BYRD’S AEROPLANE

Hawera Star, Volume XLIX, 7 January 1930, Page 8

BYRD’S AEROPLANE

SEVERE TEST

VARIED EXPERIENCES SHOWS PERFECT CONDITION

(By Russel Owen —Copyright by Svclnev “Sun" and New York “Times.") LITTLE AMERICA. Nov. 10.

The Ford ’piano which Commander Byrd is using on his South Polar flight- was brought here safely only with the greatest care and some good luck. No metal ’plane has probably been through so many vicissitudes, and survived. It has flown under all sorts of conditions as far north as latitude 60, has been transported over salt water through the tropics, dropped several feet to a dock, landed in pieces on a crumbling Barrier, from which parts were rescued with difficulty, drawn to camp with diog teams, buried in a

snow igloo during a severe Antarctic winter, and emerged from it all in perfect condition. The ’plane came out of the factory in 'March, 1928, when Floyd Bennett, Commander Byrd’s companion on his North Piolar flight, who was to have been his pilot on -this flight, was still alive and in charge of aviation.

After it was tested it ,was flown Bennett and Bernt Balchen to Canada by way of St. Paul, Winnipeg, Le Pas, and then Reindeer Lake and Racket, a Hudson Bay trading post far up in the northern wilderness. There it was flown on skis and tested sometimes in temperatures of 50 below zero.

FLOWN IN CANADIAN GOLD RUSH.

On this flight the ’plane mixed up with the gold rush to Reindeer Lake, which was at its height at that time.

Bennet and Balchen met a number of men in Le Pas who are re anxious to get to Reindeer Lake quickly, a journey which was' ordinarily made by dog sledge while snow was on the ground. They were flown up as passengers, and botli Bennett and Balchen staked claims.

After the tests on skis were completed they came back, and at Le Pas again put on wheels, and the ’plane was flown back to Detroit.

The ’plane was then exhibited in tho Detroit aviation show, the national show of that year, and while it was there Bennett and Belchen flew in anoher Ford to the rescue of the German flyers, who had landed at Greenlev Island, in the Belle Isle Straits.

BENNETT’S TRAGIC' FATE,

On the way up both fliers were ill, and Bennett became too ill at Murray Bay to continue. lie was taken to Quebec, and died there of pneumonia.

His loss ovas a severe blow to Commander Byrd, for he had not. only been a tower of strength in the preparations for the flight, but he was also, perhaps, tho closest friend of the commander. They had been companions on many dangerous flights together.

Bennett, whom everyone liked, was buried in Arlington, and the big Ford which he was to have flown was named after him. His name is painted in large letters on the front part of tho fuselage. The ’plane was first equipped with three engines of 220 horse-power, such as were used on the commander’s trans-Atlantic flight and the North Polar fight, although of a later design, and such as Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh and Clarence D. Chamberlain used. But it was found after load tests that to carry a heavy load to the altitude necessary to cross the Queen Maud Mountains more horse-power was needed.

So a heavier engine of 550 horsepower was put in the nose, and in tests at Mitchell Field it was found that this extra power gave tho necessary added lift.

TESTED UNDER ALL EXTREMES

After the ’plane had been thoroughly -tested it was flown to Norfolk, Va., with the other ’plane® of the expedition, and ithe wing tips removed. They and all other parts were thoroughly sprayed to prevent corrosion during the long trip to the Barrier.

It was then hoisted aboard (the whaler C. A. Larsen, and oil the trip to San Pedro, Cal., where Commander Byrd, went aboard, the ’plane was disassembled and crated and covered wit.li tarpaulin. That was blistering work, and the pilots and .mechanics who have worked on it have done so when the metal was almost too hot to touch and when it was so cold that it seared the fingers. Every condition in handling the Ford had been extreme. It was landed on the dock at Wellington, New Zealand, and through miscalculation the huge crate containing the fuselage, with the centre motor in place, was dropped on its side several feet.

The pilots watching the job held their breath for fear something had broken, but it stood the strain well. It was then loaded into the hold of the supply steamer Eleanor Bolling, where it rein a ined until it reached the lee Barrier.

