POLAR EXPLORATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19803, 31 May 1926, Page 7

POLAR EXPLORATION

BYRD’S PROJECTED RIGHT. LESSONS FROM NORTH POLE FLIGHT. (Free* Association—By Telegraph—Copyright.) LONDON, May 29. Discussing his projected flight to the South Pole, Lieutenant Byrd says the lesson learned during his flight to tne North Pole shows that bigger skis must be fitted to the aeroplane and the mMhine must have capacity for a longer flight, because the South Pole is 1000 miles beyond the great ice barrier, from which he must take off, as against 450 miles to the North Pole. Another difficulty is that it is land, and not sea, and is 10,000 ft fte explains that he could not understand England’s silence when he ceturned after the North Pole flight when all the world was cabling congratulations. He was not aware that a general strike precluded England from hearing of the flight. He declares that sheer luck was responsible for his success. Had a blizzard obscured the sun ho would have lost his way and the game would have been up. He admitted that there was always a difficulty in determining whether one was exactly over the Pole. _ He was con vinced, however, that owing to the use of a sextant of his own invention he passed exactly over the Pole. While travelling steadily north they found themselves travelling steadily south without turning. —A. and N.Z. Cable. SOME NEW PHASES. “MORE AMBITION THAN BRAINS.’’ LONDON, May 29. Kew phases of the Polar flight were given by Lieutenant Byrd, who was the guest at a luncheon given by the Royal Aero Club. He opened a racy speech by saying: “In starting off for the North Pole we were damned fools, with more ambition than brains." He related how his shipmates, unknown to him, had loaded up the machine with such things as ukeleles, Jews harps, American Hags, extra boots even a pack of cards.— Cod knows how we got off.’’ Dealmp with an oil leak in the engine, he said : When I pointed this out to Bennett he wrote on a slip of paper, ‘She will stop.’ 1 was scared to death, as 1 knew if she came down there was no chance on earth of surviving. I asked Bennett what we should do, and he wrote ‘Go to the Pole first, and we will discuss what to do afterwards.’ ’’ —A. and N.Z. Cable.