SOUTH POLE FLIGHT.
FAMOUS AMERICAN AIRMAN.
WELL VISIT NEW ZEALAND.
FINAL PORT MAY BE DUNEDIN. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) DUNE DIN, this day. 1 he Otago Harbour Board has communicated with Commander Richard E. Byrd, U.S.N., the famous airman explorer, offering him the facilities of the purt as a fitting out base for his party before it proceeds to the Ross ■Sea for tho South Pole expedition. Commander Byrd replied that he was aware that the port of Otago had beon associated with the expeditions of Scott and Shackleton, and that he would probably call there. Ihe secretary told the board to-day that tho American party was likely to come to Dunedin .with the whaler C. A. Larsen when it returned in November. MOST HAZARDOUS ENTERPRISEUnless his plans have been altered, Commander Byrd will start from NewZealand a;bout September for the Ross Sea, where he will establish his final base 'before' attempting the first flight to the South Pole.
As a feat it is considered that the flight to the South Pole will be more hazardous than the non-stop flight made by Commander Byrd to the North Pole and back to Spitsbergen, or, his flight from America to France. The South Pole is on a. vast plateau 10,000 feet above sea levjel, and over 700 miles from the nearest convenient harbour in Ross Bay. Some 400 miles inland rises a great chain of mountains, 10.000 to 15,000 ft high. This will compel the airman to fly at a much greater altitude than lie attained in flying to the North Pole. Low temperatures, the frigidity of the air at-high altitudes, and pitiless gales are other obstacles which must be faced. \ Scott, Shackleton, and Amundsen. The first exploration made in the Antarctic on terra firma was that of Captain Robert Falcon Scott, who, in 1902, started from Victoria Land and reached the mountains of the interior. In 1907-9 Sir Ernest Shackleton reached the summit of the Polar plateau, and was only 97 miles from tho Polo when he was forced to turn back.
Both Captaiir Amundsen and Captain Scott set out for the Pole in the winter of 1911-12. Both reached their goil. Amundsen got there first and returned successfully; Sc<stt and his men perished of coid and hunger on the way hack.
SOUTH POLE FLIGHT.
Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 123, 26 May 1928, Page 10
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Auckland Star. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Auckland Libraries.
Log in