TASK OF UNLOADING AT

BARRIER

Getting it ashore was another difficult problem. It could not be landed on the bay ice, as had been done with the Fail-child 'plane, because the ice was getting mushy. So when the Eleanor Rolling hauled up alongside the ice dock at the foot, of the Barrier the engines were first taken ashore on .tin- ice dock when it broke. By last work and good fortune the centre section was hoisted on board again without damage. Then the Eleanor Bolling ran alongside the Barrier, which at that point was level with the bridge, and the ,fuselage was taken from its crate. At (the first pull a snatch block ‘broke, but i did no damage. The plane was 1 lifted to the top of the barrier and rested on the edge for a time Willi l-o skis were lashed under it, and it bumped up and down gently, a bumpnig which mighr have accelerated, the breaking off of the Barrier's edge a few hours later. It was touch and go, but a chance which had to be taken, and finally the big frame was hauled back from the water's edge and put in a position of safety. From there it was hauled to camp by 50 dogs, live miles along the tops of the Barrier. Then it was buried in a snow-house. Not a bolt had been lost. Fuel from the fuselage tank can be pumped to the wing tanks by hand, and if a leak should develop in any of these tanks on the flight the gasoline can be drained back into the fuselage

1 'tank and again pumped up to a tank 5 which is sound. 1 Tire fuselage tank is also fitted 'with. » a dump valve, built and installed down here so that iu case of a forced lamid--1 ing or failure of one of the motors a large part of the gasoline ean be 1 dropped. DISPOSAL OF ’PLANE’S FUEL i LOAD. The Floyd Bennett is an imposing ’plane. its duralumin wing, Has a span of about 74fi. There arei live gasoline tanks in the wing, holding altogether 620 gallons, and a. fuselage tank holding 130 gallons. There have been a few minor changes made in the fuel lines, and a water-glass gauge which shows at a glance the amount of fuel in the wing tanks bias been installed just above the pilot’s head. The ski-runners were made in Canada. They are 31 inches wide and ■ t .ong. The pedestals of duralumin were made in the Fordi pliant. The oil tanks are ]ja,g|g|eidi with asbestos and covered with fabric and ‘‘dope” to protect them from the cold, (and the motors .are fitted with, shutters. which can be controlled from tire cockpit. A canvas floor has been laid over the duralumin, slippery from mow and! ice, to prevent those inside from failing when moving abound in the plane l

ARRANGEMENT OF THE COCKPIT The cockpit is the usuial large cockpit of a Ford ’plane, with instruments „ii a board in front of the pilot and/ dual control. A door leads into the fusel,age cabin, and just in the back of it is the extra tank, strapped to -ho floor by metal bands. This fills only half the cabin space at this point, and alongside of it will be placed most of tiie emergency equipment taken n the flight—feed, tent, cooker and clothes. I I The sleeping bags will be lashed [ under the roof, for the cabin is about 1 ,it high. Behind the tank is a strong table, where Commander Byrd can work on his observations, iaatd on which he can (limb to take sights through the sliding hatch in the roof. In the back of that will be the surveying camera and equipment, with holies on either side of the fuselage, through which obique pictures may lay made of the terrain. In the hack of this and against their ■j.u-tition separating the cabin front - file baggage compartment in the tail of the plane is the radio key, where the operator will send and receive ( messages when he is not operating a, 1 * moving picture camera or filling the fuselage tank with gasoline from the extra cans. _ ) dust behind the partition is the j i antenna, reel and the photographic viewfinder, which is also a rangefinder. The actual range-finder is in a hole in the floor between the com- c mander’s table and the surveying * camera,. In the luggage compartment, also, will be carried the sled skis and 1 such other material as has bulk but not much weight. The ’plane weighs empty about 6700 _ lb., and when loaded for the flight will weigh about 14,.5001b. It has a. normal cruising or most efficient speed of 100 f, miles an hour rand a maximum speed -f 130 miles an hour. „