Army Flyers Land in Japan -- May 17, 2024

Weekly Kansas City Star, 21-May-1924

100 years ago this month, teams from several countries were trying to make the first aerial circumnavigation of the earth. The US Army, with the close cooperation of the Navy, made it. On 17-May-1924, the Americans landed in Tokyo (then often spelled "Tokio."  The Prince Regent later became the Emperor Hirohito. 

ARMY FLYERS LAND

IN JAPAN; CHEERED

BY GREAT THRONGS

Reach Kasumigaura, Naval

Base, After Trip of 704

Miles, Requiring 13 Hours.

THOUSANDS GET FIRST

VIEW OF AERIAL CRAFT

Will Be Received by Prince Regent -- Plan to Resume World Flight Sunday.

By the Associated Press,
KASUMIGAURA. Japan. May 22. -- This was a notable day for the American Army aviators who are circling the globe by air. Within fifteen hours they drove down out of the bleak, windy north Pacific region, where storms and fogs have hampered their progress for days, into a temperate clime, where they probably can make up some of the lost time. They made the first landing American airmen have made in Japan, and they did two days' tasks in one.

Taking off from the icy waters of Hitokappu Bay. off Yetorofu Island, in the Kuriles, at 3 a.m., the aviators swooped down over Kushiro, on the Island of Hokkaido, four hours and fifty minutes later, circled once over the American destroyer John D. Ford, on duty there in case the flyers needed aid, and went on without landing to Minato, at the northern end of the Island of Hondo, on which Tokio is located. They landed at Minato, 354 miles from Hitokappu Bay, at 10:40 a.m.

Arrive at Kasumigaura.

At 12:30 p.m. they took the air again for the 350-mile hop to Kasumigaura, where they arrived at 5:40 p.m.

Originally it had been planned that the jump from Yetorofu Island to the main island of Japan and the further hop to Kasumigaura should occupy successive days, but yesterday Lieut. Lowell H. Smith, commanding the flight, advised American naval officers on the Ford that the aviators would try to do both today.

On the way here the Americans gave the population of Kushiro, already thrilled by the visit of the Ford, the first foreign warcraft ever to enter that fishing town's harbor, their first sight of an American airplane and, to most of them, the first view of any aircraft whatever.

Thousands Watch Planes.

Crowds numbering thousands lined the hills above the town and gathered in open spaces to watch the planes pass over and, the watchers hoped, to land, for yesterday officials of the town were told the Americans might pause there for fuel. There was disappointment when the aircraft, after circling over the destroyer, went on to Minato. The mayor had declared the landing of the planes would be regarded as the greatest honor ever accorded the town.

Crowds also were gathered at Minato. The beach was gay with thousands of school children, who waved flags and shouted. The Americans were sighted thirty seconds before they landed, flying down the bay in perfect formation. They fell into line, circled once above the buoys placed for their moornings, and settled onto the water as gracefully as birds.

There was no ceremony at Minato, all the time the flyers spent there being taken up with refueling the aircraft and putting fresh supplies of water and oil aboard. The flyers had lunch and a brief rest and then went on.

Escorted by Japanese.

At Sendai, about half way between Kasumigaura and Minato, a group of Japanese planes met the Americans and escorted them southward.

Word was flashed here from the radio station at Tomioka that the flyers had passed over that point at 4:10 p.m. and virtually the entire unoccupied personnel of the naval aviation base, which will be the flyers’ headquarters for the next few days, sought vantage points to watch their arrival. They had made 704 miles in twelve hours and fifty minutes’ flying time.

Present expectation is that the Americans will not continue their flight until Sunday or later. They are to be received by the prince regent in a special audience on the occasion of a visit he is making to the aviation base, and their planes are to be gone over by the finest corps of mechanics the navy has been able to assemble from among its air force.

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NAVY MEN ARE FETED.

Thousands Visit Destroyer -- Banquet for Officers.

By the Associated Press.
KUSHIRO. Island of Hokkaido, Japan, May 22. -- The American destroyer, John D. Ford, here on duty with the American round-the-world flight, was given a stirring greeting by the people of this fishing center and the surrounding country today. The warmest hospitality has been extended to her officers and crew.

Thousands of citizens visited the ship yesterday and today. Last night the officers were guests at a banquet given by the townspeople, at which cordial expressions or good will were exchanged.

