FLIGHT TO SOUTH POLE

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 137, 11 June 1926, Page 12

FLIGHT TO SOUTH POLE

SOME OF THE DIFFICULTIES. DESCRIBED BY SIR DOUGLAS MAWSON. Commander Byrd, who beat Amundsen in a flight to the North Pole by a few hours, has announced his intention to attempt a flight to the South Pole. When asked his opinioii about the project, Sir Douglas Mawson, who was a member of the Shackleton expedition, which got within 100 miles of the South Pole in 1000, and who later led \he Australian Antarctic expedition to Adelc Land, characterised Commander Byrd's new scheme as a difficult proposition. It would he very different from flying to the North Pole, he told a reporter who interviewed him in Adelaide a few days ago. With the improvements made in aeroplanes in modern times, anything was now possible. At the North Pole the country was flat, but at the South j Pole there was land 10,000 feet above ! sea level. It was an extremely windy area, and the visibility was far from good, all of which militated against a successful aerial dash to the Antarctic

centr?. Another point was that if the ma chinos were damaged and the explorers had to make their way back to the base on foot, they would be unable to get food on the way. There were no seals or bears, or sueh-like animals in the Antarctic, as: there were near the North Pole.

Commander Byrd was wisp in his choice of Framhcim, on the Ross Sea, which was one of the calmest areas of the whole Antarctic, said Sir Douglas, who added that, on the other hand, at Adele Land the wind never ceased blowing a gale, and aeroplanes would be blown away immediately they were brought out of their hangars. From Framheim, however. Commander Byrd would merely follow tfie track taken by Amundsen. and, therefore, the Bchame. even if successful, would have little scientific value. The areas around the Weddel Sea were unknown, and could be explored with benefit to science.