Evening Star Newspaper, June 4, 1926, Page 11

WEATHER PERFECT FOR NORGE START Had Been Changeable Until Morning When Airship Took to Air. BY €APT ROALD AMUNDSEN and LINCOLN ELLSWORTH. By Wireless and Cable to The Sta-. NOME, Alaska., June 4—Upon ar- rival at Spitzbergen aboard the steam- e Knut Skaaluren on April 31 at 4 p.m. we weré very giad to see thal the work done at Wings Bav durinz the Winter was first class. The shed, bullt of wooden framework, covered with green canvas. was as good as it could be, and tha! it and the mooring mast were erecied con the best places for lapding and ‘stariing. But we could not vet Norge, that had already arrived at Gatehina on April 15. to start for Kings Bay. the last preparations 1o receive her beinx not finished. Dur- ing the following weeks much valua- hle work was done the Norwegian and Italian officers, technicians and workmen seni up b the two govern- . Ments 1o assist the expedition. In spite of interest shown by every one, the work only progressed slowly. People must remember that outdoor work in the Arciic regions is a very hard job, and the leaders often had to suspend it because snowstorms and the temperature sinking far below the freezing point mads it impossible to 50 on. Storms Delay Preparalions. “Thus, on April 8, we hid a real snowstorm blowing., wich 33oille-an hour wind, and at the same $mne the temperature wen: down 10 10 degrees centigrade below zero. Snow was fall- ing all day and masses of ice floes ceme into the fjord from the ocean. The” wind, indeed, was so strong that the ice driven by i against the Norwegian g v fieimdal, that had arvived on April with several mem- hers of the land pariv, broke the moorings: of the gunboa:, which had 10 g0 a long way into the fiord to avoid the ice. Under the eonditions Jt was natu- rally impossible to continue the work, nd our preparations te reccive the Norge were mu beiated When th: order the il ag«in changed for the be made a very Dleasant discove. Duriag one of the storms the which we nsed to transport our materials from the ships of the expedition up to the shed was completely covered with drift snow fou: five feet deep, and it took several days 10.uncover ii. On April 29 the Byrd expedition ar- rived from the United States on board the sieamer Chantier with a crew of about 50 men, and its membeérs com- menced immediately thelr prepara- et for the flight thoy had planned to We North Pole and back to Spit- bergen. Norge Ordered to Proceed. At last all work was finished for the reception of the Norge in the first days of May, and we were able 1o send a telegram to Col. Nobile and Tieut. Riiser-Larsen, in Gatchina, or- dering them 10 siart a8 soon as possi- ble when the weather for flying was favorahle. X < The Norge arrived et Kings Biy an May 7. Then very imporiant things had to be done. Az alveady pointed out, one of the most important techni- cs) detalls for a sticcessful realization of the flight was that the ship should ;;;;v with her a sufficient quantity of The changes already made at Rome had increassd..her lifting cdpacit At Spitzbergen her four water ballas: tanks wers replaced by four fuel tanks, the ship getting in this way 32 fuel tanks, in which she could oarry with her beiween 6!; and 7 tens of gasoline, sufficlent 10 cover between 4,000 and 4,400 miles. ‘The distance in an ailine from Kings Bay beigz only be.ween 2,100 and 2,200 miles. the ship brought with her fuel enough to cover double the distance. But this flying range had te be considered only as a theoretical ons, a good deal of the fuel being in reality ballast and 1h the case of non- favorable winds or strong headwinds the fuel consumption would be in creased. Only One Motor Needed Repairs. Another important thing to he done on the ship at Kings Bav was to change one of the lateral motors on which the axis was broken during the fiisht from Leningrad to Kings Ray. This was the only serlous rrouble the expedition had with the motors on the whole flight and it was not of importance. Yiven if we had broken the axis of one motor on the polar flight itself, where it would not have been possible 1o change or repair it, the flight could have continued as if nothing had hap- |- pened, because the ship always