CONQUERED THE ALPS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 1080, 27 March 1913, Page 4

CONQUERED THE ALPS.

“I am like a drunkard ; I am mad.”

These were the only words uttered by M. Bielovucic, the young Peruvian airman, when lifted from the aeroplane which he successfully piloted across the Alps at a speed of seventy-two miles an hour.

Many remarkable feats are associated with the Alps, but by no means the least praiseworthy is that ot the latest hero, whose achievement is rendered all the more noteworthy by the fact that he had vowed to avenge the death of his fellow-countryman, Chavez, who accomplished the flight on September 13th, 1910, but was fatally injured at the moment of victory through an accident on landing. A heavy snowstorm nearly destroyed the hopes ot Bielovucic. but when the snowfall ceased at six o’clock in the morning he hurried out to examine the weather conditions on the lower slopes of the pass. Finding that the wind had dropped, he made up his mind to attempt the flight. At eleven o'clock Bielovucic jumped into his motor car and hurried to his aeroplane shed at Briggerberg. Before he arrived there the news was telephoned from village to village that the airman was about to start on his perilous flight, and hundreds of visitors assembled on snowshoes and in sleighs to witness his departure. Just as the clock in the village ’ church struck twelve Bielovucic shouted ‘‘Ready !” his mechanics released their hold, and his aeroplane swung sharply towards the Simplon, and vanished under the valley of Saltina, the whirling bronze propeller glittering in the clear sunshine.

It was ouly nineteen minutes from the moment Bielovucic turned southwards until he appeared, a tiny speck in the sky, above Demodossola on the Italian side of the frontier. His descent occupied only tour minutes, and he alighted at 12.27 within a few yards of the memorial, column erected on the spot where Chavez fell and was killed. Bielovucic had to be partially lifted frpm the piolot’s seat. He was dazed by hi* Success. He was also half-frozen aud tillable to move bis legs. The airman was placed in the motor car of Signor Falcioni, Under-Secretary of State, and taken to the latter’s villa, where he was given warm food and drink. Later, when he recovered his comppsure, he described his impressions of the flight. “I never doubted that I wpuld succeed,” he said, “I knew the task was hard, but my energy never failed, When J had risen a few hundred feet my motor began to work badly. ‘T was soaring above the deep, black Saltina Valley, and although the moment was a terrible one, I was not afraid. Indeed, I kicked the machine- to bring it to life again. The crisis was over in a moment. The, wind lilted me, and the motpr began to work. “I rose like poor Chavez until 3500 feet above the Simplon. It is impossible tor me to describe the feeling experienced during the ascent. All around me were wisps of clouds, I was surrounded by a ring of mountain p;aks. As I rose, the peaks seemed to shrink —all save the Weissmiess and Monte Leoue, which were always towering about my lelt wing. “At last I reached the Italian side. The snow clad Weissmiess was at last below me. The flight from the Simplop to the pass of Gaby was easier, I did it at f o,f|po feet, the highest I can rise in this aeroplane. “As I looked below, a wonderful panorama was spread at my feet. On the left was the "CotH* dor of Hades,’ as Chavez called the defile of Golo ; on my right, glittering in the sunlight, was the mountain of Monscera.

“An icy air current from the glaciers of Welsmiess blew in my face and threatened to upset the machine.

•'I found myself over Mouscera. All below was glittering snow. It blinded me for a moment, and when I was able to see again, I waved my hand in greeting to Italy. “The cheering of the crowd drowned the whirr of the' engine. I landed lightly on the snow, and then I was like a drunken man—-

mad with joy at having conquered the Alps. It was very difficult, though. The cold was terrible. 1 never thought that cold could be so intense as that which seemed to freeze the blood in my veins as I passed over the Weissmiess glaciers.

‘‘Several times during the flight I encountered dangerous air pock? ets, but my aeroplane was strong enough to withstand the buffeting. The most beautiful portion of the flight was when I passed over the valley of Monscera. The thermometer registered sdeg. below zero.

‘‘lt seemed to me that I was floating on a sea ot clouds, and the snow-capped peaks dotted here and there were like rocks above the waves.”

Bielovucic was given a tremendous reception at Domodossola. Whenever he appeared in the town cheering women threw handfuls of Alpine flowers at him, and a company of soldiers had to surround the victorious airman in order to save him from his friends.