SEATTLE — In 1924, four specially built Douglas Aircraft “World Cruisers” — one of them named Seattle — set out to become the first planes to circumnavigate the globe.
In 2014, local pilots Bob and Diane Dempster plan to make the same flight in Seattle II, a World Cruiser replica of their own making.
The Museum of Flight will celebrate the rollout of their newly finished World Cruiser with a free public ceremony, antique car display, live music and Twenties-themed festivities in the museum and the museum parking lot June 29. The ceremonies are from 11 a.m. to noon. Exhibits and signings 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Guests include local and state elected officials and military personnel.
On display in the museum lobby will be a vintage Rickenbacker coupe and a 10-foot scale model of the Douglas World Cruiser on floats. Renowned artist John Amendola will be signing prints of his painting of the departure of the 1924 world flight. Historians C.V. Glines and Stan Cohen will be autographing their book on the first world flight.
Vintage cars and planes will be on display in the museum parking lot from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Seattle II will be towed from its Boeing Field hangar by a 1924 Ford Model T tow truck, arriving at the museum at 11 a.m. The arrival will be heralded by the sounds of bagpipes in honor of the aircraft’s designer, Donald Douglas, who was a Scotsman piper.
The ceremony will include a special blessing from a Duwamish Tribal Representative, Kenneth Workman, a Boeing Flight Test engineer and descendant of Chief Seattle. The airplane will be christened with a bottle of water from Lake Washington in the spirit of the 1924 prohibition era. At noon, the aircraft will be flown down the runway length of Boeing Field, returning to John Phillip Sousa fanfare played by a 40-member band.
For more information: MuseumOfFlight.org