Evening Star Newspaper, July 20, 1937, Page 7

Engineers Wanted to Load Polar Plane With Instructions| v . s i o e i Resisting Impulse to “Take Everything” - Is Hard Job, Pilot Say: in Describ- ing Pre-Take-Off Whirl. One of the pilots of the first | Soviet plane to fiy over the North Pole from Moscow to America has written a vivid narrative of the ex- periences of himsel/ and his two companions—blazing an air trail for three other Soviet flyers, whn landed a few days ago at San Ja- cinto. Calif, after similar experi- ences. This is the second in a series. BY GEORGE BAIDUKOYV. We have just landed after a test flight, preparatory to our hop over | the North Pole from Moscow to Amer- | fea. This was our final test flight Everything is in order, everything is | working well. Nineteen days have passed in preparation since the mo- | ment the decision was made | It might be supposed from this that | we three are simply adventurers. But | that is not so. From the records of past expeditions we know that they | have frequently taken decades of preparation, at the very lease several vears. And we. 100, had been thinking of this expedition for two vears. What was our last flight over the Stalin route if not a test of all the theories of meteorology about the Arctic? And what was our last flight along the Route Moscow—Victorin Island, Franz Joseph Land. Yakutia. Petropavlovsk- on-Kamchatka, Chkalov Island.—if not & test of our crew and our plane? Our rooms, where all the ground Ppreparations for the flight are going on. are full of rolls of paper, innumer- able maps, piles of all kinds of equip- ment. Todav, June 16, we have fin- ished all our navigation preparations, and now Sasha and I are putting everything in order, getting rid of everything superfluous. Question of What to Take. Before the flight you think of all #orts of things you-want to take along But this interferes with the total load permitted. Better more gasoline than too much paper—that is the rule we go by Last evening we made the final sur- vey of the equipment. The tent, the electric stove, the small emergency en- gine for the radio, Canadian skis, rifles and cartridges. underwear and sleep- ing bags, dozens of rubber sacks in which to store provisions for a month and a hal hese are only a part of what is es al the arrange- ments for a grea Late in the evening had been carefully checked was packed “1 ‘he airplane. Provisions in the Jeading edge of the wing. FEquipment and rifles closer to the eabin. Today every one is rushing around Dozens of engineers from different factories are the equipment they produced the o We go to bed as tF June 17-—In the mor seems 0 long that we make no hasie at all io get up at 8, as we had de- cided the evening before At 10 we leave for Moscow. correspondents grab us at corner. We are still trving to hide from them. They are very excited Never mind, it will be all the better when the flight be We arrive at headquarters Tt is like & m camp. Every thing is humming, every one is rusii- ing around. We receive our passports. our pilots’ ecrtificates. Our money is ' already in our pockets. Evervthing < in order. And now the main verything that &y 1g—to go to OME-LIKE —that reflects wh, variably think when they travel Ohio! Forjon our trains we've thoughtfully pro- vided all of the comforts of home—you can snug- gle down in a deeply cushioned seat. .. free tables are cheerfully provided for work of bridge. And if you have the urge to move around, stroll to our library lounges—listen to the radio—read the latest magazines and newspapers. At meal time you'll find our ® Vst the Chesapeake and Ohso Rail- wey Mmuature Raiiroad Exhsbit, the lLargest i the world, Steel Pier, Atlantsc Ciry, July, August, end September. THE GEORGE WASH | good-by. the weather man. We are late for the meeting with them. But they have not left—they are waiting for us. of staff of the flight; Altovsky and many others greet us joyfully. The three of us bend anxiously over the many maps. There are many suspici- ous lines hinting at uncertain weather. Is it possible the weather isn't good? The meterologists are as fickle as the weather. At first they talk of heavy cyclonic activity in the region of the Arctic and of Canada. They believe that tomorrow is unfavorable for the start. What the —— will it be better than it is now? And if not, then when will it be? More arguments, more differences of opinion. It is already 3 o'clock. | The decision must be made soon. We beg them to set down the weath- er reports in detail, for the 18th, the 19th and the 20th of June. When we look into the details of this sinister business and carefully, point by point, set about minimizing the severe conditions, the weather rapidly improves. The weather men laugh at us, but just the same agree that, although the weather is none too g0od. it will be no better in the near future. The three of us hold council and then tell the meteorologists that we will take off tomorrow morning. The two, Vassily Ivanovichs-Chokalov and Altovsky, get very excited and will not believe that we mean it. But we are firm, and insist on starting to- morrow Gradually all the weather men and the chief of staff of the fight come around. Triumphant smiles on all our faces. We ask for detailed infor- mation about the weather all along the route before the take-off and say be made. Vassily Ivanovich-Chekalov takes us 1o M. M. Kaganovich to get his con- sent, “Always Seeing Us Off." Mikhail Moiseyevich jokingly com- plains he is always seeing us off some- where while we never see him off any- where. We appease him with the promise that we shall meet him in America, where he is soon planning to Bo. Kaganovich feels the seriousness of the moment—but he sometimes be- comes too sad on such occasions. The time is getting short. Sasha and I leave for Shelkovo. Valery remains in Moscow to get permission to fly tomor- row. We drive swiftly to Shelkovo along the smooth highway, with one thought running through our heads— will we have to put off the flight after all? Six o'clock. Word has just from Moscow that permission for tie flight is granted Chkalov and Kaganovich went together to see Rykhimovich They discussed the weather conditions