UNKNOWN ANTARCTIC.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLVIII, Issue 10984, 2 August 1927, Page 6

UNKNOWN ANTARCTIC.

EXPLORATION BY AIRMAN. PLAN OP CAPTAIN WILKINS. * LOS ANGELES, July 19. Captain Wilkins plans to fly from the United States to New Zealand, via Tokio and Australia, en route to the Antarctic Circle, where he will undertake a 3000-mile aerial exploration. He announced his intentions to-night, when he expressed the hope of beginning his ambitious undertaking m September, reaching the Bay of Whales, inside the Antarctic Circle, in time to establish a base for making a record polar flight in December. . . Wilkins indicated indirectly his'desire to be the first to fly from the United States* to Australia ,and said that he had every intention of hopping oft this autumn," but he also stated that he may abandon the. giant Fokker aeroplane, in which he made his Arctic flight, and purchase a seaplane from the Lockheed factory at l,os Angeles. Although the aerial features of Wil-

kins' plans alone represent a tremendous undertaking, the explorer regards the flight involved as secondary to investigations of meteorological concliI tions in the unknown regions that lie between the Bay of Whales and Graham Land, in the Polar Circle. Wilkins will make his base at the Bay of Whales, hopping off during December, with a pilot, who, as yet, has not been chosen, to cover the dUUU miles of unknown territory. _ There will be no place to land in the event of accident until the whaling grounds, off Graham Land, are reached. Wilkins made no mention of Ins trip as being in any way competitive with the expedition to be headed by Commander Byrd.