unitedstatesarmyairservice

This is a photo of the would-be US Army Air Service Round The World Flight aviators. First row, sitting, from left to right, Erik H. Nelson, Frederick Martin, and Lowell H. Smith. Second row, standing, from left to right, Laclair D. Schulze, Leigh Wade, Leslie Arnold, and Jack Harding. See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_aerial_circumnavigation Schulze (1891-1927) was an alternate for the flight. His name is frequently misspelled as "Le Clair D. Schulze." On August 2, 1927, he'd perish flight testing a new Curtiss engine. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. See: www.arlingtoncemetery.net/ldschulze.htm Frederick Martin (1882-1954) was the commander for the expedition, but his aircraft would crash onto the side of a mountain in the Aleutians. Both he and co-pilot/mechanic Alva Harvey would survive the crash, and hike down to a cannery after a 10-day ordeal. Martin would go on to have a military career of note. In fact, he would be the commander of US Army Air Forces in Hawaii during the Imperial Japanese Navy's (IJN) sneak attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Martin_(general)

The prototype Douglas World Cruiser, Army Air Service serial number AS 23-1210, McCook Field prototype number P-318. She'd later be named "Boston II." The aircraft was designed and built to US Army Air Service (USAAS) specifications for the purpose of completing the first flight around the world (hence, the ability to operate either with interchangeable fixed handing gear or floats) . Four production aircraft were built for the flight. They were named, "Seattle" (AS 23-1229), "Chicago" (AS 23-1230), "Boston" (AS 23-1231), and "New Orleans" (AS 23-1232). Both "Seattle" and "Boston" would fail to complete the journey. "Seattle" would crash in Alaska on April 30, 1924 (the story of the survival of her crew is worth learning about). "Boston" would be forced to land at sea near the Faroe Islands after her engine failed. She'd be irreparably damaged in the forced landing, and would sink while being towed by the light cruiser USS Richmond (CL-9), on August 3, 1924. After the loss of "Boston," the prototype (AS 23-1210) was pressed into service for the remainder of the flight, now named "Boston II." It would join the flight at Pictou Harbor, Nova Scotia, on September 3, 1924. Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_World_Cruiser en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_aerial_circumnavigation

The Seattle Star. May 12, 1924, Page 7, column 1 chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87093407/1924-05-12/ed-... reports the safety of the crew of the "Seattle" with headline "Aviators make their own rescue: Martin and Harvey walk for days to reach safety." Another description of the survival of the crew of the Seattle is at web.archive.org/web/20120622074326/http://www.alaskaairmu... This piece has a photo of the crashed plane. The Palisadian. September 12, 1924, ROTOGRAVURE SECTION, Image 9 chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84020438/1924-09-12/ed-... also includes a picture of the crashed plane.

Thanks TVL1970, we'll update our catalog record.

This is a US Army Air Service Curtiss Eagle III (Air Service serial no. A.S. 64243) configured as a flying ambulance. This aircraft would crash on May 28, 1921 (little more than two weeks after this photo was taken, on May 5, 1921), killing all seven aboard, including Medal of Honor recipient Lieut. Col. Archie Miller (US Army Air Service). See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_Eagle

On 28 May 1921, in one of the first major crashes in aviation history, Army Air Service Curtiss Eagle Serial Number 64243, the air ambulance, of the 1st Provisional Air Brigade, crashed during a severe thunderstorm attempting to land at Morgantown, Maryland while returning to Bolling Field, District of Columbia, from Langley Field, Virginia. The pilot, 1st Lt. Stanley M. Ames, and six passengers were killed. Four of the six were Air Service officers and an enlisted man. Two United States congressmen had chosen not to make the flight because of airsickness on the flight from Washington to Langley. The Army's Inspector General conducted an investigation of the crash and theorized that the aircraft stalled when it encountered an updraft at low altitude while trying to clear trees near the unfamiliar field and fell vertically, nose first, into the ground.

See also: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_Miller_(Medal_of_Honor)