Evening Star Newspaper, October 9, 1936, Page 5

‘BIORKVALL TELLS OF FRANTIC FEARS Flyer Thought Only Miracle Could Save Him When Trawler Appearcd. The crack Swedish flyer who took off from New York for Stockholm ajter leaving behind at the last sminute his co-pilot, Baroness Eva Von Blizen-Finecke, tells here the story of his flight, which ended in the North Atlantic, almost within sight of the Irish Coast, when his engine Dbecame overheated. A French trawler hauled him safely aboard when he brought the plane down alongside. BY KURT BJORKVALL. By Radio to The Star. ON BOARD THE TRAWLER IM-| BRIN, October 9.—Only now, after & briet hour or two of sleep, do I feel | able to tell of the hours of agony through which I passed, hours that | seemed never-ending, hours that brought with each minute some new danger, some new terror. | 1 had so confidently hoped to make | the crossing to Stockholm in 35 hours. | 1 had confidence in my airplane and in | myself. Failure was a word with which I refused to be associated, but, once | out on those lonely waters, I began for | the first time to feel afraid. Then I| told myself that others had crossed those miles and so could I. For the first hour or so the weather | - was not too bad, although the winds were against me. I climbed to 10,000 feet in the hope that I might meet a favorable windstream, but I could tell | «.by my instruments that I was still getting no help. Then, when darkness came my task became more difficult. It was dreadfully cold, and suddenly 1 realized that ice was forming on the wings and on the controls. Twice in | as many minutes I had almost to wrestle with the controls to get the machine to answer. Frantically I dived, and, to my relief, saw that the ice deposits were less. Now I could see nothing. And, to | add to my troubles, it began to snow | hard. It was like flying in the longest | of tunnels and the feeling grew all the time that I should presently crash into | the impenetrable wall of darkness | ahead of me. i Hailstones Beat Against Cabin. I climbed again, this time to well over 10.000 feet, but the snowstorms were even worse. Giant hailstones | beat against the glass of my cabin and I feared it would be smashed. Not once was I able to relax even for an instant to snatch a mouthful of coffee. I dared not take my hands off the con- trols, even to slip a food capsule into my mouth. That may sound like an exaggeration, but it's the truth. | Once I felt so exhausted that for an instant I essayed to get at my pocket. ' My Bellanca plane reared like a fiery horse, then tried to throw up her tail. The motion flung me against the side ©of the cabin with such force that I have a large bruise on my hip. After that I told myself, “no more of that, you must wait for your meal until you reach land,” and in my heart I heard & whisper, “If you reach land.” Mile followed mile in this torment of unceriainty and doubt. I did not « know whether the storm, which had increased in violence, was carrying me miles out of my course. I had nothing at all to guide me—no means whatever | for calculating my drift. The heavens | were hidden from me and I knew that the ocean boiled below. That was all I did know with certainty. | I was being tossed about like a cork and was using everything of flying that I knew to keep the machine on | the compass course, but the course, I knew, might be well out of reckoning. ‘Then, for a few blessed moments, the | 8 snow ceased. Thankfully, I breathed | new hope. Alas, it was too optimistic | of me. The snowstorm began again | and once more my almost numbed | fingers had to return to their task of forcing the machine to do my will. i Engine Red Hot. | After I had been flying 29 hours, further trouble arose. I began to feel « uncomfortably warm. I glanced at my oil register. Heavens! It was so low I nearly collapsed. Something was terribly wrong. Where it was I could not teil, only that, with every revo- lution, the engine was growing hotter and hotter. In despair, I dived again | and again to try to cool her. For a| few minutes the rush of air helped, then, all too soon, she would start to | grow almost red hot again, Now I knew it would be only‘a mat- ter of minutes before I should be| forced to come down on the sea or risk | disaster with never even a chance for | e to get down without crashing to | my death. Desperately I looked for | some ship. I had seen nothing of any wvessels since I had left the coast. I told myself, “How can you hope for | such & miracle?” And then, to my| sntense joy, 1 saw buffeted by the seas | the outline of a tiny steamer. At first she appeared so small that 1 rubbed my eyes to make sure that I was not deceiving myself. No, it was | & ship, all right. I shouted with joy and relief. Then I began to descend in wide circles. As I dropped lower and lower, once again my heart was in my mouth. I saw that the waves were breaking almost over the vessel, near which I must alight if I was to have a chance. It was obvious that *no machine could live for