The mayor of the town declared that no war vessel ever had visited the port before.

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COVER, 5,115 MILES.

U. S. Flyers Completed Fifth of

Trip May 17.

Five thousand one hundred and fifteen miles had been covered by the three world cruiser Army airplanes, from the starting point, Santa Monica, Calif., when they landed in Kashiwabara Bay. Kuriles Islands, Japan, on the afternoon of May 17. or about one-fifth of the proposed circumnavigation of the globe by air. The total flying time for this distance was seventy-three hours and twenty minutes, making an average speed of about seventy miles an hour. Most of this distance the ships were equipped with double pontoons, which slowed them down.

The log of the flight as it is kept on the official books at Air Service headquarters here gives a terse account of the journey. The machines hopped off from Santa Monica March 17, covering the first 350 miles to Sacramento, Calif., in 4 hours and 30 minutes; the next 375 miles to Eugene, Oreg. In 6 hours and 5 minutes: the next jump to Vancouver Barracks, Wash., 110 miles, ln 1 hour and 5 minutes, and the hop to Seattle, l30 miles, in 2 hours and 38 minutes.

At Seattle pontoons were installed instead of wheels for the trip across the Pacific, the change adding thousands of pounds to the weight of the four ships, resulting in a marked reduction in average flying speed.

Prince Rupert, B. C,, 650 miles from Seattle, the first foreign soil stop, was reached April 6 in a flying time of 8 hours and 10 minutes. The flagship Seattle suffered her first accident In landing at Prince Rupert smashing wing struts and wings. Repairs were made locally in four days and the jump to Sitka, Alaska, followed, with 300 mites covered in 4 hours and 55 minutes.

Weather delays began at Sitka, and it was three days before thee planes reached Seward, a distance of 610 miles, covered in 7 hours and 40 minutes. The jump to Chignik followed for the three leading planes, the Seattle being forced down on this flight. The distance to Chignit was 450 miles, and the flying time 6 hours and 22 minutes.

The three leading planes were off four days later for Dutch Harbor, 400 miles away, and reached it in 7 hours and 10 minutes’ flying time, to await the arrival of the flight commander, Maj. Martin, in the Seattle. It was while attempting this flight that Maj. Martin's plane crashed into a mountainside and no word was heard of him for ten days, when he reported from Port Moller.

On May 3 the three remaining planes swept westward again to complete the crossing of the Pacific and landed at Nazan. Atka Islands, a distance of 350 miles, covered in a flying time of 4 hours and 15 minutes. The 530-mile jump to the Attu Islands followed, after weather delays, being covered in 8 hours and 50 minutes.

Weather again delayed the flyers until May 15, when they took off for Kashiwabara Bay, only to be forced down by a storm, landing offshore at Komandorski Island, for the night and continuing their journey next day for a distance of 860 miles from the Atka Islands, covered in 11 hours and 30 minutes.

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DOISY TO CONTINUE.

By Cable to the Star and Chicago Daily News. Copyright. l924.

SHANGHAI, May 22 -- Lieut. Doisy, the French flyer, whose plane was wrecked in landing here a few days ago. made a trial flight in the plane proffered by the Chekiang government yesterday, and announced that he would resume his flight to Tokio either Sunday or Monday, stopping first at Nanking.

By Radio to The Star aud Chicago Daily News Copyright, 1924.

PARIS, May 22 -- Lieut. Pelletier Doisy's mishap in China inspires other French flyers to take up the task of defending France's glory in the air. Three new long-distance flights have been planned.

Capt. Dugnaux wants to hop from Paris to Madagascar via airplane, and Capt. Gurier from Paris to Algiers and back in the course of one day.

Col, Villemin wants to go from Paris to an unannounced destination, but it is said to be far. far away.

With the biggest air fleet in the world. France feels she should show other nations what she can do. Despite the scant publicity given to it abroad. Delay's flight is regarded here as an exploit overshadowing in importance, at least up to the present, that of Lieut. Smith, Majs. Martin and McLaren, or any other around-the-world flyer.

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BRITON IS HALTED.

SHANGHAI, May 22. -- Bad weather today prevented A. Stuart MacLaren, British aviator, who is flying around the world, from hopping off from Akyab, Burma, for Rangoon as he had planned, a Reuters dispatch from Calcutta says.