had only twoe of sher motors running, the third one being considered as » reserve engine. The cooling water for the engines was mixed with glycerin =t Kings Bay to prevent it from freezing. Tittle by little all of the personal outfir of the crew was brought on board, including fiying suits. tents, sleeping bags, skis. snowshoes, rifi shotguns, ammunition and a big can- vas boat. Al -of these things were placed in the keel.of the ship, which. at the start from Kings Bay, looked like a flying storeh:ouse. Provisions consisted..of pemmican, chocolate, ‘eat biscuits and dry milk sufcient for two months, with a dally ration of 500 grams for each man. On the walls of the cabin were hung the plctures of Norway's King and Queen, given to the Fiam expedi- tion to the South Pole in 1910: a pleture of the Madonna. which the Tiallans had brought with them; a four-leaf clover given to the ship by Maj. Scott, the pilot of the British airship R-34 on its flight over the Atlantic Ocean, who had gene with the Norge from Rome to Pulham ax sasistant” pilot for maneuvering over | ngland: In the keel hung also the flags of Norway, the United States of America. and Jtaly that were to be dropped on the North, Fole. Stvict Rules for Crew Posted. In the cabin you .could also find the Instructions I\:r the t:row.t The mfl 1 point was not to throw into the s and smash them. ‘ TIGE GINGER ALE! NONE BETTER A..G. HERRMANN 50 Tenth St. S.E. ENTERPRISE SERIAL BUILDING ASSOCIATION 643 Louisiana Ave. N.W. S$6th issue of stock now open for subscription. . . Shares of stock, $1.00 each payable monthly. Five per cent interest paid on stock withdrawn. James E. Connelly, President I ORGE CREW BIDDING GOOD-BY AS SHIP LEFT KINGS BA ; A Col. Nobile, Italian cos mander of the Norge, and Lieut. Riiser-lLarsen, right-hand ~man of Ellsworth and Amundsen, and second in command of the Norge, are shown here bidding good-by at the start of the epoch-making flight of the Norge aeross the top of the world. *° ox who has been both the North and South Poles, and who accompanied flight Above: pa Amundsen on the of the Norge across the top of the world. (Photos copyrizht. 1926, in 11 York Times and St. Louia Globe-Dem Outside of 11. 8. by Norwegpian Aero Club.) 1t was also forbidden to go on the gangway in the keel with shoes or boots without rubber soles, lest the metal in non-rubber soles - should strike sparks against the sieel in the gangway and thus ignite the | gasoline vapors or the hydrogen. Some members of the expedition wore chains on which hung pictures of the Madonna that were blessed by the Pope, who received the crew in a private audience before it left Rome. Some also wore golden bracelets with thelr names engraved on small plates 1o make identification possible if after disaster the ship should be found. In the special lttle room in the cabin was installed the Marcon! wire less station with the direction finder. which we shall describe later in this story. Behind a curtain in the aft corner of the cabin was the ship's most private little room; not so pri- vate. however. but that during the | flight it was used hoth as a. sleeping room by the tired members of the crew and as the ‘office of our journalist. During the siay at Spitzbergen we had the most beautiful weather. No cloud was to be seen in the sky, and the atmosphere was quiet. The weather reports received bv our meteorologlical service from the sta- tions along the coast of the polar basin and in the northwest parts of Europe proved that the situation over the basin was good for flying. This naturally stimulated the progress’ of our work. Cheered by Byrd's Success. | At 2 o'clock on the morning of May 9 ‘we were awakened by the roaring of the engines of the Byrd airplane. The commander and his pilot. Flovd | G. Bennett, had the day before tried o start but had not succeeded. Now | ‘heir plane went up into the air and | - Odd Trousers $3 - 84 - 85 - 86 : “Trousers to Match Your Suit $6 | of Kings Ba: set its course northward, and after a| few minutes they had disappeared over the peaks on the -northern side After 161 hours of anxious wait. | ing. we were happy 1o hear the ro inz of the motors. again, and they Janded at 5:30 p.m., after a successful flight