To The South Pole By Air.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18406, 7 March 1928, Page 9

To The South Pole By Air.

COMMANDER BYRD TELLS PLANS OF THE EXPEDITION. WILL STAY IN THE ICE TILL JUNE OF 1930. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. (Received March 7, 8.35 a.m.) WASHINGTON, March 6. Commander Richard Byrd, in an interview, pictured the time he would be camped on a stationary iceberg, 2300 miles from the nearest human dwelling, on his projected exploration trip in the Antarctic. He said: “The expedition will sail for the south in September next. I expect to return in June, 1930, though there is a possibility we might be delayed. “New Zealand will be our first stop. We will then voyage across the Ross ice barrier. The main base of the expedition will be at the Bay of Whales, where Dr Amundsen had his headquarters. This is 2300 miles from the nearest human dwelling, the farthest people have ever lived from civilisation. There we shall establish a small village. “After making camp, we shall establish several sub-bases a hundred miles apart on our way to the South Pole. These are necessary in the event of a forced landing. “The final flight will be the most hazardous. Besides radio, we shall use a kite to keep in touch with the last base. Landing will be difficult, as the South Pole is on the last plateau, one thousand feet high. The air at a height of two thousand feet has lost so much denseness that it requires a great deal of power to take the ’plane off the ground. We shall land with twelve hundred gallons of gasoline, and a thousand pounds of emergency equipment for the flight. “A big monoplane, -with three engines and a wingspread of seventy-six feet, will probably be used. In addition, the expedition will carry two sin-gle-engine monoplanes of the type used by Mf Clarence Chamberlin on his trans-Atlantic flight. An ice ship, wdth a bowed hull and two projecting timbers to push aside the floes, is being constructed.”

Fifty-four men will make the trip. Lieutenant Floyd Bennett will accompany Commander Byrd on the South Pole trip. He will be second in command. Maps will be made, and photographs taken, and scientific data will be brought back to civilisation. The frozen area to be explored is larger than the United States and Mexico combined. The trip is primarily for scientific purposes. Comamnder Byrd added: ”1 regard whatever hazards are encountered as justified by the increase of man’s knowledge that the expedition will make possible.”—United Service.