The true account the first flight to go around the world, in stages and over 175 days. The Douglas World Cruiser aircraft was a 2 seater open cockpit plane. The US team started in Seattle and flew west, flying through freezing arctic conditions and through broiling desert heat. The US team started with 4 planes, each plane had a pilot and mechanic. Any time something brokde on the planes, the crew had to fix everything themselves. The US team had one plane actually finish the race. Other attempts were made by the UK, France, Portugal and Argentina. Each of these had a single plane. The major advantage the the US had was the US Navy havnig ships that supported the effort. This race was the idea of Gneral Mitchell in an attempt to get support for a more robust US military air effort.
