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MEMBER AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION
MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEMBER NATIONAL EDITORIAL ASSOCIATION
VOLUME XVI. NUMBER 145.
SEWARD, ALASKA, TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 1931.
PI. . £ T"'J CENTS
■ ■.... -
LINDBERGH'S MOURN PLANE
MAKES PACIFIC FLIGHT SAFE
COMPARED TO 1927 TRIUMPH
NEW YORK, June 30. (/P)—There is less peril in
Colonel Lindbergh’s Pacific adventure than confronted
him when, in 1927, he conquered the Atlantic m the opint
of St. Louis. , . ,
With a motor nearly three times as powerful and a
plane embodying developments of four years of aviation
progress, today’s flight appears far less hazardous than
his first ocean crossing.
Lindbergh’s new low wing monoplane has a speed
of 220 miles an hour, but since he has equipped it with
pontoons it can make only 175 miles an hour on the
ocean trip.
LONG HOP FROM
SIBERIA TO ALASKA
IDE FUST TIME
despite two long delays
FLIERS ARE AHEAD OF
SCHEDULE
NOME. June 30. (/P>—Post and
Gatty arrived from Khabarovsk
at Solomon, completing their
2.500-mile flight at 2:45 Western
Alaska time, averaging 150 miles
an hour.
They left Khabarovsk at 4 o’clock
in the morning, Eastern Standard
time, Monday.
Despite two long delays in Si
beria they are still ahead of their
10-day schedule. Upon landing
at Solomon they had covered
roughly 12,000 miles in six days,
22 hours and 29 minutes and had
about three days left in which to
cover the 3.000 miles to New York.
Gatty’s arm was struck by the
olane’s propellor as he was start
ing the motor; he fell to the
ground safely. The propellor was
bent when the plane up-ended in
an attempted takeoff owing to the
rough condition of the field.
Gatty was struck over the heart
and arm; Post hammered the pro
pellor and pronounced it O. K.
]
Landing fields are few across <
the North Pacific route. The pon- (
toons will enable the plane to land
and takeoff on water, and will
contain additional gasoline tanks. -
The plane has a wing span of
42 feet, 10 inches, with a length j
of 27 feet, 6 inches. Its fuselage
: and the cantilever wing are of
| wood construction.
Broke One Record
A year ago, with the colonel at;
i the controls, it spanned the conti
| nent in 14 hours and 45 minutes,
! a record later broken by Capt.
I Frank M. Hawks. Its retractable
; landing gear, only recently re
| placed by pontoons, made a speed
I of about 220 miles per hour pos
sible. It was an idea credited
i largely to Lindbergh.
At the time of the transconti
| nental flight the plane had a 425 |
horsepower Wasp engine which j
has been replaced by a 600 horse-1
(power Wright Cyclone motor.
! The low wing monoplane is fully j
j streamlined in design and the ne
S gine is housed in a cowling that j
j minimizes air resistance.
He bought the ship in January,
1S30, after testing it in California. |
The cost was $17,825.
The license number obtained for
it was NR-211. That of the Spirit ';
of St. Louis was XNR-211.
More Costly Ship
GUTTY STRUCK BY
FIELD LENGTHENED
NOME, June 30. (JP)—Elaborate
preparations had been made at
Nome where the airfield had been
lenghtened to assist the takeoff
of Post and Gatty.
The next stop will be Edmonton,
Alberta. Tents and beds were
erected on the field to enable
Post and Gatty to rest while their
plane was refueled.
The flying time from New York
to Nome was three days, four
hours and 10 minutes elapsed time,
or six days, 16 hours and 49 min
utes total; mileage 11,650.
Gatty was struck on the arm
and chest by the propeller in start
ing for Fairbanks but fell to the
ground, only bruised. On another
attempt the rough ground nosed
up the plane and bent the pro
peller. Gatty hammered it straight
and they started Eastward.
r
The price was in excess of that
of the trans-Atlantic plane which
now reposes in the Smithsonian
institution at Washington.
