POLAR AREA ALL OCEAN.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 26 April 1928, Page 7

POLAR AREA ALL OCEAN.

w CAPTAIN WILKINS’ OPINION. ■ NARRATIVE OF THE FLIGHT. m NEW YORK, April 23. W' The following copyrighted summary the principal achievements of the Hgreat flight across the North Polar cap completed by Captain George H. L Wilkins, Australian aviator and cxkplorer, and Lieut. Eielson, is issued to jrthc “New York Times” ami,the AnsPress Association. Captain says: — Machine and Equipment. 4 “The principal object of the flight was to discover whether, in the uno* plored area of the Arctic there existed islands upon which a meteorological station might ,bo placed, and for this »purpose the machine needed had to be the lightest and fastest possible capable of covering the distance. A 'locked monoplane was ideal for this . purpose and was correctly equipped, feven to the point of inclusion of polar sledging equipment, and was staunch£|ly built to withstand extreme conditions and roughest usage. It was f moreover of wooden construction confusing compass interferency as in the case of metal machMiics. . |r “Wc carried for directional instru■fments two compasses, one fast moving m 0 ne slow, two altimeters, turn and indicators, air speed indicator Paikl the usual engine instruments, one Ik large ship’s compass, English Air *Force hubblc sextant, pocket sextant, four special watches, drift indicator, Pcourse and distance calculator, nautical almanac, and special charts and tables All Thoroughly Tested. i “The machine and engine were thoroughly tested before leaving Los Angeles for Alaska, for airplanes with traits differ like human beings. The plane received three weeks’ adjustments under Arctic coneditions. , “The business of preparing our other equipment was long and careful. Old women carefully examined and ■ repaired our reindeer skin clothing. SVYoung women stretched with their Pr'veeth and arms our skin • boots and mittens until they ‘fitted perfectly. •Old experienced Eskimo men sharpened seal spears, fashioned ice picks and whittled aparatns for receiving •dead seals from the water. ‘lf the machine fails’, said the Eskimos, ‘you ppmust walk and equipment is necessary do maintain you’. The Supplies Carried. “Our Arctic food supply consisted '.of chocolate, five pounds of biscuits, v.twenty pounds of pcmmican, twenty pounds of malted milk, and twentypounds of raisins. Other things included ■were medicines, a flask of Hither, surgical instruments, stoves for heating over the plane’s engines, tent, and a saw and axe to cut our way out *of the plane in the event of emergency. A forced landing might have meant 4 eighteen months’ stay in the Arctic before reaching civilisation. .* “Wo carried 370 gallons of petrol. ' and twelve of oil. Our short-wave wireless was tested then husbanded I for the flight. It ran many hour during the actual flight but finally gave _ out.

IP Off at Foui-th Essay. “Ail those things were done before * April 5, but until the fifteenth when the weather permitted a start being made our rest was fitful and our work anxious an’d laborious. We made the first attempt to start on the seventh '■but broke a metal ski and had to replace all the skiis with wooden ones. “Four days afterwards we tried again to hop off but could not lift. On the thirteenth wc tried again but , i failed. 1 “It was on the fifteenth with the I .jweather in our favour that wc climbed unto the air. The machine acted porj . i’ectly. ? “Our estimate of the weather proved correct. A clear horizon greeted i /us. But soon the ice patch showed up rough and jagged. There would have Mbeen no salvation if the engine had There were open water leads Kt times, then no leads. Wc saw ice preconditions that would indicate the icc ■was old, probably land fast. ice. But toater wc determined it unquestionable. Clouds Prove Exasperating, “Then we met clouds that appeared Stationary and it was exasperating to meet clouds at this point. La*id in (that vicinity would best have suited our meteorological , plans. What lay ])/>ncuth that, 120 mile belt of clouds ' about 200 miles out from Point Bar--j-ow is still secret. .. “But when the atmosphere cleared we saw beneath us old heavy ice pack. Perhaps this heavy old ice rests on terra firma and is stationary. But my decision judging from the fact that no great pressure ridges were noticed • at its .edges is that it is floating. “It was when approaching Greenland that wc noticed a storm hovering there, and soon from an altitude -ijf six thousand feet we 'could

see high storm clouds four hundred miles away, and as we swung away clouded Grantland wo saw what Bear-Admiral E. E. Peary had named the Big Lead’. Tt stretched from the neighbourhood of Cape Columbia to ■Greenland. ,' ' Slipping Down N. P. Hill "We slipped into still cold at 48 itelow zero, but only for a few minutes Sind a warm air current about the open water near Spitsbergen had us on its lap. We were at our highest latitude itnd, as Rear-Admiral Peary said, were soon slipping down North Pole Hill in line shape. "When our observations of storm drift and ice movement arc carefully

plotted some useful information should result. From our experience Arctic navigation was as expected, no more difficult, perhaps easier than elsewhere. Our bubble sextant acted perfectly and our charts and maps were well prepared. Our plane in normal air was steady. Our flight compass while not perfect was more or less dependable.” Taking Things Easy.

A message from Green Harbour, Svalbard, on Monday states that Wilkins and EioUon are living at the wireless station there. Wilkins is dressed in reindeer from sers and sealskin boots. Ho says that he feels very comfortable and smiles all day Jong, oven when awakened at 5 o’clock in the morning to answer offers from newspapers and telegrams, which continue to pour in.

Eielson spends most of his time smoking and reading. He says he never felt better in his life. He disports himself in waterproof trousers of oiled silk. Wilkins says that he intends to return to New York, via Oslo. Ho may call at London cn route.

‘Bremen’ May Reach New York

To-morrow.

Received Wednesday, 7.30 p.m. NEW YORK, April 23. Miss Junkers states she docs not believe the “Bremen” will reach New York before Friday. The Ford plane has arrived at Greenly Island. REPAIRS QUICKLY COMPLETED. Received Wednesday, 5.5 p.m. OTTAWA, April 24. A report from Greenly Island states that repairs to the “Bremen” were completed this morning and the ’plane is ready to take off as soon as the weather is favourable. But there is at present no intimation when this will be. The runners with which it was first proposed to equip the “Bremen” have not been used, but the original wheels have been retained.

No difficulty is expected in the take off from tho ice which is solid and smooth with ample unimpeded space. Baron von Huhnefeld is suffering from the effects of the cold but is fit for the journey. * Commander Kochi is in splendid condition.

Lindbergh Carries Help to One of Byrd’s Pilots

Received Wednesday, 5.5 p.m. NEW YORK, April 24

Colonel Lindbergh took off for Quebec with a supply of scrum -which will be used to aid Floyd Bennett, one of the pilots to accompany Commander Bryd to the South Pole, to combat double pneumonia. Colonel Lindbergh is using an Army observation ’plane which is about fifty miles an hour faster than his new Ryan monoplane. He is expected to average 120 miles an hour. A message from Quebec states that Commander Byrd is at the bedside of Floyd Bennett who is seriously ill. Manning on Way to Tunis. Received Wednesday, 5.5 p.m. PARIS, April 24. Mail from Marseilles states that Wing Commander Manning has left for Tunis in continuance of his flight to Australia in a Westland Widgeon.