FLIGHTS OVER NORTH POLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19299, 12 April 1926, Page 9

FLIGHTS OVER NORTH POLE.

AMUNDSEN LEAVES ROME. PARTY ON AIRSHIP NORGE. MAKING FOR ENGLAND FIRST. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received 5.5 p.m.) A. and N.Z. LONDON. April 11. Great interest, has been aroused in England in tho departure from Rome for Pulham of the dirigible Norge, in which Captain .Ivaold Amundsen is to attempt his trans-Polar flight- The airship is expected to arrive at Pulham this morning or this afternoon. The Norge' will be flown at an economical speed of aboilt 40 miles an hour. She will not land anywhere on the journey to England, which should occupy about 30 hours. At Pulham the airship will be put into a hangar, where she will take in fuel and replenish her supply of hydrogen gas in readiness for the flight to Oslo and thence to Spitsbergen. The latter will be the base from which she will set out on her voyage to the North Pole. The British Air Ministry will render all assistance possible to Captain Amundsen. Major Scott, the Ministry's officer in charge of airships, is coming from Rome in tho Norge. Captain Amundsen hopes to be able to make such a survey of the central polar region as will settle the vexed question whether thero are islands to any considerable extent in the area. Explorers to-day agree, says the aeronautical expert of the Ohscrwr, that there is no insuperable obstacle to the eventual establishment of fair traffic routes at-. the polar regions to connect Britain with China and Japan and to reduce the time now taken in transit by more.than 50 per cent.