The “Spirit of St. Louis,” ex
clusive of motor and instruments,
cost $6,000, while the 225 horse
power Wright Whirlwind J-5 radial
air-cooled nine-cylinder motor and
the instruments brought the total
| cost to about $13,000.
The Spirit of St. Louis was a
I stock model Ryan monoplane with
: a wing spread of 46 feet and a
; fuselage 27 feet, three inches long.
! The cockpit was glass enclosed and
Lindbergh saw through a peri
scope.
But he used equipment which
j was the very latest in 1927. There
were the earth inductor compass,
tachometer, bank and turn indica
I tor, air speed indicator, magnetic
! compass, speed and drift indicator,
! altimeter and oil guages.
Carrying no navigator and with
out a sextant, Lindbergh in his
i Atlantic flight arrived over Ireland
j within three miles of the point at
j which he aimed.
PLANE AT FAIRBANKS
FAIRBANKS, June 30. UP) —
Post and Gatty arrived from So1
omon at 9:25 p. m. Monday, or 11:2r
p. m. Pacific Time, to have their
motor serviced. They plan to hop
to Edmonton, Alberta, Tuesday.
GLOBE CIRCLING
FLIERS LANDED HI
FAIRBANKS. RESTED
EXPECT TO MAKE TWO STOPS
BETWEEN FAIRBANKS
AND NEW YORK
FAIRBANKS, June 30. (/P)—Post
and Gatty lifted their plane in the
air at 5:24 Pacific time, for Ed
monton after an all night stop.
Post was at the controls.
Due to the heavy load of gaso
line he was unable to get the
plane into the air on the first trip
down the field so taxied back and
Post gunned her. The ship rolled
slowly down, rising just before the
end, clearing a woodpile only a
few feet.
They circled the field twice,
waved and turned due south. As
they were lost to sight they had
gained altitude and speed; ideal
weather prevailed.
Gatty’s arm was paining him
I but he insisted it was all right and
[ would be completely healed in a
; day or two.
They installed new propellor
while here; they estimated the
flight to Edmonton would take
about 10 hours. They make one
; more stop, possibly at Detroit.
TWO POINTS OF
FRANCE WANTS GERMANY’S
CREDITS PARCELLED OUT
TO NEEDY NATIONS
WASHINGTON, June 30. UP) —
Two points advanced by Franc,
needed clarification before the way
can be opened on arrangements for
the Moratorium by the State De
partment.
While the optimistic insisted that
the United States accept no com
promise which might be endanger
ing to the principle of Hoover’s
plan and the discussions continued.
Acting Secretary Castle announc
ed that all the governments but
the French had agreed in principle
to the plan.
Two points of difference are in -
volved in the unconditional repara
tion and those principally concern
ed with actual war and devastation.
France insisted that, an immed
iate end be put to the moratorium
and Germany’s postponed uncondi
tional payments be made available
for use by France. The United
States held that the money be
funded over for several years.
The second point France wanted
in reference to the unconditional
payments was that payments be
continued and paid to the Bank ol
International Settlement and re
sulting credits be parcelled out
among the other needy European
nations.
America said that if the Reisch
banks wants all credit it should have
it.
The roof of the Gordon Build
ing is the hands of the “black
gang,” tar-men.
FLIERS WHO SAW LINDBERGH
HOP FOR PARIS HAVE FAITH
HE WILL CONQUER PACIFIC
NEW YORK, June 30. (/P)—Bemt Balchen and “Ca
sey” Jones, two of that little group of aviation celebrities
who saw Lindbergh take off for Paris from Roosevelt
field, May 20, 1927, in the Spirit of St. Louis, have com
plete confidence in the success of his trans-Pacific flight.
“He’s had the experience—more, perhaps, than any
one else and he knows planes,” Balchen says. “If any
one qualified for such a flight, Lindbergh should be.”
