AIRMEN CONQUER OCEAN HAZARDS j " I

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 370, 2 June 1928, Page 9

AIRMEN CONQUER OCEAN HAZARDS j " I

SOUTHERN CROSS AT HAWAII FIRST LAP OF PACIFIC FLIGHT JOURNEY PROVIDES GRAPHIC STORY NEXT HOP THE LONGEST OF THE THREE THE airplane Southern Cross reached Honolulu yesterdaymorning, accomplishing a fine flight from Oakland, California. The actual flying time was 27 hours 27 minutes. The weather was good all the way. Captain Smith announces that, according to programme, he will leave Hawaii to-morrow for Suva and Brisbane. The next leg of the flight is the longest, being 2,760 miles. The one just concluded is 2,100 miles, and the Suva-Brisbane journey is 1,535 miles. A remarkable feature of the Oakland-Honolulu flight was the close contact maintained all the time with the world. The public was able to follow hour by hour the plane’s progress, the doings of those aboard, their surmises and mistakes. And it was a graphic story.

(United P.A.—By Telegraph — Copyright)

(Australian Pre Reed. 9.5 a.m. HONOLULU, Friday. The airplane Southern Cross, carrying Captain Kingsford Smith, Lieutenant C. T. Ulm, Captain Harry Lyon and Mr. J. Warner, arrived at the Wheeler Airdrome at 9.49 a.m. from Oak--land, California. Captain Kingsford Smith said: "We had a beautiful trip, with no trouble at all. We will continue as planned to Suva." The flyers, tired but happy, left the field immediately for their hotel. The navigator, Captain Lyon, said: “We were never lost, but we lost the radio beacon 300 miles out of Sah Francisco, and never picked it up again.” The flying time was 27 hours 27 minutes. The flight of the Southern Cross from Oakland to Honolulu is perhaps the most perfect overocean flight achieved. The flyers were constantly in communication with ships and shore, were never a great deal off their course. Some anxiety was caused a few hours before the landing, when a dead battery prevented the receiving set front working, with the result that the flyers were unable to check their bearings by radio. The sending set was not affected. The motors functioned perfectly. So far, Captain Smith plans to fly to the Barking Sands field on Kauai island, to-morrow, and take off for Suva on Sunday, as scheduled. The Southern Cross was met off the Oahu shore by a dozen Army and Navy planes, and escorted to the Wheeler Field, where a perfect landing was made directly in front of the reviewing stand. Governor Farrington greeted the intrepid Australians. FOOLED BY CLOUDS As the early morning came, a message said: "We thought we would sight land an hour ago, but we have not done so yet.” Nc message giving the exact location of the plane had been received for some time, which was taken to mean that the navigator of the Southern Cross was uncertain regarding his position. A further message, timed 6.51, said: —“These clouds are fooling us. We thought we sighted land, but now guess it is not land. Can stay up another four hours. We have been up 24 hours 25 minutes. Now our radio

batteries are down. We can’t receive anything.” Another message said: “We can stay up for hours more, if necessary, without exhausting our gasoline supply. We have now been in the air 24 hours 25 minutes.” The mesasge did not give the exact position of the plane. A later one said: “We are definitely certain that land has not yet been sighted.” This message said the plane had fuel for a little more than three hours, and asked ships to take compass bearings and message them to the plane. JUST ENOUGH GAS A report at 7.30 a.n>.. stated that the flyers expected to land at Honolulu not later than 10 o’clock, Pacific Coast time. The Southern Cross was then less than 300 miles from the Wheeler Field, and was travelling at more than 100 miles an hour, increasing her speed as the islands drew near. The plane radioed at 8.30 that she was 165 miles out, with “just enough gas to make it.” A message from Suva saj s thaL tie.

3 Association) Council is preparing Albert Park for the landing of Captain Smith, and is cutting down the necessary trees and removing telegraph and electric wires. The journey from Oakland to Hawaii has now been accomplished, four times — first by Lieutenants Maitland and Hegenbtrger (25 hours 40 minutes), and then by the Dole Prize flyers, Arthur (loebel and Lieutenant Davis (26 hours 17 minutes), and Martin Jensen and Captain Paul Schulter.

ON WINGS OF THE WM) TRADES BLOW PLANE ALONG WHOLE STORY BY RADIO (Australian Press Association) Reed. 9.5 a.m. SAN FRANCISCO, Friday. With the trade winds at their backs, the flyers, after passing the half-way mark, were making an average speed of slightly more than 90 miles an hour, which should bring them to Honolulu about 9 o’clock in the morning, Pacific standard time. During the first half of the voyage they averaged about 80 miles an hour. A message received at 12.50 a.m. stated that the plane, was only 700 miles from Honolulu, while at 1 a.m. the plane was still attempting to get radio bearings from the steamer MalInka, with which she had been in communication for an hour and 20 minutes. A message at 12.5 a.m. stated: “All is well. The three motors are still spinning as fine as ever. It has been a great trip. Now we have been 16J hours In the air. The ship is “weaving” a bit, but is ploughing right along.” As the Southern Cross drew farther away from San Francisco, the signals became fainter to the coast radio stations; but by the time they had died out altogether on this side of the Pacific, they were beginning to be audible to Hawaiian stations. Thereafter the Southern Cross addressed its messages to ships at sea, or to stations on the islands. One message received shortly after 1 a.m. stated: “We received radio bearings from the steamer Maliko at 12.50 a.m., and places us on latitude 29.35 north and longitude 143.45 or 144.45 west. Our speed is 79 to 80 knots.” At 3 a.m. the plane signalled that it was still in the air; but there was no message from the flyers with this signal. This procedure was repeated at 3.10 a.m. At 4 a.m., after the plane’s radio had been heard testing, Captain Lyon sent the following message to Governor Farrington, of Hawaii: “Brother Beta coming to see you on Southern Cross.” Immediately after, the message said: “My receiving batteries are down. We now have 700 miles to go.” The plane radioed at 4.15 a.rp.i “Our altitude is 6,000 feet above large masses of clouds. One seldom sees such a beautiful sight as this moonlight on the top of the clouds. Our speed is 70 knots. All OK here. Cheerio.” The message was signed by Kingsford Smith. Captain Lyons’s message to tli< Governor had reference to a colleg fraternity of which both himself and Governor Farrington are members. /

