PLANE DAMAGED

Southland Times, Issue 25386, 13 September 1935, Page 6

PLANE DAMAGED

ELLSWORTH EXPEDITION PILOT ONLY SLIGHTLY INJURED i PLANS TO PROCEED (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright.) (Rec. 5.5 p.m.) Monte Video, Sept. 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 and crashed into a wire fence. The testing pilot escaped with superficial scratches. One wing of the machine was broken. Mr Ellsworth, who does not beheve the accident will delay the departure of the expedition to the Antarctic, indicated that the Wyatt Earp would, with a complete personnel aboard, leave on October 15 for the Weddell Sea where, either from Dundee or Snowhill Island, he and His Canadian pilot, Kenyon, would attempt for the sixth time the dangerous 2800-mile hop to the Ross Sea. “It will be a true pioneer flight,” he said. "I am not interested in the resources of the continent, even if it is full of gold, 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 Rear-Admiral Byrd’s statement that the Antarctic is definitely one land mass. “Without trying to detract from Rear-Admiral Byrd’s work, I believe his announcement was premature,’ he said. “When one considers how little is known of this great continent it may take many expeditions many, years to decide this matter definitely.”