Douglas D-WC World Cruiser                                   

                               

                                  Five Douglas D-WCs (a long range variant of the US Navy's DT-2) were built in response to a
                                  1923 United States Army Air Services request for an aircraft capable of circumnavigating the
                                  globe.   The prototype was followed by four production aircraft which were given the numbers
                                  1 thru 4 and named Seattle, Chicago, Boston and New Orleans.  However, in just about every
                                  image I have ever seen of these aircraft, including the one above, for the life of me I can never
                                  discern either a number or a name on any of them!  In truth, I believe the number was carried on
                                  the rear fuselage during the actual flight.  On the image above the number was either airbrushed                                       
                                  over or hadn't yet been applied.  I offer this poor illustration therefore, purely for historic interest.
                                  Below is a close up of the art work appearing on the fuselage sides.  The actual flight was, in fact,
                                  something of an epic and was flown from east to west, via Canada and Alaska.  Not generally
                                  appreciated is the fact that it was the first staged crossing of the Pacific Ocean.   Only Chicago
                                  and New Orleans completed the entire trip, arriving back in the U.S. on 28 September 1924,
                                  having covered some 28,945 statute miles..