This Week in History
The First Flight Around The World
28 September 1924
2 US planes, The Chicago and The New Orleans, complete the first flight around the world.
In 1924, two planes completed the first flight around the world, covering 26,343 miles in 175 days. Four bi-planes left Seattle in the USA and flew north to Alaska, where one of them crashed. The remaining three then flew across to Japan, down to South-East Asia, across India and then through Europe. Another crashed on the way to Iceland, but the last two, The Chicago and The New Orleans, completed the journey back to Seattle. The planes travelled at an average speed of 70mph and had to have their engines replaced many times during the trip. Despite the crashes, all eight pilots survived.
cover (verb): pass over
remaining (adjective): still there after the others are gone
journey (noun): a trip from one place to another
replace (verb): exchange for a new one
Test your understanding:
During most of the flight the planes were travelling
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Two of the planes failed to complete the flight because of crashes in
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The final destination of their journey was
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