TO SOUTH POLE BY AIR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17823, 3 January 1920, Page 10

TO SOUTH POLE BY AIR

DR COPE'S EXPEDITION.

SPECIAL MACHINE CONSTRUCTED,

The Blackburn Company is constructing a Blackburn single-engined biplane, entirely different from the Kangaroo type, to accompany Dr Cope's expedition to the Antarctic regions, and make the final dash of 400 miles to the Pole. The construction of the machine presents enormous difficulties, owing to the necessity for the machine possessing great lifting capacity. It will have to carry four men, including Dr Cope and Captain Wilkina, and a considerable quantity of equipment, such as a sledge, camping outfit, shovels, spades, tent, cooking stove, and provisions to last 1,0 weeks, to meet the emergency in tho event of the machine crashing down and necessitating a return to the base on foot. It will have to carry sufficient petrol _to cover 12,000 miles, owing to the unlikelihood of its being able to follow the direct course.

The machine must bo capable of flying at a height of 11,000 ft, whioh, owing to the rarefied atmosphere, is equal to 21,000 ft in the lower latitudes. The machine mmst be warmed throughout, and the whole fuselage must bo airtight. It wall be impossible to use wheels for tho under-car-riage, and skids will replace the wheels. Tho machine will bo sent to Scandinavia in January, to test the suitability of tho skids.

A water-cooled engine is out of the question owing to thq certainty of its freezing. An air-cooled: engine is impracticable, owing to the fragilitv of the cylinder under the intense cold; therefore, an oil-cooled engine is to be adopted. The machine will l>o shipped complete, but it will bo partly dismantled and the wings folded back.