seattle II."
On April 6, 1924, four Douglas DT torpedo bombers, modified with
extra fuel tanks and carrying the World Cruiser designation,
took off from Seattle's Sand Point Aviation Field bound for
Alaska. The pilots of planes named for the cities of Seattle,
Boston, Chicago and New Orleans found conditions were, at times,
tougher than they anticipated.
"Eventually, two of them made it, but there was nothing easy
about it," Dempster said. "Flying over the Aleutian Islands, the
Seattle crashed on an Alaskan mountain during a blinding
snowstorm. Fortunately, the two-man crew survived and plodded
through miles of wilderness to safety."
The three remaining planes flew on, cruising at 78 mph across
Asia, the Middle East and Europe, before rough weather forced
the Boston down as the three planes crossed the Atlantic. The
last photo taken of the Boston shows it upside down, tail in the
air and sinking. Fortunately, Dempster said, the U.S. Navy
cruiser USS Richmond, one of the ships stationed as a precaution
along the pilots' water route, was able to rescue the crew.
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| Courtesy World Cruiser
Association |
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| Four of these World Cruisers left
Seattle for the global adventure, but only two completed
the record flight. |
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Finally, two of the open-cockpit biplanes, Chicago and New
Orleans, reached the U.S. for a rendezvous with the fifth
Douglas Cruiser, built as a spare plane for the adventure. The
three planes continued across the country, landing at Sand Point
on Sept. 28.
Despite losing two planes in the attempt, the completion of that
record flight established Douglas Aircraft Co. as one of the
world's major aviation companies, an achievement reflected in
the company's new motto, "First Around the World – First the
World Around."
"The magnitude of that flight was as complex as America's moon
landing in 1969," Dempster said. "Logistically, spare engines
and other supplies had to be distributed around the world along
the flight path. The engineering of the special planes, built
for both wheels and floats, was amazing. So was the extensive
crew training, cooperation between military services, global
diplomatic support and the flying skill and determination of the
eight men in the crews."
Today, the record-setting flight that captured the world's
imagination has few reminders. One of the two planes that
completed the global flight, Chicago, hangs in the Smithsonian
Institute's National Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C. In
Santa Monica, Calif., where the famous planes were built, New
Orleans most recently hung in the Museum of Flying. Today, its
fabric is being restored in preparation for a place in the new
Museum of Flying that will open in late 2009 at Santa Monica
Municipal Airport (SMO).
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| Courtesy World Cruiser
Association |
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| An official 1924 program was
published for the event, which gained worldwide
attention. |
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Although Sand Point is no longer a municipal airfield, nor the
naval air station it once was in the 1940s, a 1924 monument to
the World Cruisers still stands, a granite obelisk topped by a
pair of giant "angel" wings. A bronze commemorative plaque is
also on display at Mere Point in Casco Bay, Maine, one of the
points touched by the planes on their route. Another plaque
remains on Attu, one of the Aleutian Islands. Artifacts from the
record flight are scattered, from the USAF museum in Dayton,
Ohio; to the Museum of Flight, Seattle; the Aviation Museum of
Kentucky at Bluegrass Airport in Lexington; and at San Antonio's
History and Traditions Museum.
Dempters' turn
Dempster said this trip won't be an attempt to duplicate that
journey in exacting detail.
"It's more of a commemorative flight," he said. "We'll have some
authentic flight instruments from that era. I already have a
donated 1924 cockpit switch for the plane's original 420-hp
Liberty V-12 engine and a vintage altimeter. But we're
installing modern radio and avionics systems for our safety and
also to comply with today's global aviation requirements."
In place of the original plane's tailskid, he's installing a
wheel. He also added brakes for the main landing gear and
strengthened the plane's original metal tube frame with newer,
stronger materials. Donated Edo metal floats with water rudders
will replace the original rudderless wooden floats.
"We'll be restoring a Liberty V-12 for the museum display, but
our engine will be a much more reliable and modern design within
the same range of 300 to 400 hp," Dempster said. "We'll use more
durable, nonflammable material to cover the frame, because the
original material was cotton. When it was wet, the fabric sagged
and distorted the airfoil, as well as adding a lot of weight.
Also, paints used on the cotton were highly flammable, so we
want to avoid that potential problem."
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| Courtesy World Cruiser
Association |
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| In 1990, Bob and Diane Dempster flew
their Piper Super Cub from England to Egypt, as part of
a short-lived attempt to fly to Australia. |
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Dempster has been working with a team of Federal Aviation
Administration-certified mechanics and inspectors, assisted by
commercial, experimental and antique aircraft restoration
experts. For years, he's been filling the World Cruiser
Association's website with photos and details of the
construction progress, including making the frame, gluing fabric
and creating a replica of the walnut steering wheel used on the
Cruisers.
