OTHER ATTEMPTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20167, 8 June 1928, Page 7

OTHER ATTEMPTS

SPANNING THE PACIFIC HISTORY OF AMERICA-HONOLULU FLIGHTS The first attempt to fly the Pacific was made by the American naval flying boat P.N.9, No. 1, in September, 1925, but it was compelled to come down 150 miles from Maui Island, while attempting a flight from San Francisco to Hawaii. After having been aririft for nine ’lays the seaplane was discovered on the afternoon of September 10 by sunmarine R 4, about 15 miles north-west of Maui Island, whither it had drifter! approximately 450 miles westward from the spot where it was forci-u down 218 hours previously. The submarine towed the seaplane to Nawiliwili, the port of Kauai, the crew remaining in the seaplane in order tecnnicaliy to complete the trip in their machine to the Hawaiian Islands. The hull of the seaplane was intact, but the wings had been badly buffeted by rough seas. The crew had also stripped the fabric off the wings to catch rain-water for drinking purposes. 1 Soon after the forced descent of the

seaplane, a merchant vessel was sightM five miles distant, but repeated signals to attract her attention failed. Throughout the nine days the seaplane was listening to wireless reports regarding the search for her, but was unable to reply. One ship’s message which was overheard was that a conference of 21 pilots .had agreed that the seaplane and her crew would never be found.

The first flight actually completed from, tian Francisco to Hawaii was made by Lieut. Lester J. Maitland and Lieutenant A. H. Hegcnberger, the United States Army, in their Fokker monoplane, on June 28, 1927. Though the Fokker weighed 13,5001 o. it took off easily, and w.lien it passed over the Golden Gate it was making 90 miles au hour. It carried 1040 gallons of petrol, and had a cruising radius of 3000 miles. They ended then non-stop flight of 2400 miles over ‘he Pacific in 25 hours 43 minutes, being greeted by a huge crowd at Wheeler Field, Honolulu. They left San Francisco at 7 a.m. on Tuesday, June 28, and arrived at Hawaii at 6.22 a.m. on June 29.

The next attempt to fly the Pacific was made on August 16, 1927, when nine aeroplanes, one carrying a woman* started in a race from Oakland, California, to Hawaii for two prizes of £5OOO and £2OOO offered by Mr James Dole, the “pineapple king,” of Honolulu. Only six of the nine entrants made a start. One machine crashed in taking off, another failed to leave the ground, and a thind machine was disqualified on grounds of insufficient petrol capacity for the flight. Two other machines turned back shortly after starting, leaving four machines to continue the race. The race was won by Air Arthur Goebel in his monoplane Woolaroo. which landed at Honu lulu at 2.54 p.m. on August 18. Two hours after the appearance of the winner of the first prize, the Aloha, with Mr Martin Jensen as pilot and Mr Paul Schluter as navigator, landed, thus gaining the second prize of £2OOO.

The Miss Doran, the only biplane in the race, was piloted by Air J. A. Pedlar, with Mr V. R. Knope as navigator, and carried Miss Mildred Doran as a passenger, while the Golden Eagic carried Air Jack Frost as pilot, ..ith Air Gordon Scott as navigator. These two machines were lost, and practically the whole of the United States Pacific Fleet, assisted by naval and civilian aircraft and many merchant vessels, engaged in the search for several days. Though rewards amounting to £BOOO were offered by Air James Dole, the donor of the prizes for the race, by Air William Alalloska. who entered the Miss Doran, and by Mi George Hearst, the backer of the Golden Eagle, nothing further was seen of the two machines or their crows.