THE END OF BYRD'S TASK

Hokitika Guardian, 3 February 1930, Page 8

THE END OF BYRD'S TASK

EXPLORER SATISFIED

A HUGE AREA MAPPED BY CAMERA.

LITTLE AMERICA, Antarctica, December 12.

A view oi the exploration work already done by aeroplane has convinced Commander Byrd that the purpose of the expedition has been accomplished. The flights planned before the expedition left home have been carried out, although the eastern flying activities were shifted, after the preliminary flights of last year, more to the north than had been anticipated, because the importance of work in that direction was shown by 'the suggestion of land there seen on the first flight to King Edward Island. It has been found that this area is more prolific in important discoveries than the inland flights from the trail between Little America and the Queen Maud Range.

Indeed, Commander Byrd feels that the exploration flights have been more than he anticipated, because of the extent of the new land discovered to the north-east.

In all. it is estimated that 150,000,030 square miles have been photographed with the mapping camera, an area equal to Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey', Delaware, Maryland, and half of Virginia. On the polar flight alone, an are& as large as Kansas was photographed by the mapping camera. The flights would have been curtailed now, even though the proposed work had not been completed, because of the change in the weather. It has been found that in the Antarctic, as in. the Arctic, the best time for flying is in the spring or early summer. Since the eastern flight the sky has been free of clouds for only brief intervals. With the' warmer weather has come fog and quick changes in the wind direction aloft, which mix up the atmosphere and make an overcast sky so that aviation would be like flying “in a bucket of milk.”

Under these conditions any accurate observations and photographs would not only be impossible but there would also be great danger of crashing in a thick atmosphere where neither the Horizon nor the snow could be seen.

CLOUDS SHUT DOWN. The day after the eastern flight all that area was barred by clouds, and apparently the conditions which headed off Commander Byrd last year have come to stay. So outside of a possible flight to the eastward from a point on the southern trail, about 160 miles from camp, and a short exploration flight south-east from Little America, it seems as though the work in the air was not only complete but could not be continued to any extent.

When Commander Byrd first outlined in New- York his programme of Antarctic flying, he intended to fly to the Pole, make two or three flights to the east inland, and also fly to the north-east past King Edw'ard Land.

The polar flight has been accomplished, and the occasional messages from home which indicate that people think it may be repeated shows how little the flying hazards of this country have been appreciated, possibly because of the skill with which the flights have been carried out.

The polar flight was made at a time when for a period of several days there was. clear weather at the mountain 1 and, as it was, the ’plane reached camp just before a storm which cleared it all the way from the Polar Plateau. Since then the geological party have reported snow storms, clouds, and variable winds which would have made the dangerous flight through the mounains impossible as well as barren of scientific results.

On the flight it was necessary to wait patiently for good weather and to take immediate [advantage of it when it came. The opportunity might not come more than once or twice in a whole year, so that good fortune had to play its part. The eastern flights between Little America and the Queen Maud Mountains were found on the polar and base-laying flights to be of less importance than a flight past King Edwa.rd Land, because the visibility was so good that the Amundsen Mountains in latitude 82, east of the trail, were found non-existent and the limits of the Barrier to the east in that region seems to extend as far as the eye could see, about 100 miles.

A short flight to the east along the Queen Maud Range was made on the return from the Pole, and a- new conception of Carmen Land was gained. The results of those two flights and the tantalising flight of last year to the north-east, when Commander Byrd was so sure he saw a mountain beyond King Edward Land, indicate that the next flight should be made in that direction . SEASONABLE CHANCES. Anyone familiar with 'the polar regions knows that, when the sun gets higher and the season advances towa v ds midsummer, fogs and clouds and variable winds become inevitable. After Commander Byrd’s flight to the North Pole, the airship Norge started, and the many days of good

weather, soon as the airship reached the Pole. From there the party headed by Captain Roald Amundsen and Lincoln Ellsworth flew through fog and nx’st to Alaska, and a much smaller area than they had anticipated. Until Commander Byrd left Spitsbergen, the weather remained thick and stormy. The Antarctic is no exception to these seasonable changes, apparently, for in the days since the eastern skies, dense fogs and winds shifting all around the compass. For these reasons it appears that the flying programme v r as concluded just in time.

“I have the safety of the men to consider under such conditions,” Commander Byrd said to-day. “I think it is safe to say that it would be unwise as well as unprofitable to do any more flying this year, except for a short hop or two.

“I have asked my men to take chance after chance to complete our work. They have served science and been fortunate to come through safely. [ am going to think of them. They have completed the mission better than w© hoped for. They seem to crave ■hazards and danger; but my duty now is to do my utmost to get them home. Besides, flying in thick weatlu ■ down here is barren of geographical results.” There is another reason for no' making further extensive flights. If the ’plane were forced down 300 miles or more from camp now on on an

■eastern flight, the crew, provided they landed safely, could hardly get back to camp manhauling slegdes y before the ships must leave. It is hoped that the ships will arrive here about the third week in January. The barque City of New York will leave Dunedi'n, New Zealand, in a few days and sail to the ice pack, and the supply steamer Eleanor Bolling will leave early in January.

They must leave here as early in February as possible to avoid the new forming ice in the Ross Sea, which so nearly trapped the City of New York last year; and, if the plane crew did not get back by that time, they won he forced to stay here another year. Meantime, the geological party, led by Dr Lawrence Gould, is completing its work in the Queen Maud Mount-la-inls). A message Iffiom Dr. Gould reads: “Back down glacier to Camp Strom last night and stormbound all day. “Will make another attempt to locate your cache before we start east. With your last instructions we hope to And it. “This is first day since we left Little America that Ave have had to lose on account of weather ”