FLIGHT TO THE POLE.

Waikato Times, Volume 106, Issue 17886, 5 December 1929, Page 5

FLIGHT TO THE POLE.

NEGOTIATING MOUNTAINS.

A CRITICAL MOMENT.

DROPPING OF THE FLAG.

NEW YORK, Dec. 3-

fßv Commander Byrd. Copyrighted IVJ& by the New York Times Company and the St. Louis Post Dispatch. All rights for publication reserved throughout the world. Wireless to the New York Times. | United Press Assn.— -Elec. Tel. —Copyright

BAY OF WHALES, Dec. 3

Commander Byrd continues his narrative of the flight to the South Pole made between Thursday and Friday of last week. He says:— When we decided to go on to the Pole and began to rise Balchen hugged the peaks on the lee side of the pass where the bu.Mps would be more likely to carry us up than down. We were getting close to the highest altitude. The.machine could reach a 9000 ft. peak near us on our right and the wind from our left was striking it, being shot upward, thereby helping us. We thought the altimeter showed 10,000 ft., but we could not depend on that- The barometer here was likely to read the same as over Little America, because of local pressure, and the change in our weight was a bit over 13,0001 h. The ailerons failed to respond and the wheel turned loosely in Bale-hen’s hands. Still we were not high enough to safely get over the pass ahead. We saw now a great plateau through the clouds hovering around the peaks to the right and left-

It was a Critical Moment. The air was too rarefied to hold up our heavy loads. Balchen yelled in my ear above the roar of the engines, “We must drop 2001 b. immediately or go back.” June was standing by the dump valve of our fuselage. A little pressure on the valve and we could let go 6001 h. of petrol. If we dumped that we could not reach -the Pole and get back to the base. Food was the only thing left to throw overboard, so I ordered a hag weighing 1251 - to he dropped- This had an immediate effect, and we shot upwards. Very luckily we had gradually gained •more altiLude, but not enough. A few hundred feet now might make all the difference between success or dismal failure. llow much hung upon those few" hundred feet ! 1 ordered Mackinly to drop two more bags of food. The minutes went very slowly- _ At last we reached the pass. We had a few hundred feet to spare. Balchen gave a shout of joy. There were no mountains beyond the pass.

We now had less than 300 miles between us and the Pole. The Plateau was so high that if one of the three engines had stopped we would have had to land on the snow, which at places was nearly two miles above sea level. To our left were great mountain masses looming high above our level. I would hesitate to estimate their altitude, but -they are very high, since at this place the plateau itself is about 1000ft-’'above sea level. Our

Photographs Must Tell tho Story-

Beyond this -mass were separated peaks of many different shapes running to the south-east. There was a new mountain range in the distance, running north and south, a new hit of land to add to the map of tho world. MacKinley would take it with his camera. We felt it was worth while bringing him for that alone.

That imaginary point, the South Pole, is in the centre of an uplifted plain, hundreds of miles in diameter, a magnificent edifice seemingly built to make more inviolable the tiny spot wo were seeking. The plateau seems to be from 7000 ft. to 11,000 ft. in height. The character of the plateau surface varied greatly from time to time. We saw to the left the foot of the magnificent glacier, running down from the mountains, and showing chaotic masses of crevassed ice, shining blue against the White snow. This may have been the “Devil’s Ballroom,” that dangerous area which Amundsen traversed.

Somewhere was the trail that Amundsen had blazed to the South Pole. His trail was now buried far beneath the snow. My admiration for that g’reat explorer increased tremendously when I saw what he had to contend' with. In his honour, and in honour of Balchen and the other Norwegians of Little America, and the whalers, who, with such great generosity have helped us, wo carried with us a Norwegian flag. We also carried with us a French flag. We have not forgotten the extraordinary hospitality France showed the transatlantic fliers, nor the friendship demonstrated for America at that time.

It was impossible at this time to keep the sun and the bubble in the sextant together long enough to get a dependable sight. Our , altimeter showed us to bo keeping ! about the same atmospheric pressure, and we were therefore not changing our altitude very muchThe temperature seemed to be falling as we neared the Pole. The mountains abaft the beam were fading now and clouds, which may have covered unseen mountains, showed on the horizon of the port bow. June was piloting and Balchen came aft to tell me that it w r as not quite so clear ahead, and that we might find mist near the Pole. “ The wind had caused us to take longer than we had expected, but at last the big moment had come—that imaginary point, the

Very Bottom of the World, was, according to my reckoning, somewhere beneath, and within our view. I attempted to get the altitude of the sun with the sextant, but there was far too much movement of the aeroplane for results. We know exactly what the altitude of the sun should be, since the altitude of the sun’s centre at any moment at the Pole is equal to the declination of the sun, which at that time was 21 degrees 27 minutes. The sun circles that point without any noticeable change in altitude. " We flew on to the right for five or six miles, then circled and flew left for an equal distance, and followed our original line of flight for five or six miles further. When we reached the plane at which we had turned to the light. We opened the trapdoor and dropped the American flag, weighted with the stone from Floyd Bennett's grave. We stood and saluted the spirit ■of our gallant comrade odd our country's tkyt*"