EUROPE TO CANADA

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 90, 13 October 1931, Page 9

EUROPE TO CANADA

YON GRONAU'S FLIGHT

ICECAP OF GREENLAND

i^HE AIKMAFS STOHY

(From "The Post's" Representative.) j NEW YOBK, 16th September. Captain Yon Groiiuu, Gorman airman, concluded his flight from Europe, via Iceland, Greenland, Labrador, and Canada, on the anniversary of his arrival, a, year ago by the southern route, via tho Azores, and with the samo crew: Zinuncr, co-pilot, Albrecht, radio operator, and Hack, mechanic. Just as he was arriving tit tho Faroe Islands, on the first "leg" of tho flight, Parker Cramer, American pilot, and his Canadian radio operator, Oliver Pacquottc, were taking off. Each crew waved to the other. Gronau and his men wore the last to see Cramer and Pacquetto alive. Gronau's observations about Greenland and its ico cap, 9000 feet high, are the most interesting p- tion of the narrative of his flight, "After two days' delay, a very tedious one, wo started north for Scoresby on tho thirteenth, when the weather was clear," he writes. "After an hour's flight we caino to a belt of drift ice that goes along tho Greenland east coast. For hours we flew over towering ico mountains. "Yes, we were nervous, but who wouldn't be 7 Not yet in my life have I seen such ice mountains. OVER THE ICE CAP. "Finding a sufficiently large opening in tho drift iuc in tho Day of Scoresby, wo alighted. There we found only two European families. Tho rest of tho inhabitants wore Eskimos, but we got a hearty reception from both races of people, and wore plied with more food than we could devour and of a variety unknown to us. This included dried seal, whale, and reindeer. "On 15th August tho weather conditions were so favourable that wo decided to start for Godthaab, on Greenlaud's west coast, a flight of nine hours. Despite tho tremendous load of gasoline and additional burden of equipment for use in case we had to land on tho wastes of the ico cap, wo managed to mako a good take-off. "A forced landing on the ice cap probably would have resulted in death for us, for we would have had to. wander over the bleak glacier for weeks in an effort to get back to Scoresby. "It took a heroic effort to reach tho proper altitude, and at that wo just managed to scale the peak of the mountain of ice. After going over the ice mountains near the shore, we ran into more of them as wo travelled inland. They were mountains that our maps did not record. "Wo found the top of tho ieo cap level for miles and miles. Wo are tho first humans to fly over tho ico cap from, east to west, and wo thrilled at the thought of it in the face of our danger. Unlucky Cramer did it, but ho met his death after his great accomplishment. OUT OF WIRELESS TOUCH. "Tho motors performed perfectly, despite tho strain wo put them to by keeping them going full speed through the entire trip. We found on our trip across the ico cap that it was impossiblo to pick up any radio signals whatever. "When we camo to the west coast of Greenland after long hours, wo hoped to find water, but instead found more mountains, as far as wo could see. We were apparently in a bad fix, for our gas supply was running alarmingly short. "After a short flight to the south we found a fiord which led us to the harbour of Suffertoppen. A sigh of relief accompanied our safe lauding. The next day, the 16th, we continued on to Godthaab, after refuelling with gas sent to us from tho latter place in answer to our radio' appeals sent o\it by tho ever-alort Albrecht. The hospitality extended to us there was overwhelming. AN ENGINE BEPAIK. "During our stay at Godthaab we made a few coastal flights, and as a result developed very serious engine trouble on one of thorn. This necessitated my dumping most of our fuel so that we could get back to Godthaab. There Franz Hock showed his mechanical genius in repairing on tho open aea and with the tools available a damaged piston and cracked wrist pins. This was a Herculean job, and took eight days of back-breaking labour. "After some more test flights we left Godthaab for Port Harrison, but we wero forced to descend before reaching our objective at the Eskimo village of Povungnituk. There were only six houses in tho village, and all these were closed up. The- entiro population apparently had gone hunting. Searching about, we fortunately found a barrel and a half of our favourite brand of gasoline. How long it had been there I have no way of knowing. "Utilising thiß, we again took off, on 29th August, for Fort Harrison without meeting any of the villagers. We flew over the wildest kind of country, and a forced landing would havo sealed out doom. To our consternation, we found our maps useless, and had to d"pcnd entirely upon our compass."