FLIGHT OVER MT. EVEREST.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20829, 12 April 1933, Page 12

FLIGHT OVER MT. EVEREST.

SCENES OF UNSURPASSED GRANDEUR. DESCRIPTION OF JOURNEY. LONDON, April 5. Scenes of unsurpassed grandeur, never witnessed before by the eyes of man, rewarded the HoustonEverest expedition for its courage. For miles the explorers in the two aeroplanes which flew over the mountain yesterday, saw a panorama of towering snow-clad crests, and in the centre a never-ceasing plume of driven snow blown from the summit of Everest by winds of blizzard force. The only limit of view along the mountains was due to the curva- | ture of the earth, but the stupendous scale of the scenery and the clear air upset estimates of size and distance, Colonel L. V. Blacker told the aeronautical correspondent of "The Times." The flight, he said, was without incident until the great massif of Chamlang was approached. Climbing over the huge edge, both machines received the full force of the draught caused by the wind striking Everest's steep side, being shot upwards over the summit, and recovering in a steady downward sweep 12 miles beyond. The aeroplanes, caught in this, dropped 2000 feet in a few seconds. j The machines flew close to the mountain, the pilots being ready to diverge if necessary, but they found they were traversing the current, and crept over the ridge with little | to spare. This was the last serious disturbance encountered. i Although a strong wind was blowing at the summit, it was not so j bad as earlier, when gusts were driving a snow-plume off the crest. J The machines circled the summit twice, banking steeply to enable the photographers to obtain oblique views. After 15 minutes they turned away. "Immediately we left the ground," said Colonel Blackler, "we began a routine, of which we had made a list, of 46 separate jobs, such as re- j moving the camera caps, which must be retained until above the dusthaze. "We saw a wonderful view of Kanchenjunga, gleaming white on the right. I opened the cockpit roof, j put my head in the slipstream, and j saw over the pulsating rocker arms j of the Pegasus engine, the naked I majesty of Everest. "I was unable to watch the wonderful sights long, as the machine, roaring upwards, unfolded countless peaks to right and left, their amazing white mantles being seared and scored with black precipices. "We were somewhat dismayed that Everest bore an immense snowplume, due to the itiighty wind lifting the powdered snow, and driving it eastward with blizzard force.

Vista of Snowy Peaks. "I was then fully occupied handling three cameras. I saw that the automatic survey camera was working, and looking vertically down the hatchway on a mountainscape bare of trees and seamed with immense glaciers, interspersed with peaks of shale. Then the aeroplane climbed into a sky of indescribable blue until it was level with the great peak. "Thereupon, to my astonishment, a great distance northward across a vast, bare, snowless plateau, rose a group of snow-clad peaks, which, by some trick of vision, seemed higher than Everest. "This astonishing picture, with Everest's plume, its tremendous southern cliffs flanked by the immaculate whiteness of Makalu, must remain with one all one's life." The correspondent of "The Times" adds that the sight of the mountain tops was so surprising that neither pilot is prepared to define precisely the nature of the country or adjudge existing maps. The air survey was unsatisfactory because both cameras failed during part of the flight. Nevertheless, they produced magnificent photographs of the crest of Everest and the surrounding peaks. The product of the cinema cameras has not yet been ascertained. It was a tranq morning, and the sun was climbing late above a haze into which Air Commodore P. F. M. Fellowes went on his PussMoth reconnaissance at 5.30. He reached a height of 17,000 feet over the Nepal frontier. Reasonable hopes that the haze would subside induced the decision to make the flight. A balloon sent up at dawn indicated a wind-speed of 22 miles an hour, at 16,000 feet. The engines were started at 8 a.m., and the machines left the ground at 8.25. They headed north in formation, ;Lord Clydesdale leading, climbed steeply, and were soon lost in the haze. Thereafter, no word came in the tl- e hours during which they climbed three miles, '-ravelled the double journey of 160 miles, and reached their maximum height of 30,000 feet right over the crest of Everest. Official Eeport. Lord Clydesdale officially reports that: "The Houston-Westland machine contained Blacker and myself. The Westland Wallace was piloted by Mclntyre and had Bonnett for observer. We relied on landmarks to assist compass navigation. Aerial survey was impossible owing to dust and haze obscuring the ground from Forbes Ganj to the higher ranges. We climbed slowly at low revolutions to 10,000 feet. Mclntyre and I mutually signalled that everything was satisfactory. "We passed the forward emergency landing ground at Forbes Ganj, 40 miles from Purnea. After half an hour's flying Everest became visible above the haze at 19,000 feet. We flew lower than we had intended in order to pass the Kornaltai ground control, where the survey was to begin, but it was impossible to identify the landmarks until 20 miles from the summit. "We passed over Chamlang at 9 a.m. at 31,000 feet. The ground near Lhotse, a southern peak of the Everest group, rises steeply, and both machines lost 1500 feet in height owing to the mountain deflecting the wind. "Both aeroplanes flew over the summit of Everest at 10.5 a.m., clearing it by 100 feet. We flew for a quarter of an hour in the vicinity of the summit, the smoothness of flying permitting the taking of closerange photographs. The visibility of the distant peaks was excellent, and the Himalaya range, extending for great distances, was a magnificent spectacle.

"The return journey was executed at a lower altitude to secure better conditions for oblique photography. "Both machines landed at Lalbalu at 11.25 a.m. The pilots pay high tributes to the splendid performances of the engines and aircraft" —"The Times" cable.