Apr
06

Today in Smithsonian History: April 6, 1974

The Douglas World Cruiser "Chicago," ready for exhibit after it was restored by Walter R. Roderick at the National Air and Space Museum's Silver Hill restoration and preservation center. (Photo by Harry B. Neufeld, as featured in the Torch, April 1974)

The Douglas World Cruiser “Chicago,” ready for exhibit after it was restored by Walter R. Roderick at the National Air and Space Museum’s Silver Hill restoration and preservation center. (Photo by Harry B. Neufeld, as featured in the Torch, April 1974)

April 6, 1974 The Douglas World Cruiser Chicago is placed on exhibit in the rotunda of the Arts and Industries Building to mark the 50th anniversary of the first aerial circumnavigation of the globe made in 1924. The aircraft was restored by Walter R. Roderick at the National Air and Space Museum’s restoration and preservation center in Silver Hill, Maryland.

missiles lined up outside A&I building

Rocket Row along the west side of the Arts and Industries Building in the late 1960s before the National Air and Space Museum was built. The four missiles on exhibit are: From left to right, the Jupiter C, which launched Explorer I, the first U.S. satellite; the Vanguard; the Polaris, the first U.S. submarine-launched ICBM; and the Atlas, the famed Mercury launch vehicle. (Photographer unknown, via Smithsonian Institution Archives)


Posted: 6 April 2019
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