DASH TO SOUTH POLE.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 181, 2 August 1929, Page 7

DASH TO SOUTH POLE.

Huge Undertaking Of Byrd Expedition. MASS OF ORGANISATION. (United Service.) (Received 9.30 a.m.) NEW YORK, August 1. [By Mr. Russell Owen. Copyrighted 1928 by the "New York Times" Company and the "St. Louis Post Dispatch." All rights for publication reserved throughout the world. Wireless to the "New York Times.'] BAY OP WHALES. July 31. A man in a grey shirt, with an eyeshade shielding his gaze from a light lamp overhead, sits in front of a table "which is littered with oddly constructed tracings, dividers, a parallel-ruler, a protractor, and many pieces of paper on which are innumerable calculations. He is thoughtfully chewing his pencil, leaning back and regarding the problem before him. His face is hidden by the shadow, but his jaw sticks out as he unconsciously reflects the difficulty of his task. He might be an engineer, an architect, or a scientist engaged in plotting the curves of force. His costume is puzzling. In connection with his occupation he wears fur pants; his feet are encased in shapeless canvas boots wound 1 , with cord. This is a picture of Commander Byrd considering the matters of food, clothing, proper sleeping tents, dogs, igation, personnel and a dozen other things each with manifold ramifications which occupv his mind as they have the thoughts of other leaders who have made Antarctic history.

Travelling 1500 miles afoot, as the southern party plans to do to accomplish their geological work in the distant mountains, involves being away from the base for three months. The flight to the pole, for instance, is not a simple flight of 800 miles inland and back again. It is a flight of hundreds of miles over a rolling barren surface. Then rampart mountains 14,000 feet high loom up, over which the 'plane must climb before continuing her journey over the plateau 10,000 feet above sea level. The factors of low speed, horse-power, rate of climb and the many engineering problems which enter into such a flight make it very complicated. Added to these innumerable considerations are the matters of weather, questions of route and bases, the possibilities of refuelling if necessary at an inland base at some stage of the journey, navigation prob- t lems and a thousand other things, which must be discussed and solved. East night a group of pilots stood about the commander for two hours while they talked over various aspects of the trip. Should certain things be done this way or that; what would be the best method consistent with accomplishing the purposes of the flight? Question after question came up and there are many of these conferences formal and informal, .at which pilots, all of them experienced in many kinds of flying, give their opinions, but it is Commander Byrd who must decide. Upon him rests the responsibility of selecting a plan which promises to give the maximum results with , the greatest safety.