to the North Pole. They had ideal fiving weather on the whole trip. no wind of importance. | perfect visibility, and no fog. the sky having been clear all the time. They landed at just the same place where they had started, and we -were glad to be the first to congratulate the courageous explorers on their flight. The day after their return, we, to- gether with Col. Nobile and Lieut. Riiser.Larsen, were invited 1o dinner on board the Chantier. where we spent some pleasant hours. During the dinner Capt. Amundaen presented to Comdr. Byrd a match :x which the captain took to tie th Pole in 1911 Mr. gaw: Comdr. Byrd a gold knife whi h Mr. Ellsworth had used in France the war. The knife bore the insciition: “To the great adventure.' ‘We' veceived also all kinds of souve. nirs, %Whe chief tier ‘cv‘n tla Mr. werth a2 slesve button, e\ving: “Bringfit Back to me when you have flown ovea the North Polar Basin. will use 1v otber till then, % After thg dinner, all of us went ashore and looked over the Fokker LA chronometer hstruments Comdr Byrd “M Mr. Bennett on their flight. : [ ‘Efa Mr. Ellswoig.h Comdr. Byrd gave a pair of polar boar pants used on the polar flight iaid also a palr of sealskin mittens tiat he had got last year from a merch.it here in Nome. arrival here from Tel\er Mr, Ellsworth {entered the same merghaat's shop, he recognized the mittens \and was much pleased when told that Wir. Ellsworth had got them from Comdr. Byrd at Spitzbergen and _that Nith Comdr. Byrd and Mr. Ellswerti, had used them in fying over the Ne'th Pole. Wind Delays Start of Worge. On Monday, May 10, in_Ae after- noon, the work on the N ve was finished.- All of the fuel tans were filled and the outfit of scien@fc in- struments was put on board azd We asked our eorologist abouf 1! weather conditions. He answered \that the weather was atill ideal. The high pressure’ that-for a long time \had ruled over Spitzbergen was still theve and the temperature was favorahdhy low. S o Thers was a possibllity of bad visiy bility on the American side of the' Ing that there was fog. However, Wi hoped that the fog would disappear before our arrival and we ‘were ad- vised to start both by our own meteor- ologist and by our forecast service in Tromsoe, The start was therefore fixed to take place at ) o'clock in the morning of The crew was informed and » evening in their rooms writ- ing letters (o parents and friends. But in the evening local winds rose and were so strong that it was risky to take the alrship ot of the shed. Consequentl¥, the ‘crew yas told that the start had to, be postponed. Most of us went to bed, however, not unclothed, as it was possible that the wind would slacken during the night. Indeed sometimes the wind did calm down and Col. Nobile, who almost the whole night, together with Malmgren and some of the workmen, was at the shed, made arrangements for calling the sleeping crew. But after some minutes it started fo blow again and the men who were sent to summon the crew had to be recalled. Mobilize for the Venture. At 7 o'clock in' the morning we were awakened. The wind was sl a little capricious, but we decided to start. We ate a big breakfast, put on our flying suits and went up to the shed. The day before Col. Nobile had chosen the five Italians besides him- self who should go over with us, naming Cecioni, who was to be the chief engineer; Caratti and Pomella, engineers, and Alessandrini, a rigger, all of them being skillful men with long training in airship fiying, some of them having taken part in the Italian airship raids during the war. ‘We had also got another wireless operator. As mentioned before, Olon- kin, the operator an the Maud, of- fered his services for the flight and was 'accepted. He served on the trip from Rome to Kings Bay. But there he got an ear infection and could not receive the wireless s He had to be replaced, and in place of him the Nor: (Continued on Thirteenth Page.) EyeryFields Garment Must Giyve Complete Satisfaction If it does not we request that the wearer return it for full ad- - justment. Come in and examine these Fields suits and topcoats. Even if you'ne used to paying $50 for your clothes you’ll be im- pressed. 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