ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION.
(By Cable.) LONDON, December 2. The Blackburn Aviation Company is constructing a single-engined biplane for Lieutenant Cope's Antarctic expedition to enable him to make the final 400-miles 'dash to the Pole. The machine "will have a great lifting capacity, and will carry four men, including Lieutenant Cope and Wilkins, also a considerable quantity of sledging and camping equipment, and provision for at least 10 weeks to meet any emergency, m the event of the machine crashing, necessitating a return on foot. It .will also carry sufficient ' petrol to cover 12,000 miles, owing to there being no likelihood of following a direct route. They, will start for the Pole from the Great Barrier at an altitude of 5000 ft, but the machine must be capable of flying at. 11,000 ft, which altitude, owing to the rarefied atmosphere, is equal to 21,000 ft in lower latitudes. It must be warmed throughout the s whole of the trip, and an airtight machine will be sent to Scandinavia in January to test the suitability in cold regions of the oil-cooled engine to be used, as a water-cooled is impracticable owing to freezing and its fragility.
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Bibliographic details
Otago Witness, Issue 3430, 9 December 1919, Page 20
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193ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION. Otago Witness, Issue 3430, 9 December 1919, Page 20
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