First aerial circumnavigation The first aerial circumnavigation of the world was conducted in 1924 by a team of aviators of the United States Army Air Service , the precursor of the United States Air Force . The trip took 175 days , covering over . In 1929 Australian Charles Kingsford Smith completed the second circumnavigation of the world by flight , and the first within both hemispheres , including the first trans - Pacific flight to Australia in 1928 . U . S . preparation for circumnavigation attempt . In the early 1920s several countries were vying to be the first to fly around the world . The British had made one unsuccessful around - the - world air flight attempt in 1922 . The following year , a French team had tried ; the Italians , Portuguese , and British also announced plans for a world - circling flight . In the spring of 1923 , the U . S . Army Air Service became interested in having a squadron of military aircraft undertake a round - the - world flight . It assigned a group of officers in the War Department planning group , the job of finding a suitable aircraft and planning the mission . The War Department instructed the Air Service to look at both the Fokker T - 2 transport and the Davis - Douglas Cloudster to see if either would be suitable and to acquire examples for testing . Although deemed satisfactory , the planning group considered other U . S . Air Service military aircraft both in service and production , with a view that a dedicated design that could be fitted with interchangeable landing gear , wheeled and pontoons for water landings , would be preferable . When the head of Davis - Douglas , Donald Douglas , was asked for information on the Davis - Douglas Cloudster , he instead submitted data on a modified DT - 2 , a torpedo bomber that Douglas had built for the U . S . Navy in 1921 and 1922 . The DT - 2 had proven to be a sturdy aircraft that could accommodate interchangeable wheeled and pontoon landing gear . Since the aircraft was an existing model , Douglas stated that a new aircraft , which he named the Douglas World Cruiser ( DWC ) , could be delivered within 45 days after a contract was awarded . The Air Service agreed and sent Lieutenant Erik Nelson , a member of the planning group , to California to work out the details with Douglas . Douglas , assisted by Jack Northrop , began to modify a DT - 2 to suit the circumnavigation requirements . The main modification involved its fuel capacity . All the internal bomb carrying structures were removed with additional fuel tanks added to the wings and fuselage fuel tanks enlarged in the aircraft . The total fuel capacity went from 115 gallons ( 435 liters ) to 644 gallons ( 3 , 438 liters ) . Lieutenant Nelson took the Douglas proposal to Washington where Major General Mason M . Patrick , Chief of the Air Service , approved it on 1 August 1923 . The War Department awarded an initial contract to Douglas for the construction of a single prototype . The prototype met all expectations , and a contract was awarded for four more production aircraft and spare parts . The last DWC was delivered on 11 March 1924 . The spare parts included 15 extra Liberty engines , 14 extra sets of pontoons , and enough replacement airframe parts for two more aircraft . These were sent ahead along the route around the world the aircraft would follow . Douglas World Cruiser aircraft and crew . The pilots trained in meteorology and navigation at Langley Field in Virginia , where they also practiced in the prototype . The crews then practiced on the production aircraft in Los Angeles and San Diego . Douglas World Cruiser circumnavigation . Four aircraft : " Seattle " , " Chicago " , " Boston " , and " New Orleans " left Santa Monica , California , on 4 April 1924 , for Sand Point , Washington , near Seattle , Washington , the official start of the journey . On 6 April 1924 , they left Seattle for Alaska . After reaching Prince Rupert Island , the lead aircraft " Seattle , " flown by Maj . Frederick Martin with SSgt . Alva Harvey ( the only fully qualified mechanic in the flight ) , needed repairs and remained behind . When it was repaired , the crew attempted to catch up with the other three aircraft , but on 30 April , " Seattle " crashed in dense fog into a mountainside near Port Moller , Alaska on the Alaska Peninsula . The crew survived and were picked up on 10 May , but the aircraft was destroyed . The three remaining aircraft continued , with " Chicago " flown by Lt . Smith and 1st Lt . Arnold , assuming the lead . Taking off from the Aleutian Islands , the flight traveled across the North Pacific archipelago . Avoiding the Soviet Union , which had not given permission for the expedition to cross into their airspace , they crossed Japan , Korea , the coast of China , Hong Kong , French Indochina , Thailand , Burma , and India , and proceeded into the Middle East and then Europe . During the mission , due to a broken connecting rod , the " Chicago " was forced to land in a lagoon off the Gulf of Tonkin in French Indochina ( now Vietnam ) . Considered a novelty in this region of the world , missionary priests supplied the pilots with food and wine and locals climbed aboard the pontoons to see the biplane . The other flyers searching for the " Chicago " by boat , found the crew sitting on the wing in the early