for a long time. Then Rykhimovich rang up Joseph Vissarionovich. Stalin did not give his answer immediately. checked over all the information and only gave his consent toward evening. Sasha and I begin madly to get all our navigation materials together. We | do not get by without some trying last-minute incidents. A whole batch of maps of America arrive—the very latest. We want to take them with us, but there is no time even to look them over. Sasha puts some of them in his bag. Engineers faces keep with running terribly solemn into the room at passengers in- Chesapeake and Tavern Diners, —also the assura; or a few rubbers WESTERN VACATION? Enjoy a besutiful preview of scenic beauty by starting your trip on Chesapeake and Ohio . . . through the Blue Ridge and Alleghany Mountains, the fa- mous New River Gorge. INGTON « THE SPORTS Vassily Ivanovich Chekalov, chief | Now the final decision must THE EVENING | Each of them brings some instructions | or other. They are simply comical— they think that the plane is meant Jjust to carry their instructions—that on the trip as light entertaining literature. But we try not to insult them. They are splendid workers and awell fellows. Let their instructions all lie in one pack and have a look at the North Pole. Pile of Studied Papers. Finally everything is gathered to- gether. What is essential—that little pile of precious papers. And that is superfluous—that huge pile of much handled and studied papers. Sasha sees Stefansson’s “The Priendly Arctic™ A solid and heavy tome. Shall we take it or not? Pinally Sasha firmly places it on the little pile destined to fly with us. Seven o'clock. Everything is ready. The doctor keeps trying to get us to sleep. Six hours remain before the start. But Beliakov decides he must have & shave and haircut. Evidently in order to charm the female wal- rus with his comely appearance in case of a forced landing on the ice. I on the other hand, decide not to shave—so as to frighten away all curious bears with my whiskers, At 8 o'clock Chkalov arrives and, | sceing that we are not yet asleep, gives us a terrific bawling out. We are very calm, this year, and | quickly stretch out on our cots. With- | out any unnecessary conversation, we | all drop off to sleep at once. The | doctor looks after us and guards us | from disturbance. | Four hours of deep sleep refresh | us greatly. June 18.—One a.m. Time to get | up. I shout and this rouses the | others. Then follows important busi- | ness—getting into our complicated flying outfits. First, silk underwear Then fine wool. Then silk socks and knitted woolen ones. Then sweaters, leather breeches lined with eider- Sale Household Effects of Every RESISTERED Description at Public Auction At Sloan’s 715 13th St. THURSDAY July 22nd, 1937 At 10 AM. TERMS CASH €. G. Sloan & Co.. Inc. Established 141 Auets. MODERN HEAT ... FOR YOUR HOME —is not only a luxury, but prac- Itical and economical . . . if you| ano a good “Burner,” properly! linstalled. THE— come | He carefully | na d_the test of Time. We |are Responsible Heating Enoineers of| |lono _erperience. ‘and when we mstalll the U ' you get 100's Efciency,|] lat reasonable cost | ASK US FOR DETAILS MAURICE J. OLBERT & INC. | Heating Homes for Over 30 Year | 1908 M St. N.W. . . Dist. 3626 too, are in keeping with gracious living, with tastefully prepared meals, reasonably priced . . . only 75 cents for a full-course meal. You'll enjoy the friendly atmosphere of our trains nce that when it’s time to retire you will Sleep Like a Kitten and Arrive Fresh as a Daisy. That’s how we feel trains should be—"*your home on the road” —which explains why people like to travel with us—why they call Chesapeake and Ohio *“The Railroad With a Heart.” For reservations or other informa- tion communicate with F. E. Landmeier, D. P. A, 4327 Washinston Bullding. Phone National 0824 MAN -+ THE F. F. V. America’s Most Distingwished Fleet of Trains “The Butroud, GHESAPEAK o SLEEP LIKE A KITTEN witk @ %z’ 7 ond Yo LINES STAR. down and finally reindeer boots. We will put on our outer jackets in the plane. All this has been figured out both for the flight and for the eventu- ality of landing in the Arctic. At last the automobile comes for us. Vassily Ivanovich-Chekalov leads us into the dining room where the weather men are waiting for us with the very latest weather reports. A great crowd of people is waiting at the airdrome, most of them to see us off. They saw the ANT-25 being towed along the concrete road to the hill from which the take-off would be made. Airdrome Quiets Down. It begins to grow light. The ir- and the great green field looks up into | clear blue sky. There is hardly any wind. It is cool. morning mist rises from the woods. ‘We set our watches by the universal world time—Greenwich meridian. It is now 12:40 pm,, June 18. Time to get into the plane. Archangelsky, who was in charge of constructing the to the waiting plane. spreads its red wings and stands high on the hill. brace both the narrow strip of concrete roadway before it, and all the waiting comrades. They greet us warmly t‘v’fLuE tn this ovse superfine tolcum . « - DOC W e TALCUM POWDER REALLY LARGE CAN=ONLY 28¢! T ——— WASHINGTON, 1t seems to want to em- | 10} ek | and each clasps our hands firmiy. | Khmelnitsky brings us greetings and | good wishes from Kliment Efremovich | Voroshilov. We thank him, and embrace him heartily. And now quickly into the plane, where we must still put everything in place. At first it looks as though we | had too much in the fuselage, as though all those things would inter- fere with cur flight. But careful packing shows that this is not the case, and within 15 minutes everything | is read. Comrade Berdnik, our| drome has somewhat quieted down | A low shroud of | plane, drives his machine like a bullet | The monoplane | TUESDAY, JULY 20, 1937. mechanic, starts the motor. He warms it up for a long time, and listens to it carefully. The head en- gineer, Evgeni Karlovich, who has devoted himself almost wholly to our machine, is excessively nervous. Tears of excitement well up in his eyes. (Copyright, 1937, by the Nortn American Newspaper Alliance, Inc.) 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