LOST IN FROZEN NORTH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20474, 28 January 1930, Page 11

LOST IN FROZEN NORTH.

FAMOUS ARCTIC FLIER.

WRECKED MACHINE FOUND.

EIELSON AND BORLAND.

NO TRACE OF THE BODIES.

SEARCH IN SNOWDRIFTS.

By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received January 27. 6.5 p.m.) NEW YORK. Jan. 26. A wireless message received at Seattle from the party which found the wrecked aeroplane in which Lieutenant Carl Ben Eielson and his mechanic Borland were lost while on a trading flight between Alaska and Sibeiia says the scene of the tragedy is 90 miles east of Cape North, Siberia. The engine was torn from the fuselage, showing the violence of the impact with the earth. The bodies of Eielson and Borland were not found. It *is feared t hat they are buried beneath huge snowdrifts. Their provisions had not been touched. The cabin was split open, and wreckage was 6trewn over a wide area. Men with dog teams are searching for the victims. Men Thought to Have Been Killed. A telegram from Grand Forks, North Dakota, says Mr. Ole Eielson, father of Carl Eielson, received a message from two pilots, Messrs. Joseph Crosson and Gillam, paying; "We are sorry to inform you that, we have found Ben's aeroplane badly wrecked and buried deep in the snow. "We have not located the bodies.. It is .very evident that your son and his companion were killed instantly. The pilot's cockpit was torn away with the engine, which lies 100 feet from the cabin. We are despatching dog teams to excavate the snow around the machine." A wireless despatch from the motorship Nanuk, at North Cape, Siberia, Btates that Messrs. Crosson and Gillam, accompanied by a sailor from the vessel and the agent of the Gostorg Trading Company, have left for the scene of the wreck of the aeroplane in order to endeavour to shovel away the snow and find the bodies.

A message from Fairbanks, Alaska, says Mrs. Borland continues calmly to await further news of the disantei*. She refuses to give up her hope that her husband and Eielson have escaped. Other members of Borland's family in Seattle also indicate their belief that the fliers are safe. Task of Stopping the Search. At present the great problem seems to be to call off the widespread search which is going on for the lost airmen. Dog teams have been sent out in an attempt to reach the numerous searchers who are covering a wide area of land and air. A, Russian pilot, Chukhnovsky, after many unsuccessful attempts, left Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, to-day with a Moscow journalist to endeavour to aid in the search. Pilot Crosson, who found the wreck, accompanied Eielson and Sir Hubert Wilkins on their Polar flight. Eielson and his companion have been missing 79 days. Apparently they crashed on November 9, while attempting to reach North Cape. Pilots Crosson, Gillam and others have been searching desperately for them for many weeks.

Lieutenant Carl Ben Eielson was the pilot on Sir Hubert Wilkins' flight across the North Pole from Point Barrow, Alaska, to Dead Man's Island, Spitzbergen, in the five days ended April 21, 1928. Eielson was the first man to fly north of the Arctic Circle. In 1923 he bought a second-hand, somewhat dilapidated aeroplane and took it to Fairbanks, Alaska. After continuous successful flying there he was, in 1924, awarded the contract for United States mails in the territory during winter. He made regular iortnightly trips between Fairbanks and McGrath, a distance of 200 miles. The airman first flew with Sir Hubert Wilkins for 150 miles over the pack-ice from Point Barrow in 1926. Next year he piloted Sir Hubert 550 miles coward the Pole. He made two safe forced landings on the ice and, after effecting repairs he made safe landings in darkness in that sector. When only 100 miles from their base fuel gave out and Eielson landed the big' machine and walked ashore with Sir Hubert in 18 days, sleeping at night in snow houses.

Eielson, who was a native of Hatton, North Dakota, was 31 years old. He studied at the State University before he enlisted in the American Army Air Service. In the war he won a first lieutenancy. He became a commercial aviator after the war.