MINISTER CURES
COn HIRTIET IS
MEMBER BOOZE PMITY
TACOMA, June 30. (^—Rever
end Charles MacCaughey, Meth
odist Episcopal pastor, said he
would not retract the charges he
made that Governor Hartley par
ticipated in a party at the last
legislature w'hich resulted in the
arrest of three men on liquor
charges.
The governor sent a letter to the
pastor describing the remarks as
false* and"*1flJelmis and demand
ing retraction.
The pastor said the governor
| left the party at 10 o’clock via
the elevator in the hotel in Olym
pia while raiding officers arrived
by another. The minister said
he “has full substantiation of his
facts which do the governor no
good and he could hammer the
table until he got red in the face
, about it.”
Horn CUBE MS
OFF FOR THE ORIENT
FORT WORTH, Texas, June 30. j
!(/P)—Robins and Jones bound fori
i Tokyo, took off at 4:50 this morn- |
ing for Seattle and are expecting
to reach there late today and give
their plane its final inspection be
fore starting their flight.
The aviators are expecting the
flight to take 55 hours by way of
Fairbanks and Nome where they
will be refueled in the air by an
other plane flown by Jimmy Mat
tern and Nick Green. The latter
plane took off for Bismarck, North
Dakota, for an overnight stop. They
will then proceed directly to Fair
banks and there await Robbins. ,
Robbins expects to reach Fair
banks in 15 hours.
HE OH
THOM INCOME $1,979
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla., June
30. (jP)—For the past three years
the average gross income per farm
in Oklahoma has been $1,379.84,
according to statistics prepared by
the extension division of Oklahoma
A. & M. College.
Western Oklahoma farms made
a better showing than those in the
eastern part of the state, with $1,
899.91 average against $882.88.
Balchen was a member of the
crew of Commander Byrd’s plane,
the America, waiting to take off
on its own trans-Atlantic attempt,
when he saw Lindbergh’s Spirit of
St. Louis soar away on that fateful
dawn.
He knew the “Flying Colonel’’
slightly then, but he shared Byrd's
confidence in his success as to
gether they watched the heavily
laden plane.
Balchen says that if he were
contemplating a jaunt over the
north Pacific, he would visualize it
as no more dangerous than the
perils to be met in the great circle
hop over the Atlantic.
But he doesn’t at all minimize
the dangers lurking over the Pa
cific, in spite of the shorter water
jumps possible.
Rather he agrees with the Amer
ican ’round-the-world fliers who
have made the Pacific flight and
who say that uncertain weather
is a greater risk than that of fail
ure in the plane itself.
Jones Agrees
The odds are far more in favor
! of Lindbergh flying the Pacific
! than when he started his dash for
; Paris, in the opinion of Casey
i Jones, noted racing aviator and
! chief of the Curtis-Wright air
! service.
! Jones is well known as one of
[the best technicians in air circles,
I and is an accomplished flier.
“I have just finished a thorough
j inspection of the plane Lindbergh
I will use,” Jones said.
“We installed a 575 Wright Cy
; clone motor last December and it
j will give him plenty of altitude.
His plane is equipped with pon
toons and he has ample room for
gasoline supplies.
“If Lindy takes the trip easily
and is content to wait for proper
; conditions, he should have very lit—
j tie trouble. His greatest risk, of
| course, is in the weather.”
FLIERS WERE NOT
SIGHTED IT MIME
NOME, June 30. (/P) —Pilot Wiley
Post and navigator Harold Gatty
landed at Solomon, 36 miles East of
here at 2:45 p. m. or 5:45 Pacific
Time.
They were not sighted over Nome
16 hours and 45 mnutes after leav
ing Khabarovsk, Siberia, and which'
is 2,400 miles away.
They averaged a speed of 150
miles per hour over the Okotsfc
Sea, Kamchatka Peninsula and the
Bering Sea.
The Brown & Hawkins clothing
department is one of the first
in the city to prepare 4th of July
displays.