ANTARCTIC FLIGHT.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 189, 11 August 1928, Page 10

ANTARCTIC FLIGHT.

SIR GEORGE WILKINS' PLANS. CIRCUMNAVIGATING PACIFIC (By Telegraph—Press Association.) SAN FRANCISCO, July 5. Sir George H. Wilkins, conqueror of the Arctic by aeroplane, will return to San Francisco in August before leaving for his flight to the Antarctic, according to word received from New York. The llight planned for next April to the bottom of the world will not conflict with Commander Byrd's flight to the South Pole, Wilkins said. He will hold to the coast, he explained, scouting for locations where meteorological stations may be established. Asked whether regular travel by air over Polar regions was practicable, Sir George Wilkins said: "If you take advantage of the fine weather early in the year it is possible. Of course, it is bitterly cold, but that is no setback." After his Atlantic explorations Wilkins plans to circumnavigate the Pacific Ocean before returning to Australia. From the South Polar regions he will work his way up the South and North American coasts to Alaska, cross by way of Siberia to Japan, fly around Asia, and finally to Australia. He will return from the Antarctic in April or May, he said.