FLYING THE PACIFIC.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3142, 6 November 1922, Page 7

FLYING THE PACIFIC.

(By .Major Fairfax .Morgan, D.5.0.) For over three years I have planned to attempt to fly across the Pacific Ocean. I believe this is now a feasible aviation feat and can he accomplished quickly and without any great risk. Alter long study and preparation I am happy to nay that definite arrangements have been made for the venture, and before the year is out I hope to have proved further the limitless possibilities of flying for world transportation. If we succeed it will not lie entirely a. British triumph, for my wireless operator will be an American. My pilot will be Captain Haslani, a man ol great experience and proved courage. The total distance of the flight from .San Francisco to Sydney is about UDOil miles. We plan to make it. barring accidents and under favorable condition.*:, in lour "hops." II the weathci is favorable we will start from the Military Aviation Field in San Francisco at 7 p.m. Monday, November (>. and arrive at the Military Aviation Field ill Honolulu early in the afternoon of Tuesday. November 7. This bight is about 2080 miles. J have no doubt wo can make it without difficulty. Alter resting until 7 o'clock on Wednesday—and during the meantime' the machine will be overhauled—we will start from Honolulu for the Samoa Islands, and we expect to arrive there at 2 o'clock on Thursday, November \). This (light will be 2250 miles, and we expect it to be our most t-evere test. We. "vill rest in Samoa until 8 o'clock the next morning and hope to arrive at Fiji Ijslands early in the afternoon ol the same day, the flight of 640 miles being comparatively easy. On the same evening we plan to leave for Sydney, and hope to arrive at Sydney shortly after noon on Saturday. This will mean a (light of about 2000 miles. 1 figure the total Hying time will be sixty-one hours. On paper this looks like very rapid travelling, and it may appear that no allowance has been made for adverse wind and elemental conditions, but this is not the case. The machine 1 plan to use. and the name of which T cannot make public at present, is probably the fastest big machine ever built. It has a cruising speed of 120 miles an hour, with a maximum speed of 140 miles an hour. It is a biplane, and will be equipped with two 450 horse-power engines situated one on each side of the fuselage. Already I have received an outburst of criticism because I plan to us© an ordinary airplane instead of a seaplane. But I think I am right. My plane will have six aluminum gasoline tanks situated in various parts of the plane and these will be our protection. These tanks are adjusted with emergency jettison valves connected with a small lever in the pilot's seat. If the pilot turns this lever the gasoline—and the tanks have a capacity of 850 gallons—will empty and we will have six very excellent aluminium floats in their stead.

It was only after lengthy consideration and careful study of performances that I decided to use an, airplane instead of a seaplane. I feel that the advantages of using a seaplane are not worth while when one takes into consideration the tremendous resistance and consequent loss of speed of seaplane's floats. Also I do not believe that a seaplane's float could' bo any better than an empty gas tank in the rolling swells of the Pacific. Ocean. Aviators well know that landing a seaplane is a difficult proposition at all times, and in many cases the floats are strained. This does not necessarily mean that the floats will collapse immediately at the landing in water. But a strain will lead to eventual collapse and a consequent sinking of the plane. The. wind resistance is a vital factor. I want to make the flight as qufcklv as possible, for J believe that therein lies the chance of success. Twenty <uthirty miles an hour, which a. seaplane would mean to us. would.. I believe, moan our failure. 1 think we will he much better oft" with an airplane. Of course, a flying boat with a heavy hull is entirely out of the question. ' They are too big and clumsy and' much too arduous on the controls. I have flown them and ejfem a short flight is a physical effort. On the other hand, the plane I have chosen will handle as easily as a wartime pursuit plane. It will be capable of stunting, including loops and other acrobatics, but at the same time it will carry us and carry us rapidly. To mv nnnd the chief difficulty we will face will be one of endurance—endurance for man and for motor. J have come to this conclusion after a very careful and lengthy study of available machines. Much of my study came preparatory to my proposed Atlantic flight with ' Mr Raynham in the Martinsyde, so I know something about machines for long distance navigation. The question of navigation, although important, is very slight compared with that of endurance. T am an old sailor; 1 have served with the Royal Navy for years, and I have no qualms about navigation. Also I am familiar with the Pacific. When in the navy I cruised oyer the course I now plan to take by air. Even in those days T longed tc be an aviator, and I read and studied every sera]) of information available concerning airplanes. At that time, it is true, I never dreamed of flying across the Pacific, because it was beyond my vision, as it was beyond the vision of most men in pre-war days. I thought of airplanes Hying over land and short distances of water. But airplanes have moved forward almost as rapidly as a man's imagination, and the years have made me see that- this Pacific flight is 7io longer an idle dream. No one can imagine my disappointment, when Raynham and I crashed in taking off from the field at St. Johns, Newfoundland, for our Atlantic (light. J was to be his navigator. For months prevoiusly I had studied charts of the sea and the wind, and the more I learned the more 1 became convinced of the possibilities of cross ocean flying. It was a bitter cup indeed when all my dreams were shot to pieces by an unfortunate crash just as we were beginning our experiment. Then the lateSir John Alcock and Captain Sir Whittea Brown succeeded in flying the Atlantic and they proved my theory that the ocean could be conquered by air. They put me out of the running for an Atlantic flight, but the Pacific remains. Since, then I have never forsaken aviation. I have the utmost faith in it. I have been in India with the Royal Air' Force, and have had much time during the last two years to study charts and probabilities of the Pacific Ocean. I know the wind and the tidal conditions, and I have kept abreast of the development in airplanes and airships When I returned to England some months ago I learned for the. first time of the prize of £IO,OOO offered by Thomas luce for the first successful flight across the PacificImmediately I determined to attempt it. I have boon assured of every possible assistance from the American and Australian officials, which will be invaluable, and I shall leave shortly for America, to arrange all details. The ship will bo sent to San Francisco ahead of mo after we Ijbvo thoroughly experimented with it here. Wireless will play an important part in the navigation of our machine, and'

it will also be useful in case we hav« ii forced lauding. Our wireless operator will constantly keep in touch with land and passing ships-. Captain Haslani will do most of the piloting and will sit in the front seat; but T will be behind him with controls at my hand, but my function will l>e navigation. The wireless operator will be below in the fuselage and will let us know our position longitude and latitude. In cas e of a forced landing in the ocean we will have a small hut powerful aerial to rig up on the machine and from which we can scud out S.O.S. messages. 1 am keen to reach San Francisco and undertake this venture.