message received at 4.30 a.m. stated that the plane was only 500 miles from Honolulu. A GARBLED MESSAGE Another message stated: “We have lost our position. Please get other boats to stand by for our bearings.” The plane tried to give her position, but the message was garbled and could not be read. Later messages said that the crew took meals regularly, frequently drinking stimulating draughts of coffee from thermos bottles. Lieutenant Ulm was at the controls for a period after midnight, while Captain Smith first slept and then operated the radio. Mr. Warner had been sending constantly from the time of the take-off until Captain Smith relieved him.

AS DAWN GLOWED PLANE 400 MILES OUT INTENSE INTEREST (Australian Press Association) Reed. 9.5 a.m. HONOLULU, Friday. As the first streaks of dawn set a glow on the Hawaiian Islands, the Southern Cross was 400 miles from the goal of the first lap of its flight to Australia, according to estimates made by the army's signallers at Fort Shatter.

With the approach of the flyers, the most intense interest in the history of trans-Pacific flights gripped this city, and the road to the Wheeler Field represented a moving caravan

of hundreds of automobiles, carrying people bent on witnessing the arrival of the Australians. At 6 a.m. Pacific standard time, the Southern Cross radioed, “All is well, Speed 70 knots; altitude, 6,000 ft; latitude 25.20 north; longitude, 151.45 west." The plane had passed the steamer Manoa at 2.35 Pacific standard time, and an hour and a half ahead of her schedule, at a speed of 80 miles an hour. She was flying at an altitude of 4,500 ft, and ■was 750 miles from Honolulu on her true course. The weather was perfect. As she passed the ship, the plane discharged rockets and flashed a strong light. The plane wired best wishes, and asked for baseball scores. It reported, “Motors and crew 0.K."

The Southern Cross once radioed: ‘Guess we’re lost. Please get a ship

f with a receiver to get our bearings cn : my 740 wave. We will keep going, so j that they can track us." 1 At 6.35 a.m., the Southern Cross j wired, “Sighted land." The plane was making good time. The weather was fine. The Mutual Wireless Company re- | ceived a message that the Southern Cross got its bearings from the cruiser Richmond, and reported that land had been sighted. PLAYING SOLITAIRE OCEAN BORES NAVIGATOR EARLIER REPORTS (Australian Press Association) SAN FRANCISCO, Friday. At 6.30 p.m. yesterday it was estimated from the messages received from various sources that the Southern Cross was 900 miles out. When the plane was nearing the spot where Erwin and Eichwald met with a fatal tail-spin last autumn, a message said Captain Lyon was sitting in the bottom of the cockpit playing solitaire, as he was bored by watching the ocean. Later another message said: “We came down to an altitude of 1,200 ft in order to avoid the clouds. The engines are still working like a clock. The sun is going down and we are bothered by a haze, although there is a full moon above the fog.” The wireless station KGI, Honolulu, received a message saying: “We are flying at a height of I,looft. It is hazy and the sun is going down. It will soon he night and that will not be so good.” A later message read: “We are just 12 hours off the Mills Field, at Oakland. The western sky is illuminated by the sun and clouds are drifting past us. Our altitude is 3,5001 t. We are swinging.” The last three words of this message were construed here as meaning that the plane was changing her course. At 6.40 p.m. another message came from the daring flyers as they roared into the night. This said: “We have tested our searchlight. It works, but not much. It is commencing to get dark now and one notices the steady flame pouring out of the exhaust. “The engines are doing their duty right royally and they make one feel as safe as the Pyramids in Egypt.” At 9.49 p.m. a further message from the Southern Cross said all was well. The airmen were in communication with the Matson Line’s cargo steamer Malikio, and were trying to get the-ir bearings from her. Another wireless dispatch from the airmen at 10.44 p.m. said they estimated that they were then 1,050 miles from Hawaii and expected to arrive here in 12 hours. A few minutes later they sent the following: “All well. The three motors are still spitting fire regularly. It has been a good trip. We have now been 16J hours in the air. The plane is ‘weaving’ slightly, but is still ploughing along. We are about to take our bearings from the Malikio.” The Mackay Radio Station received a message at 10 p.m. yesterday which stated that the Southern Cross had struck a downward current and lost her altitude. The message read: “We have hit an air pocket.” It then stopped abruptly. The Mackay station at Portland, Oregon, reported having picked up the plane’s message about passing through an air pocket. It said the *?,nnL m . e ha< i to drop down from 4000 ft in consequence. Apparently it suffered no ill-effects.

Knee Severely Cut.—A boy named Stephens, whose parents live at 84 Vauxhall Road, Devonport, fell from his bicycle in Church Street this morning, cutting one kneecap so badly that 11 stitches had to be inserted by Dr. J. J. Eade. The boy was later taken home.