Seattle Museum of Flight

Celebrating the centennial of the first around the world flight

On April 6, 1924, four U.S. Army planes, each with two crewmembers, took off from what was then Sand Point Airfield in Seattle.

Their goal was to complete the first circumnavigation of the globe by air.

The four planes were Douglas World Cruisers and they were named Seattle, Chicago, Boston, and New Orleans.

Due to weight restrictions, no more than 300 pounds of supplies could be loaded into each open-cockpit plane. And that meant that some otherwise standard equipment, such as parachutes and life preservers, got left behind.

Although each member of the World Flight carried a stuffed monkey as a mascot.

This monkey was named “Maggie” and flew on the Boston plane. (Image courtesy National Air and Space Museum).

The journey was far from easy. On their way around the world, the team encountered freezing temperatures, typhoons, mechanical breakdowns, crashes, and other obstacles.

But, despite losing two of the original four planes, on September 28, 1924, the Chicago, the New Orleans, plus the Boston II (a replacement) landed back at Sand Point.

The journey had taken 175 days, the crew had made 74 stops, and the team had covered about 27,550 miles.

Today, that first flight around the world is marked with a concrete pillar on a small island at the entrance of the former Naval Air Station where the planes took off.

At the top of the pillar is a large pair of bird wings. At the bottom, a plaque with the dates of the flight and the names of the crewmen and their planes.

This week Seattle is marking the 100th anniversary of the first successful round-the-world flight with celebrations at the Museum of Flight and at Magnuson Park, the site of the former Sand Point Airfield.

From September 26 to 29, more an a dozen aircraft representing decades of around-the-world record flights will be on view in the parking lot of Seattle’s Museum of Flight. Inside the museum, there will be flight lectures and films.

A full schedule for the museum events is online.

Over at Magnuson Park, there’s an afternoon of free commemoration events scheduled for September 28th.

Here’s a video about the first round-the-world flight from the National Archives.

And here’s a video about the around-the-world flight aimed at a very young audience, courtesy of the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum.

Swifties at San Jose Airport + Authors at MCI + Musical Astronauts at Seattle’s Museum of Flight

San Jose Airport is Ready for Taylor Swift Fans

Thousands of Taylor Swift fans, known as “Swifties,” will be flying into San Jose Mineta International Airport (SJC) this week on their way to Levi’s Stadium, where Swift will be performing on July 28 and 29 as part of her Eras Tour.

The airport is ready with friendship bracelets for trading and SJC goodies for sharing on Thursday, 7/27, in the Terminal B bag claim around 4 pm, while supplies last.

Summer Lit Fest at Kansas City International Airport

Here’s a great idea that would be great to see at every airport:

Kansas City International Airport (MCI) is hosting a Summer Lit Fest with a pop-up event that will feature readings and book signings by Kansas City authors.

The event will take place on Friday, July 28th, from 11 am to 2 pm, at the post-security Turn the Page KC store.

Here are the authors participating:

  • Former Kansas City Mayor Sly James will discuss and sign “Mayor Sly and the Magic Bow Tie” written by Aja James and Audrey Masoner;
  • Jim “Stinky Feet” Cosgrove, author of “Bop Bop Dinosaur” and “Sullen Sally”;
  • Chris Meggs, author of “Twas the Night Before Tipoff” and “Go Chiefs Go”;
  • Julie Snodgrass, author of “The Search for your Best Furever Friend” and “Puppies on Parade”;
  • Christle Reed – “I Can be me in KC;” and
  • Crystal Everett –  â€śMommy and Mari Move It.”

Astronaut band to perform at Seattle’s Museum of Flight

Bandella, a band made up of five former astronauts and guest artists, lands for two shows at Seattle’s Museum of Flight on July 29.

Bandella includes Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who performed a solo performance video of David Bowie’s Space Oddity while floating in the space station. The four other astronaut artists include Cady Coleman, Dan Burbank, Ken Cockrell, and Steve Robinson, with Micki Pettit as the lead singer.

The concert will blend music with stories from space, plus a Q&A with the audience.

Airports (and a museum) remember Charlie Watts

The Rolling Stones’ drummer, Charlie Watts, died on Tuesday and several airports, including Philadelphia International Airport and Dublin Airport – and Seattle’s Museum of Flight – went into their archives to share photos.

An opera about being stuck at the airport filmed at Seattle’s Museum of Flight

Like so many arts and cultural organizations, the Seattle Opera has gotten pretty darn creative with finding ways to bring its productions to the people.

The newest production is a great example of that and will be of interest to opera fans and avgeeks alike.

Courtesy Seattle Opera

For the 2020/2021 season, the Seattle Opera was planning to present a performance of “Flight.” The three-act opera was written in 1998 by composer Jonathan Dove and librettist April De Angelis and has been performed around the world.

Here’s the story of the opera:

An omniscient air traffic controller watches over a departure lounge bustling with relentlessly cheerful flight attendants, an excitable couple on vacation, a mysterious older woman, and a diplomat and his expectant wife, all of whom must spend the night to wait out a storm. At the heart of the show is the Refugee, a character inspired by Mehran Karimi Nasseri, who lived in Charles de Gaulle Airport near Paris for almost 18 years.”

The pandemic means that the Seattle Opera can’t perform the show live. But rather than pass on the opportunity to present it, the Seattle Opera teamed up with Seattle’s Museum of Flight and filmed the opera there.

Brilliant, right?

The live stream of the Flight runs April 23-25. And tickets are just $35.

Below you’ll find a trailer for the opera and a pre-flight/pre-show talk full of tidbits on how the project came to be.

There’s also a fun interview with Museum of Flight curator Matthew Burchette sharing some of his favorite aircraft in the museum and talking about the control tower exhibit, which plays a role in the opera.

Enjoy!

Astronauts invade Seattle

MUSEUM OF FLIHGT PReiquam_SpaceTourist

Peter Reiquam – Space Tourist

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, Seattle’s Museum of Flight has placed 25 life-size, space-suited astronaut statues around town. Each statue began as a white fiberglass statue and was then transformed by a local artist into something new.

David Newman and Ruth Cieol_SpaceSquatch

SpaceSquatch Explores the Pacific Northwest – by David Newman and Ruth Cielo

The museum is encouraging locals and visitors to find astronauts around town, take selfies and post them on Instagram (tag: #astronautsonthetown) for a chance to win a pair of tickets on Alaska Airlines, good to any Alaska Airlines destination.

The statutes will be in town through mid-September, but an on-line auction for all 25 astronauts runs throughout August – in case you want an arty-astronaut for your home or office.

Here’s a link to a gallery featuring images of all statues in the Astronauts around Town project.

Scott_HappyConstellations

Happy Concstellations -by Fin’es Scott