COPE'S EXPEDITION

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 62, 6 December 1919, Page 11

COPE'S EXPEDITION

400-MILE FLIGHT TO POLE

POWERFUL BIPLANE BEING CONSTRUCTED

(By Telograph--I'res3 Association-Copyright

London, December •!. The Blackburn Aeroplane Company is constructing a single-emiiuwl biplane for Dr. Cope's Antarctic expedition, with which to make the final four-hundrod-niilo dash to the Pole. The machine will have great lifting capacity, and wilt carry four men, including Cope and Wilkins, a considerable quantity of sledging and camping equipment, and provisions for at least ten weeks, to meet any emergency in the event of the machine crashing and- necessitating a return on foot. Sufficient petrol will be carried to cover twelve thousand miles owing to tho unlikelihood of following a ilh'jct route. The start for the Pole will be from the Great Barrier, at an altitude of five thousand feet, but tho machine must be capable of flying «t eleven thousand, which, owing to the rarefied atmosphere, is equal to 21,000 ft. in lower latitudes. Tho machine must be warmed throughout, and the whole fuse'.age airtight. It will be sent to Scandinavia in January to test its suitability in.cold regions. An oil-cooled engine will be used, as water-cooled or air-cooled engines are impracticable owing to their freezing and fragility.—Aus.N.Z. Cable Assn.