FIRST BIG FLIGHT

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 24, 29 January 1929, Page 11

FIRST BIG FLIGHT

BYRD IN ANTARCTICA

EXPLORATION BY AIR

FRESH DISCOVERIES

By Eusscll Owen.—Special to "New

York Times."

United Press Association—By Electric Teleeraph—CopyrieUt. United Service. (Received 29th January, 9 a.m.) BAY OF WHALES, 28th January. Commander Byrd made his first long exploration flight over King Edward Land to-day, reaching Scott's Nunataks and the Alexandra Mountains. Ho also discovered a new island and three new mountain peaks reaching into the clouds. He took gasoline for nine and ;a half hours, but returned after a fivehour tour, being in, radio- communication with tho baso practically the full time. Aiter ninety minutes out, he gave his position as 156 degrees west and 77 deg. 30 rnin. south. With Balchen as pilot tind Juno radioing. This was tho first time the aeroplane has been used to ily over Antarctica. Everywhere on tho right of his course to-day was unexplored territory, and much of the coastlino to his left had never been seen before. THE BOLLING ARRIVES. The Eleanor Boiling arrived to-day a few minutes before Byrd had taken off. Her arrival and the successful flight made this a day of jubilation, for this is tho first steel ship ever used by an Antarctic expedition, and the Boiling bucked the ice successfully for several days, arriving here loaded so that her sides bulged. Her getting here safely means that tho greatest hazard which the expedition faced has been surmounted, and now there only remains the groat task of getting her cargo ashore. Fortunately the ico has gone out of the Bay on the east side, so that we are able to approach tho Barrier and_ take a direct routo over a solid surface only four miles to camp. FULL EQUIPMENT. Byrd carried the most diversified equipment ever packed inside an aeroplane. He had everything needed if forced down away in tho aeroplane, which carried a crew of two besides Byrd. He has everything with him which he needs, if he should be forced down on such a flight and be compelled to walk .home, although it is very probable that relief would be sent out to him cither by dog team or another aeroplane brought by the Boiling. | The 'plane is a cabin monoplane with a wing fifty feet wide. Fully loaded, it weighed SUOO pounds. The equipment included sleeping bags, skis, a portable radio, axes, a medical kit, a blowtorch, snow shovels, and dozens of other details. In this country it ia never safe to go two or three hundred miles away from the baso without adequate provisions and equipment for keeping warm and cooking. Byrd recently tested out a new sailing sled weighing only 3b 1 pounds, including sail, mast, and canvas bag to hold everything on it, and states that it is the most satisfactory sled he has ever had, and when he tested it in a 20-mile wind it moved across the rough lumpy surface so quickly that one had to hustle to keep up with it. "We discovered fourteen mountain I peaks sticking; above the snow. The solid rock looked good after so many weeks of ice and snow," said Byrd upon his return from bis first big tour of Antarctica.

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