THEIR LUCK

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16377, 27 June 1927, Page 4

THEIR LUCK

LOST OVER ATLANTIC NIGHT AT 20,000 FEET BERLIN, June 14. Giving a detailed account of their flight, Clarence Chamberlain and Charles Levine said 10-dav that the enterprise, which was planned weeks beforehand, was undertaken on Chamberlain s promise that h fi would gladly go with Levine instead of with a more experienced pilot. “Wo took practice spins,” said Chamberlain, “and tested the instruments through the clouds, in order to accustom ourselves to them. We said that the second man would not bo announced until the start, when lie would jump in. “We could not rise at first, and were compelled to start again, so as to fly clear of Commander Byrd’s machine and avoid smashing into a crowd numbering thousands. It was a miracle that nobody was killed.

“We found, on passing Now London (Conn.) that our compasses were not agreeing, and therefore we were reduced to using the old magnetic compass. This diverted us from our course, and when we were beyond Cape Cod we did not know whether to continue or to return, but Levine said it would be better to be buried in Davy Jones’ locker than to return and face the criticisms und lie-haws. “This decided us to continue, and we headed for Nova Scotia. Head winds put us miles off our course, but it was too late to hesitate, and we turned the aeroplane towards the open Atlantic, gritted our teeth, and faced the really big part of the task. “The next thrill was in meeting gur first iceberg, We did not know what it was, and dropped down to inspect it. Afterwards there were no thrills in icebergs. WORRIED BY FOG. “We saw 20 huge ’bergs and a hundred small ones. We used them to check our drift, since they were fairly stationary. They looked grand in the moonlight, but unexpected fogs bothered us, and we veered south to avoid them, after vainly mounting to 15,000 ft, and thereafter dropping down again, “We were navigating with a compass we did not believe in, anyhow, and did not know our whereabouts. We exchanged searchlight signals aftor midnight, when 60 miles from Newfoundland, with an unknown vessel, whose name we could not read, though wo flew down close. GREETING MAURETANIA. “We did not know when wo would hit Ireland, England, Franco or Spain. Then came the next thrill, the Mauretania looming up 10 miles distant. “We made a bee-line for her, circled over her, read her name, and waved to the passengers. “Levine signalled with his hands, and an officer saluted, showing that he understood. We then dug up a copy of the New York Times from the back of the aeroplane, and found when the Mauretania left Southampton. From this we computed her position, and saw that we were near Ireland or England. Then we got a glimpse of land. Levine is sure it was Ireland, because ho was born on St. Patrick’s Day. “When the ‘plane became temporarily unmanageable over the North Sen,” went on Chamberlain, “I said to Levine, ‘You take the stick.’ He laughed, and said, ‘lt is like riding a bucking bronco.’ “The biggest thrill was ,near Berlin. We were compelled to rise to 20,000 ft. and remain there all night. It might have been higher, because the thermometer showed 18 degrees below freezing. “Thore were no more thrills, not even when we were forced to land owing to our gasolino becoming exhausted, nor when the ’piano came down on its nose near Kottbus.”