ROMANCE OF THE AIR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20985, 23 September 1931, Page 11

ROMANCE OF THE AIR.

SOUTHERN CROSS' FEATS. PENNILESS AVIATORS. WEALTHY FRIEND APPEARS. MACHINE READY FOR FLIGHT. BY AIR-COMMODORE HINGSFORD SMITH. (Copyright.) No. IV. We were now absolutely penniless, and, moreover, were heavily in debt. We were so poor that we had not even loose cash in our pockets to purchase cigarettes or a meal. We were unable to pay our hotel bill, and were driven to all sorts of subterfuges to stave off those, to whom we owed money. But suddenly the whole situation changed as if by magic. We were standing gloomily at the Rogers Airport, near Los Angeles, one day early in March, when the president of the Californian Bank of Los Angeles, Mr. Andrew Chaffey, introduced us to Captain G. Allan Hancock. The name conveyed nothing to us, but we found that Captain Hancock was much interested in navigation, that he was himself a master mariner, that he was very interested in the navigation of our proposed flight across the Pacific, and, finally, that he was a wealthy man. Much to our delight, he very kindly invited Ulm and me to accompany him on a cruise in his steam yacht Oaxaca. During the cruise he showed great and, indeed, intense interest in the plans we had made, and two days before we landed on the return from that wonderful cruise he suddenly asked us how much money we needed. We told him—£32oo. There was silence for a moment. Then he spoke: " I'll buy the machine from you, boys," said. " I'll see my solicitors and decide which is the best way to do it." We were transported from the depths of despair to wild elation. The great flight was at once- brought closer to us. Captain Hancock Buys Machine. Captain Hancock was as good as his word. We disembarked from his yacht on April 2, 1928, and a few days later, after various legal formalities had been adjusted, Captain Hancock became the owner of the Southern Cross, and told us that he would allow us to fly her to Australia. And now ensued six busy weeks of J preparation, unhampered by any further money troubles. The Southern Cross, which now became the centre of all our hopes and fears, is a tri-motor Fokker monoplane # with a wing span of 71ft. B£in. It is of full cantilever internally-braced threeply wood construction. The maximum chord of the wing is 12ft. 6in., and the maximum thickness 33in. In the wing itself we fitted four tanks, each holding 96 gallons. Under the pilot's seat was another (107 gallons), and the main tank in the fuselage held 807 gallons—our total fuel thus being 1298 American gallons. The three Wright Whirlwind engines were of the JSC type, each of 220 horsepower, the oil tanks for these being fitted in each engine nacelle. Engine and Speed Capacity. At full throttle the engines gave 1800 r.p.m., giving a speed of 120 miles an hour. Throttled back to 1600 r.p.m. we had a speed of 94 miles an hour, the fuel consumption of each engine at this speed being 11 gallons per hour. For safety purposes, I "allowed for an average speed on the flight of only 90 miles, at 1600 r.p.m., with a fuel consumption of 32 gallons per hour. As our total supply was 1298 gallons, this gave us a range of 40j hours, which, at 90 miles an hour, (assuming still air), was equal to 3654 miles. Our longest " hop," from Kauai, in the Hawaiian Islands, to Suva, would be 3128 miles, giving us a margin of over 500 miles. As it was, the Southern Cross would have probably saved our lives, even if we had been forced down on to the sea. The whole of the giant wing is entirely of wood, and in itself could have kept the craft afloat. We also fitted a special dump valve to* the main tank (807 gallons), which would have enabled us to empty the tank in about 50 seconds. This dump valve could be resealed, thus giving extra buoyancy. With steel and wood saws we could have cut off the outboard motors and the whole of the fuselage, thus converting the wing into a large raft, unhampered by any heavy gear. In the wing we carried emergency rations, and we also had a special small distilling plant for condensing drinking water. Provision Against Bisks. The enormous advantage of having three engines lay in the fact that at most stages of the flight we could have reached land with two engines running. Even with only one engine in operation we could have stayed in the air for sufficient - time to allow S.O.S. calls for assistance to be transmitted. We were thus well provided againsfc undue risks. We had an ample reserve of fuel; we had three engines; we had the capacity to remain afloat for an indefinite period if forced down on to" the sea; we had a radio transmitting plant wherewith to call for assistance ;„ we had made arrangements to keep our navigating instruments and nautical tables with us if shipwrecked; we had emergency rations, and a small distilling plant to save us from hunger and thirst, and in the Southern Cross herself and her engines we had a plane which I was supremely confident would see us through. Wireless navigation, which was of great value to us on the first stage of the flight, was then based on a wireless beam sent out from the radio station at Crissy Field, tlie direction of the beam being in the direct course to Honolulu. Similarly from Honolulu another beam was transmitted in a north-easterly direction toward San Francisco. On the first stage of the flight we hoped to keep on the line of the Crissy Field beam until it waned, when we hoped to pick up th® Honolulu beam. Radio Expert and Navigator. With Captain Hancock behind us, things now proceeded very smoothly. Captain Harry Lvon was recommended to us as an expert navigator. We were at once taken with Lyon, who, in turn, introduced to us James Warner, who was an experienced radio man, and had been shipmates with Lyon. We could not have had a more efficient man than Warner, and his excellent work on the flight across the Pacific amply justified tha faith we had in him. As for Lyon, he navigated the ship first by keeping a dead reckoning, secondly with the assistance of Warner, who kept watch on the radio beam, which enabled us for some distance to keep the ship cfn the course to Honolulu, thirdly by taking sights of the sun and stars, and computing our position by tables based on the observed altitude. The exact date of our departure depended entirely on the first reasonably good weather forecast, combined with a full moon. Wc only waifed now for weather, and occupied the last few days in perfecting our arrangements and making final preparations.' The evening before we took off we received a satisfactory weather report fiom the meteorological The moon was full: we were all ready to start; there was nothing further to eaj .* I retired to bed that with the departure in the mormng, fiWed confidence and £ and anxieties of the past wer. now