Colonel Lowell Herbert Smith has been selected for his contributions leading to the development of international air travel.

After the successful conclusion of WW I, the Army Air Service wanted to expand on their popularity with the general public as well as to gain political support of their programs. General Mason M. Patrick, head of the Army Air Service, decided that the best way to do this was to have a group of pilots fly specially built aircraft around the world. Captain Smith was one of the pilots selected to attempt this challenging mission.

Lowell was born October 8, 1892, in Santa Barbara but moved to Battle Mountain with his parents sometime later. The Nevada State Journal reported in 1924 that Lowell worked for several years in the mines south of Battle Mountain. He was reported to be a skilled mechanic, automobile racer and airplane pilot before enlisting in the service. In 1915, Lowell began serving as a pilot with Pancho Villa's Revolutionary Forces in Mexico, flying aerial reconnaissance missions against central government troops. At that time, Villa was considered an American hero but fell from grace in 1916 when his troops attacked an arms dealer in Columbia, Mew Mexico, who had sold weapons to his enemies.

Lowell returned to Battle Mountain and, with the outbreak of war with Germany, attempted to enlist in the Air Service. His initial efforts were rejected due to his lack of a higher education, but locals and his congressional representative pushed for his selection. He enlisted as a private in April 1917, and received his pilot wings in October of that year. He was then commissioned a First Lieutenant in December and ordered to England where he received training on the Handley-Page aircraft.

In October, 1919, Lowell flew in the Great Transcontinental Air Race using a borrowed aircraft for the second half of the race. His plane had been destroyed by fire on the 15^th but he was told that he could complete the race if he could find a replacement plane. On the 17^th, then Major Carl Spaatz flew in and agreed to let Lowell use his aircraft for the flight back to San Francisco. Lowell completed the round trip on October 21, 1919, thus winning the race.

On August 27, 1923, Lowell flew the first aircraft to receive a mid-air refueling, thus allowing completion of an endurance flight that led to a new endurance record on August 28^th of 37 hours. In all, Lowell ended up holding 16 records for military aircraft in speed, endurance, and distance.

The most notable of these was the Around-the-World flight of 1924. The Army Air Service had commissioned the Douglas Aircraft Company to build the aircraft for the flight. The result was the Douglas O-5 Observation Seaplane which became known as the Douglas World Cruiser. On April 6, 1924, the four Air Service seaplanes departed Seattle to begin their flight around the world. These four planes were named after four cities in the United States, Seattle, Chicago, Boston, and New Orleans.

While Major Frederick L. Martin originally commanded the Around-the-World attempt, he flew the Seattle into a fog shrouded mountain near Chignik, Alaska and, since his plane was demolished, command was passed to Captain Smith, the pilot of the Chicago. While in Asia, Lowell contracted Dysentery but continued on. Photos from the start of the flight and those taken at the end show a marked loss of weigh on Lowell's part.

The Boston had a sudden loss of oil pressure and had to make an emergency landing at sea between the Orkney Islands and Iceland. Although the landing was successful, the plane was damaged and sunk when an attempt was made to lift it onto the USS Richmond. The prototype aircraft joined the other two planes when they landed in Nova Scotia, and was immediately christened the Boston II.

The three planes then made their way to Washington, D.C. where they were met by President Calvin Coolidge upon their landing at Bolling Field on September 9, 1924. One of the photos taken at that occasion shows President Coolidge wearing a very rare smile while he shakes hands with Lowell. The aircraft continued across the United States, landing in Seattle on September 28, 1924, after completing a total of 27,553 miles. As a result of this successful flight, the air crews were awarded the Mackay Trophy for 1924.

In 1936, Captain Smith was appointed to the War Department board for standardization of aircraft design and procurement procedures. By the early 1940's Lowell had been promoted to Colonel and, in February 1942, he became the second commander of Davis-Monthan Army Air Field just after the formation of the 2^nd Air Force, providing four-engine training for B-17 and B-24 air crews during World War II. Early in 1944, Colonel Smith received his first overseas assignment of the war when he served as the operations officer for the 6^th Air Force in the Caribbean theatre.

Colonel Lowell Herbert Smith died as the result of a fall from a horse near Tucson, AZ on November 4, 1945, and was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.