FLIGHT ACROSS POLE

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVII, Issue 4458, 17 October 1933, Page 6

FLIGHT ACROSS POLE

THIS SUMMER'S ATTEMPT ELLSWORTH'S EXPEDITION The challenge of "the last great adventure in the history of South Pole exploration," as the late Sir Ernest Shackelton once described the crossing of Antarctica, is being taken up again. The new challenger is Lincoln Ellsworth, wealthy American who traversed the Arctic in 1926 in the Amundson-Ellsworth-Nobile dirigible Norge, and who is now at the head of an airplane expedition organised to look down for the first time on •2,900 miles of the mysteries at the "bottom of the axis of the world. For approximately two years •Ellsworth has been organising his venture, formally known as the Lincoln Ellsworth Transantarctic Expedition and including such flying explorers as Bernt Balchen and Sir Hubert Wilkins. Balchen will be pilot and radio operator and EllsWorth will be photographer and navigator during a non-stop hop from the Bay of Whales in the Ross Sea to the Weddell Sea and return. Sir Hubert as historian for the expedition will remain at the Bay of Whales on the base ship, Wyatt Earp, maintaining radio communication with the outside world.

The airplane selected for what Ellsworth regards as "the only great pioneer flight left to be made" is a Wasp-powered Northrop Delta low-wing, all-metal monoplane, similar in design to the Texaco SkyChief flown by Lieutenant Commander Frank M. Hawks, noted crosscountry speed flier and aeronautical advisor for The Texas Company. Previous to shipment of the 'plane from the United States to Norway for trans-shipment to the South Polar regions, Commander Hawks 'and Balchen as pilots of campanion 'planes worked together on numerous test flights and data. At the same time, The Texas Company was engaged in laying down supplies almost entirely around the world for the expedition's 'plane and its base ship. Thousands of gallons of gasoline and hundreds of gallons of oil for the airplane Were distributed through the United States and shipped to Dunedin, New Zealand, and for the base ship fuel and lubricating oil was requisitioned to such scattered points as Aslesund and Bergen, Norway; Cape Town, South Africa, the Panama Canal Zone and Dunedin. At Dunedin the expedition will depart from and rejoin civilisation, while the Panama Canal is one of the possible stops en route back to the United States. Ellsworth, Balchen and Sir Hubert left their homes in the United States in early summer to go by separate routes to the concentration point at Dunedin. Ellsworth with his bride of a few weeks, the former Miss Mary Louise Ulmer, of Pottsville, Pa., sailed from San Francisco on July 15, for New Zealand, where Mrs Ellsworth will spend her time while her husband is in Antactia. Previously Balchen and Sir Hubert departed from New York for Europe to make the trip to Dunedin aboard the Wyatt Earp. The Wyatt Earp, formerly the Norwegian motor ship Fanefjord, was named for Ellsworth's childhood idol, a famous fighting frontier marshal of early Western days. The Wyatt Earp, besides the principals of the expedition, requires a crew of about a dozen men, includ-

ing a radio operator and probably a meterologist. After concentration of the expedition at Dunedin, the itinerary called for departure about November 1 for the Bay of Whales Where the round trip airplane flight across the polar continent will start. The flight will take place approximately at Christmas time. Soon after they depart from the Bay of Whales, using skis for landing gear on their 'plane, Ellsworth and Balchen will be flying over terrain never seen by man, their course being removed from the territory explored by Shackleton, Scott and others and the air line followed to the South Pole by Admiral Richard E. Byrd, Whose pilot, incidentally, was BaL ehen. The round trip to the Weddell Sea must be made non-stop, the inaccessibility of the Weddell coast prohibiting the establishment of any bases. The flying explorers, however, will carry complete emergency equipment and will have a flying range based, on fuel of more than 4,000 miles, giving the two men more than a 1,000 mile margin.

During the trip Balchen will maintain radio communication with the base ship, which will relay to civilisation news of the progress of the flight, and Ellsworth will keep the log and photograph the terrain. From the observation which the two men will make and the comprehensive camera record which is ex-

pected to result, many of the questions about Antarctica are likely to

be answered. Weather and magnetic condition will be observed, and the photographs are relied upon to show much of the nature of the surface, especially whether it is one vast continent covered with ice, an archipelago or a great ocean supporting only chill desolation.

After the flight the expedition will require weeks to return to Dunedin and civilisation and it will be several mont|hs after that before they will be back in the United States. To fly the 2,900 miles across Antarctica, the expedition must travel 20,000 miles by sea.