NORTH POLAR FLIGHT.

Evening Star, Issue 22681, 22 June 1937, Page 8

NORTH POLAR FLIGHT.

Tub amazing development of aviation within the last decade, with its rapid accumulation of creditable flights, has caused! public opinion to take very much for granted achievements that formerly would have been regarded as outstanding. The comparative calm with which the news was received some time ago that Soviet aviators had landed at the North Pole gives an indication of the changing outlook. Possibly wo in New Zealand have a stronger geographical interest in South Polar expeditions than in those which concern the other frigid zone, but it is also apparent from the cable messages on the subject that the performance, while meeting with plaudits, did not exactly precipitate even in the Northern Hemisphere the excitement associated with many a previous and lesser flight. An effort that has had a more noteworthy effect on the public imagination was that of the three other Russians who have just completed the crossing from Moscow to the United States via the forbidding North Pole. Here, of course, was a spectacular dash more in tune with popular taste than the supposedly prosaic activities of a scientific party. Also the fact has to be taken into consideration that the flyers who went straight on across the pale arrived in good time at a place where there were people to meet them and greet them and send out to the world a more detailed account of their exploits. It was a great flight, an epoch-making flight, and one which pioneers the way for an aerial shortcut from Russia to America with commercial possibilities, A study of tho map of the world in globe form shows that the intrepid trio flew almost in a direct line from Moscow to Vancouver in the State of Washington, about 700 miles short of their original destination. Beyond making tho obvious statement that it was very cold in the Arctic, they have not attempted to contribute to the scientific enlightenment of mankind. It was not their purpose to make erudite observations. What must have concerned them most and what will probably interest their sponsors is the fact that their machine functioned perfectly, thus proving the reliability of the modern engine under polar conditions and encouraging tho institution of a regular service. It was officially announced after' a period of secrecy that the object was to test the possibility of establishing a Moscow-San Francisco service with an intermediate stop at a special meteorological station at the pole itself. It will thus be understood that the Soviet scientists now located at the pole will be working in harmony with the longer distance aviators. Of the two main routes from European Russia to North America the Arctic crossing is much, shorter than the Atlantic. However, it is hound to be more rigorous and will have to be accorded something approximating the meteorological attention that is now being devoted! to the less primitive seaway. The North Pole station, therefore, is looming large as an important link in what is almost certain to become a permanent flying route. Both parties of Soviet airmen are to be congratulated on feats that constitute a notable advance in aviation as well as in polar exploration.