MAY HOP OFF SUNDAY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 334, 20 April 1928, Page 1

MAY HOP OFF SUNDAY

Last Lap of Bremen Flight

GREAT RECEPTION PREPARED

Honouring Atlantic Conquerors

THE Atlantic flyers may be able to leave Greenley by Sunday. Major Fitzmaurice is going back to the Island to rejoin his German companions. A reception seldom paralleled awaits the airmen when they reach Washington. (United P.A. —By Telegraph Copyright) (Australian Press Association)

Reed. 9.10 a.m. MONTREAL, Thurs. Fraulein Herta Junkers stated definitely that she hopes that the German flyers and Major Fitzmaurice will be able to leave Greenley in their plane Bremen by Sunday. She herself has now abandoned the idea of proceeding to Greenley, but Major Fitzmaurice announced that he will leave Murray Bay as soon as possible in a Ford plane which is now on its way from Detroit. The latter is due to-night about the time that the benzol and spare parts for the Bremen are expected to reach Murray Bay by train, so Major Fitzmaurice is expected to leave on Friday to join his comrades. Fraulein Junkers stated that more than one plane was necessary to take all the things to Greenley thac are needed for the Bremen, but it is not known yet what other planes are likely to join the expedition besides that sent by the Ford Company, although Mr. Duke Schiller will most likely again make the trip. Floyd Bennett and Bert Balchen, pilots for Commander Richard Byrd in his coming Polar expedition, will command the Ford plane, but according to reports from Detroit they may be delayed a day longer than -was expected. In the meantime, Mr. Edsel Ford has invited the Bremen’s crew to be his guests at Dearborn. The plane he is sending is of the all-metal tri-motor type. He has also placed a fleet.of automobiles at the flyers’ disposal. • Fraulein Junkers confirmed the statement that the Bremen may leave Greenley on Sunday. In a telephone message to the Junkers Company in New York, she ' stated that her conversation with Major Fitzmaurice had convinced

her that the Bremen could be put in shape with the equipment now on the way. She herself is planning to return to New York to take part in the flyers’ welcome. Messages of appreciation from President Hindenburg and Mr. James McNeill, Governor-General of the Irish Free State, thanking President Coolidge for his congratulations on the success of the flight have been made public. President Hindenburg said: "In my own name and the name of the German people, I present my sincere thanks to you and the American people for your very cordial congratulations for the successful ocean flight of the Bremen.” Mr. McNeill said: “I appreciate your kind message of congratulation to the Irish people, of the splendid achievement of Commandant Fitzmauriee and his German comrades. May their heroism prove of lasting service to humanity, and, by completing the aerial conquest of the Atlantic, lead to even closer relations between our countries.” In the meantime a reception seldom paralleled awaits the flyers when they reach Washington, which is possible on April 26. President Coolidge will receive them at the White House shortly after their arrival, and the plane will be met on the way from New York by a squadron of army airplanes. They will be received at the field by Mr. F. B. Kellogg, Secretary of State, Secretary of War Dwight Davis, the German Ambassador, Dr. F. W. von Prittwitz Gaffron, and the Irish Minister, Mr. T. A. Smiddy. They will be given a luncheon at the White House on the following day, while the remainder of their stay will be taken up with a continuous programme of entertainment, which is now being arranged by the German Embassy and the Irish Legation, at Both of which places they will be dined. They will also visit the tomb of the Unknown Soldier and both Houses of Congress. They are expected to leave on April 28 for Chicago.