BYRD’S FLIGHT

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 51, 23 November 1929, Page 11

BYRD’S FLIGHT

DAY’S STRUGGLE WITH MOTORS ENGINES STOP OVER BAD SURFACE ARRIVAL OF RELIEF ’PLANE (United Press Association.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright) (By/Russell Owen. —Special to “New York Times.”) Bay of Whales, November 21. Commander Byrd and his companions flew back to camp about midnight. After a day spent in struggling with refractory motors and getting thoroughly tired cranking and lifting oil In and out of the engines, they finally lifted the big Ford ’plane out of the rough snow ridges of the landing field in which it had sat down, and on the tail of a flfty-mile wind blew into camp with the speed of a pursuit ship. They were a sight when they stepped from the ’plane, splashed with oil and blistered from cold and gasoline, weary and bedraggled, as they were helped from the ’plane, one after the other, by the willing hands of men who yelled an enthusiastic greeting. They stumbled and grinned at the same time, but they were so glad to have the big ship safely back on its home field that they did not care about the weariness. They all made for the mess hall and had something warm to eat, and In a few minutes everyone except the mechanics making the Ford fast for the night was gathered in groups around members of the crew listening to their stories of the flight.

Leak Found in Hand-Pump. “Our troubles began soon after we left,” said Byrd. “After flying an hour it was noticed that the gas consumption was unusually high, and a small leak was finally found by Harold June in the hand-pump behind the pilot’s seat. He packed it with cheming gum and taped it. An hour and a half later all three motors coughed and died as the two outer tanks unexpectedly ran dry because of the rapid consumption. June jumped for the valves and switched on the other tanks, and the engines again picked up, but it was one of those moments which one remembers in flying.” They saw the crevassed pressure region about 200 miles south of Little America, while they were nearly 100 miles away sticking up like haycocks in the great plain of the Barrier., Their next landmark was the geological party, whom they passed beyond the 200-mile depot. “It seemed like a crime to watch them plugging along down below,” laughed Harold. “They just weren’t moving. Dean dropped a message to them from friends and relatives of the trail party at home which had been received by radio—a unique mail delivery.”

Magnificent View of Mountains. A course was then set by Commander Byrd for the mountains, and about forty minutes after passing the geological party the mountains began to show ahead, lifting out of the horizon like hummocks of snow or distant pressure ridges. Much to everyone’s surprice they showed up first on the right of the course instead of the left. “They were magnificent,” said Byrd, and June also said they were the most wonderful group of mountains he had ever seen. Some were covered with ice and snow, some had great bare patches of rock; some were dome-shaped and others peaked. The ’plane was headed directly for a mountain in front of Mt. Hansen, and there a place found where a base could be established. The surface was far from smooth, hard snow with sharp ridged edges.. “It was like furrowed flint," said Dean Smith, who flew the ’plane in. “The landing skis took the ridges all right, but if you made many landings there you would cut them right off, so hard and sharp were these irregularities.” June was in the cockpit with him handling the stabiliser, and with a few thumps the ’plane settled down with a towering range running to the east and west in front of it. Byrd jumped out and began to take sights with his bubble sextant to establish the position of the base, and got two position lines which checked perfectly with their dead reckoning, so that they have no doubt as to where the base

lies; Perfect Course Kept. The entire flight was a splendid test of navigation under flying conditions down here, and Byrd is quite satisfied now that his calculations will work out as he expected. The course was kept perfectly with the aid of the sun compass and checked with the navigation done on the way out. While the Commander was taking sights, Captain McKinley, who had been taking pictures with his mapping camera all the way, began to make pictures of the mountains. While June was busy shifting cans of oil and gasoline and bags of food out of the 'plane, a pile was made of the fuel and oil cans which are painted orange, and a hole was dug near them and the food cached. June, with Byrd and Mac, did the first half of the unloading, and then relieved Dean in the cockpit, as the engines were idling and Dean began shifting cans and food. It was quite a job, and took nearly an hour. When it was finished McKinley lugged his big aerial camera out of the ’plane, and took some long-distance shots of the mountains, and in landing and taking off June made some moving pictures. Everyone was as busy as he could be.

“ The Return Journey. Before starting back the Commander and June decided to put fifty gallons of gasoline, which had been intended for the mountain base, into the tanks, for the undiscovered leak did not get better. In fact, on the way home it became much worse. When the time came to take oil Dean taxied up to the slope and got off nicely, despite the rought ground. They climbed 5000 feet, and flew parallel with the mountains towards the south-east for fifteen minutes, so that McKinley could make pictures of them. They then went back to the base from where they took their departure on a course for Little America. The wind forced them to follow a course slightly to the west of that taken on the way out. They saw crevasses while a hundred miles away, and hit them right on the course, so that they were able then to follow the dog trail home.

Motors Stop. Byrd, who had flown for a while on the way out and for about forty-five minutes on the way back, had just turned the controls over to Dean, when

the motors began to pop and splutter. June was in the middle of a message which he was repeating. He left it, not even stopping to lock the key, which caused the signals to stop instantly, and made a jump for the tank valves. He cut off the two outboard motors, then climbed into the pilot’s cockpit beside Dean to pump and get up sufficient pressure to feed the little remaining gas to the centre motor. They hoped to be able to stretch the flight to the snowmobile, for it was only fifty miles away. “I was never so surprised in my life,” said Byrd. “I never expected to have all three motors quit at once, and, although we knew the gas was low, it seemed strange. I looked down and saw we were right over the worst part of the sastrugi, the one place where the men on the trail had told us we couldn’t land safely, and I remember thinking, ‘Here’s where we get it.' I never expected we would land safely, but we did. While June pumped gas for all he was worth, he also set the stabiliser to help in holding down the tail in landing, and when he had this done the machine was so hard on the controls that it was all Dean could do to hold the wheels forward. So June pushed on the controls on his side of the cockpit with one hand to help out, and pumped with the other. They were desperately afraid the whole outfit would freeze so hard that they couldn't get the engines restarted, and were in the midst of a hard job warming the motors with torches, when they heard the Fairchild coming. The other ’plane made a perfect landing, and their troubles were over.”

[Copyrighted 1928 by "New I'ork Times” Company and “St. Louis Post-Dispatch. All rights for publication reserved throughout the world.]