THE ANTARCTIC

Hokitika Guardian, 14 July 1928, Page 4

THE ANTARCTIC

COMMANDER BYRD’S PREPARATIONS.

LONDON, May 30

It seems possible that New Zenb.n l will again be used as flic jhhiping-ofl ground lor an Antarctic expedition. It lias been known for some time that Commander Richard E. Bynl, the hero of a notable trans-Atlantic flight in 1927, and an explorer who has made one successful trip to the North.- Pole, contemplated scientific work in the -.11 ta retie.

According to a correspondent of the Birmingham “ Tost.” Commander Tlyrn has been busy making his plans in America and lie' expects to he ready to set out from New York in the whaling ship Samson about iSfepte:»bSr K'tli, and his venture southwards—which incidentally is to be the most

ambitious be lias ,yot essayed—will in all probability occupy well 'over a year. The immediate destination of the party will be Discovery Day, in lloss Yea. and tbc route as at presold planned is to be by way of the Panama Canal and thence to Wellington, an," in the due southward direction.

The expedition has been organised almost entirely bv the Commander, and he proposes to take with him tw' extra pilots. The total personnel of the new expedition will probably Ir nhoiit fiftv, and every member is to be a specialist. THREE AEROPLANES.

It has been a firm belief of previous explorers in the frozen sens that accurate observation cannot be made from aeroplanes, and that only satisfactory results can lie achieved by the employment of lighter-than-air craft. Commander Byrd's views do not coincide. He proposes lo take three heavicr-than-air machines, with which 110 anticipates jibing able •Id make a complete and reliable survey of the Antarctic Continent. The aeroplanes to he taken are re-, presentative of the multi-motored and also the low-motored classes. The most important machine is to be a Bellanca monoplane equipped with three Wright f “Whirlwind” engines, each of 2fio-h.p. ’ This will be file chief observation craft, and its fuselage will have a glass , floor, constructed for the purpose. A Ford aeroplane will he the second j craft, and this will also be fitted with * reserve power unit's. The aerial equipment is also expected to include a. small, relatively low-po\V'ered craft of the biplane type, and this will he used for solo work over short distances. Each of the lhaehines is to have an interchangeable under-carriage, to which skis edit be fitted for landin'" on frozen surfaces and floats for alighting on tlie sea during the warmer periods when the icefields Have bi’dken up. In this way the chief danger of flying in the Polar regions will he minimised, is hot actually eliminated altogether. THE FINAL FLIGHT. The filial flight across the polar circle will not be embarked upon until tlie exploration party reaches a point some 500 miles from tlie South Polo itself. At that sthge the thacliilie will fly across the Antarctic basin and back without landing, and Commander Bvrd hopes during the course of this penultimate trip to survey in addition a considerable belt of territory beyond the actual polar point. For such a non-stop flight a machine with an adequate radius of action is requisite, and in the craft chosen this essential is found. During the trip the few experts who will be selected to participate iri the ultimate; triumph -will take readings and soundings, ns well as photographs, and depending upon tlie degree “of visibility prevailing when the vital attempt is made—the party intends to secure as large and as varied a collection of new facts about this little-known region surrounding the j end of the earth’s hxiSjgs. possible, ~ < Certainly, the thoroughness of 'the { preparations would augur some success

in this respect, for it is doilbtful’if a polar exhibit has ever yet been planned, op such complete, and workmanlike lines as this. Nothing lias been left to chance, and, while the composition of the party has been set-' tied with wisdom niul insight, it will have fit its command an entirely selfcontained equipment with which Jt is thought it "can contend effectively with every imaginable, contingency.