long in such a sea. Now I could tell that the crew sboard the vessel had seen me and had realized what I was about to do. I shall never find the words to tell of the masterly manner in which the captain maneuvered the ship when I struck the water. In a few seconds the waves were battering and breaking over me. Iadjusted my life belt, which “ had been around my waist throughout the flight, and kicked off my flying boots. I then discarded my flying coat and, as the Imbrin came tossing along- side, I stood up in my seat. Pulled Up by Rope. It was impossible for the captain to lower a boat. To have done so would have imperiled the lives of his crew. Four times in succession I was banged against the side of the ship. Four times I grabbed at the rope which was flung at me. At the fifth attempt, I caught it and held on, although the wrench as the vessel's bow lifted oat of the water almost tore my arms from their sockets. Then I felt myself being drawn up and up in what seemed like a dream. I felt myself being lifted over the rail, while a voice cried, *Courage, mon brave.” T believe that, for the first time in my life, I must have fainted, for the next thing I can recall is being prop- ped up on a bunk in the captain’s tiny cabin with his arm around my shoul- ders, while he forced between my lips & neat brandy from a cup. After that, I think, I dozed off into a sort of coma. I had managed to make my rescuers understand who I was and begged them to try to save my machine. They patted me encouragingly and, in brok- 1§ en English, the captain assured me everything would be done that could be done. As for me, I was too ill really to care. I was physically sick and desperately unhappy. My bid to reach my country had failed. I feel I have let them down. And yet, but for those dreadful snow storms, I believe I might have conquered. I shall never see snow flakes again without shud- dering. They might so easily have been my funeral pall. (Copyright. 1936, by the North American Newspaper Alliance, Inc.) Buck Jones Magazine. Buck Jones, Western movie star, is now a magazine, in the form of Buck NG _STAR, WASHINGTON. D. C, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, -1936. FAIRBANKS AND WIFE GIVE UP CLIPPER TRIP Both to Sail for Europe Soon, En Route to Hunt Big Game in India. | By the Associated Press, SANTA MONICA, Calif, October 9.—Douglas Fairbanks, sr, has can- celed passage for himself and Mrs. Fairbanks, the former Lady Sylvia Ashley, on the initial clipper passen= ger flight to the Orient October 14, Insiead, he said, they will go to Europe by ocean liner in two or Jones Western Stories Magazine. three weeks, thence to Mysore, India, Starting Today-560 Rochester-tailored featuring all t _is season’s English Coverts Sedan Camel’s Hair Cali fornia Plaid Backs for some big-game hunting and back from Manila, probably sometime in December, aboard the clipper plane. “I didn’t want to go to the tropics just yet,” he said of the cancellation of the flight. He denied a report that he was il except for a slight cold. e Celebrations Coincide. Difficulties of British administra- tion ‘in Palestine—on one and the same day, November 2, the Jews there observe festivities marking thé annie versary of the Balfour declaration; the Moslems observe the prophet's birthday anniversary, and the Latin | Christians that of All Souls’ day. CALIFORNIAN IS ELECTED BY ROYAL ARCH MASONS Triennial Convention Closes With Naming of M. B. Jones as Gen- eral Grand High Priest. By the Associated Press, ST. LOUIS, October 9.—The Royal Arch Masons closed their forty-third triennial convocation yesterday with the election of Mattison Boyd Jones of Glendale, Calif,, as general grand high priest. Other officers chosen for ‘the or- ganization ' included: | Deputy grand high priest, John H. Anderson, Raleigh, N. C.; general grand king, G. Allison Holland, Lex- ington, Ky.; general grand scribe, William E. Goff, Battle Creek, Mich.; general grand treasurer, Gustav A. Eitel, Baltimore, Md.; general grand secretary, Charles A. Conover, Cold- water, Mich.; general grand captain of the host, Ray V. Denslow, Trenton, Mo.; general grand sojourner, Wil bur A. Scott, Providence, R. I.; gen- eral grand Royal Arch captain, Early H, dohnson, Columbus, Ga. Sugar Output Tncressed. Experts of Magdenbuwg, Germany, estimate this year’s world production of sugar is 26,470,000 tons, 1,800,000 more than last year. MISSIONS FUND GAINS LINCOLN, Nebr., October 9 (#).— Mrs. J. H. Freeman of Delaware, Ohio, | in her treasurer’s report to the fifty- | | fifth annual convention of the Na tional Methodist Women’s Home Mis- | slonary Society here yesterday, cited | an increase of more than $500,000 in 1935-36 total receipts over the preced- | ing fiscal year. | The receipts, she said, totiled $2.- 622,628 for 1935-36 and $1,901,243 for 1934-35. In July, Mrs. Freeman said, | the budget was $70,000 short, but at the close of the year all was collected except $45.83. 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