EXPLORER'S AEROPLANE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22675, 13 September 1935, Page 9

EXPLORER'S AEROPLANE

CRASH ON WIRE FENCE ONE OF THE WINGS BROKEN MONTEVIDEO, September 11. Mr Lincoln Ellsworth's aeroplane Polar Star cracked up yesterday, when descending at the airport after engine trouble had developed during a test flight. The plane crashed into a wire fence, but the testing pilot escaped injury. One wing of the machine was broken.

Mr Ellsworth does not believe that the accident will delay the departure of the expedition to the Antarctic. He indicated that the Wyatt Earp, with a complete personnel aboard, would leave on October 15 for the Weddell Sea, where, either from Dundee or Snowhill Island, he and his Canadif.u pilot (Kenyon) would attempt for the sixth time the dangerous 2800-mile hop to. the Ross Sea. "It is a true pioneer flight. I am not interested in the resources of the continent, even if it is full of gold," said Mr Ellsworth, "but with the material from this flight I hope to be able to build a framework of knowledge which later expeditions can enlarge upon." Mr Ellsworth is inclined to disagree with Admiral Byrd's statement that the Antarctic is definitely one land mass. "Without trying to detract from Admiral Byrd's work, I believi that his announcement was premature. When one considers how little is known of this great continent, it may take many expeditious and many years to decide this matter definitely."