Dempster's wife, Diane, has been deeply involved in the whole
venture. A Seattle Boeing employee, she has a master's degree in
education and is working on her doctorate. Also a faculty member
of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a licensed pilot,
she presides over the association's programs for youth and
college students, mentoring students about aviation as an
education opportunity, recreation sport and career field.
The Dempsters also involved local Civil Aviation Patrol cadets
in a Build-A-Rib program, teaching them about aerodynamics as
they made a 7 foot, 6 inch long wing rib that became a part of
the finished aircraft. Bob Dempster has made numerous
presentations about the project to Experimental Aircraft
Association chapters, as well as the Washington Pilots
Association, Women in Education, Northwest Aviation Trade
Expositions and various community groups. In recent years, he's
promoted his Seattle II venture at the annual Northwest Aviation
Conference & Trade Show in Puyallup, Wash.
Today, the Seattle II's final construction is taking place in a
corner of Boeing's Plant 2 in Seattle, where B-17s were built
during World War II. It's less than a year away from taking off
for a flight into aviation history books.
"I'm planning the first test hop from Boeing Field by the end of
the year," he said. "Then we'll start our world flight April 6,
2009, exactly 85 years after the original adventure. Other than
preserving that date, we'll just be flying to complete the trip,
whatever it takes on whatever schedule. It's a celebration
flight, after all."
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| Courtesy World Cruiser
Association |
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| Diane and Bob Dempster are building
their own World Cruiser, a replica of the original
planes that were the first to be flown around the world. |
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Along with passports, the Dempsters will need flight permits to
enter each country, he said, adding that language barriers will
be erased by English-speaking air controllers at international
airports along the route, including across Russia and China.
The Dempsters are already accustomed to international flying. In
1990, they shipped their Piper J-3 Cub to England for a flight
to Egypt and on to Australia. Crossing the desert, they were
forced to make an emergency landing at an Egyptian air force
base. An officer discouraged them from continuing the flight
because of the 120-degree temperatures.
"He told us it really wasn't a good time to make the trip, so we
gave it up," Dempster recalled. "We soon discovered it might not
have been just the temperature he was warning us about. A week
and a half after we left Egypt, the Persian Gulf War began."
Support is building
For more than five years, the World Cruiser has been a
seven-day-a-week project for Dempster, including taking time to
educate people about the historic aviation event and raise money
for his venture.
"Dream like you mean it!" he said. "I'm an optimist. If I were a
realist, none of this would've happened. It's a lot of work, but
it will become an emotional moment at the top of the mountain
when we get there. We've had a lot of magic moments on the way,
too. But you always have to be your greatest critic and your own
best cheerleader."
In the early years, the Dempsters financed the project on their
own.
"I spend like I mean it, too," he said, laughing, "I just don't
add up the bills. To get it started, we financed it by
refinancing our home and cars several times, paying off each
loan and then borrowing on each item again. Diane works long
hours with me, too, but she continues her employment at Boeing
to provide for our living."
Now, he's finally getting broader support.
"Over the years, we've gotten the plane to a point where people
really believe it's going to happen," he said. "Then, they're
willing to get on board. People like to invest in success."
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| Photo By Terry
Stephens |
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| In his booth at the 2008 Northwest
Aviation Conference in Puyallup, Wash., last February,
Bob Dempster showed off the steering wheel he built for
his 1924 World Cruiser replica. |
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Matching grants for the project have come from Boeing and IBM,
along with sustaining membership donations from Harper
Engineering and numerous individuals. Support has also come from
The Royal Aeronautical Society, Los Angeles County Museum of
Natural History and Williams Machine & Fabrication in Seattle.
The Boeing Employees Community Fund, Salmon Bay Boatworks,
Seattle Museum of History and Industry, Seattle Maritime
Historical Society, Replica Fighters Association, Seattle Museum
of Flight and many other groups and individuals are helping the
Dempsters fulfill this dream as well.
"On April 6, we put on a huge gala fundraising event at the
Museum of Flight for 160 people," Dempster said. "Many of them
came from the Museum of Flight, including director Bonnie
Dunbar, and from the Boeing Co., Pratt & Whitney and other
corporate supporters. People are being inspired, because this
isn't only an aviation project, but also a community history
project for Seattle."
For Dempster, his pending flight plan is just another chapter in
a life filled with flying fever.
"I grew up around flying," he said. "My father learned to fly in
World War II, came home and started giving flying lessons. He
taught land and seaplane flying, plus multi-engine instruction,
along with running a charter service in Syracuse, N.Y. I started
out flying, then did other things for years, then wound up back
in aviation. Now, it's led me to this."
Once the flight is complete, the Seattle II will be placed on
display at the Museum of Flight.
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