morning hours . Three paddle powered sampans with local crews towed the aircraft for 10 hours , and 25 miles , to the city of Hue , where repairs were effected . " [ T ] he fastest – and undoubtedly the first – engine change that had ever been made in Indochina . " Misfortune was again to strike the " Chicago " as later in the mission , while inspecting the aircraft in Calcutta , Smith slipped and broke a rib but insisted on completing the mission . The flight arrived in Paris on Bastille Day , 14 July . From Paris they flew to London and on to the north of England in order to prepare for the Atlantic Ocean crossing . On 3 August 1924 , while flying across the Atlantic , " Boston " was forced down . The " Chicago " was able to contact a navy destroyer and dropped a note about the troubled aircraft , tied to the " Chicago ' s " only life preserver . While being towed by the U . S . Navy light cruiser USS " Richmond " that had picked up the crew , the " Boston " capsized and sank . The " Chicago " with Lt . Lowell Smith and 1st Lt . Leslie Arnold still in the lead , and the " New Orleans " , with Lt . Erik Nelson and Lt . Jack Harding , continued and crossed the Atlantic via Iceland and Greenland and reached Canada . The original prototype , now named " Boston II " , reunited with the " Boston " s crew , Lt . Leigh Wade ( pilot ) and SSgt . Henry Ogden , met them in Pictou , Nova Scotia , and the three aircraft flew on to Washington DC . After a hero ' s welcome in the capital , the three Douglas World Cruisers flew to the West Coast , on a multi - city tour , stopping briefly in Santa Monica and finally landing in Seattle on 28 September 1924 . The trip had taken 175 days , and covered 27 , 553 miles ( 44 , 085 km ) . The Douglas Aircraft Company adopted the motto , " First Around the World – First the World Around " . The American team had greatly increased their chances of success by using several aircraft and pre - positioning large caches of fuel , spare parts and other support equipment along the route . At prearranged way points , the World Flight ' s aircraft had their engines changed five times and new wings fitted twice . Itinerary . The flight traveled largely from East to West , beginning in the United States in April 1924 and returning to its start point in September . It flew northwest to Alaska across northern - pacific islands to Japan and then south - Asia , across to Europe and the Atlantic Ocean . Survivors . At the request of the Smithsonian Institution , the U . S . War Department transferred ownership of the " Chicago " to the museum for display . It made its last flight from Dayton , Ohio to Washington , D . C . on 25 September 1925 . It was almost immediately put on display in the Smithsonian ' s Arts and Industries Building . In 1974 , the " Chicago " was restored under the direction of Walter Roderick , and transferred to the new National Air and Space Museum building for display in their " Barron Hilton Pioneers of Flight " exhibition gallery . Beginning in 1957 , the " New Orleans " was displayed at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton , Ohio . The aircraft was on loan from the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History and was returned in 2005 . Since February 2012 , the " New Orleans " is to be a part of the exhibits at the Museum of Flying , Santa Monica , California . The wreckage of the " Seattle " was recovered and is now on display in the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum . The original " Boston " sank in the North Atlantic , and it is thought that the only surviving piece of the original prototype , the " Boston II " , is the aircraft data plate , now in a private collection , and a scrap of fuselage skin , in the collection of the Vintage Wings & Wheels Museum in Poplar Grove , Illinois . As for the crews , Major Martin was in command of Army aviation units in Hawaii at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor . His mechanic Alva Harvey was commissioned and commanded heavy bomb groups during World War II . Lt . Nelson rose to the rank of colonel and became one of General Henry Arnold ' s chief trouble - shooters on the development and operational deployment of the Boeing B - 29 Superfortress . Cross - equator circumnavigation . The first aerial circumnavigation of the world that involved the crossing of the equator twice was made using a single aircraft , the " Southern Cross " , a Fokker F . VIIb / 3m trimotor monoplane . Cross - equator flight . After completing the first trans - Pacific crossing on 9 June 1928 , flying from Oakland to Brisbane , Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm spent several months making other long - distance flights across Australia and to New Zealand . They decided to use their trans - Pacific flight as the first leg of a globe - circling flight . They flew the " Southern Cross " to England in June 1929 , then across the Atlantic and North America , returning to Oakland where their trans - Pacific flight had begun . Before Kingsford Smith ' s death in 1935 , he donated the " Southern Cross " to the Commonwealth of Australia , for display in a museum . The aircraft is preserved in a special glass ' hangar ' memorial on Airport Drive , near the International Terminal at Brisbane Airport in Queensland , Australia .