Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-05-28
Half of Gasoline Used.

Half of Gasoline Used.
LONDON. Tuesday. May II (by the
Associated Press).-The Sopwith air
plane driven by Hawker started from
st. Johns with a gasoline supply of
$40 gallons. Half this amount had
been used when the airpIane alighted
in the sea near the Danish tramp
steamer Mary. In talking Of the voy-
age. Lieut.. Commander Grieve said
that in his opinion the future of aerial
navigation lies in the perfection of
wireless equipment for airplanes. by
Describing weather conditions and
how his atrplane ran into strong
northeasterly winds, Hawker said to a
representative of the Daily Mail.
The weather was no hindrance and
we should have made the flight but
for the trouble occasioned by the
water boiling in our cooling system.
We could have got through the worst
Of the weather in a couple of hours
The wireless was not a great sue
cess" said Lieut.. Commander Grieve.
I'VE had a new set from England. but
trial fight with it was impossible,
owing to the danger of risking the
machine on the limited airdrome
space. On starting We found the
amperage obtainable. owing to the
understood propeller used to drive it.
1 sent out messages every half hour
and think they should have been
heard if any ship had been near. but
never had any reply. My chief OBJ
ject was to let them know we were
still in the air. During the last few
hours when the engine was throttled
down the speed of the machine was
insufficient to drive the wireless
equipment and no spark could be
generated. but sent s o s. signals
every fifteen minutes on an OF chance
of the spark operating.
From a navigating point of view
I placed no reliance on the wireless
other than as a means of asking the
positions of such ships as we might
pass. The ships had previously been
asked by wireless from st. Johns to
make known their positions if they
saw US by day or If we fired Very
sci, no light was fred. One vesesl
has reported having seen a light, but
the observers on board may have de-
scribed the red glow of the exhaust.
Celestial Observations.
I'VE preferred to navigate chiefly by
as I worked it out by the stars was
virtually correct, I found when picked
UP. ] used a cloud horizon instead Of
sea horizon. as the sea was hardly
visible any of the time we were in
the air. During the first four hours
banks. The clouds below were like +
sea giving perfect horizon. 1 had
only to judge our distance above
them and take the sun as on a sea
horizon.
About Z o'clock. Greenwich time, 1
through hole in the. fog or cloud
bank. l obtained some idea of the
drift of the machine by noting the
breaking waves through the drift in
dicator. We were then at height of
1000 feet and climbing. the drift be-
ing ten degrees to the right of our
course. which l had already allowed
for on starting, owing to the north
east wind that was blowing.
Up to 1918 o'clock we steered to
make a true east course, not mag
netic east. During that period 1 took
sights every hour. At 11:15 1 made
out that we were 400 miles from st.
Johns. We then altered our course
to north 70 degrees east true to keep
| in the track of ships. which We should
clouds were badly broken up and
made sights impossible until about
:3S, when 1 managed to get the pole
star down to a fiat piece of cloud
and was surprised to find we were
about $50 miles south of the course.
We Immediately altered our course
little to the northward to counter
act this drift, but from q further
sight obtained half an hour later 1
found we were still settling south
| ward. and. realizing that very
strong northerly gale must have been
blowing. made decided alteration to
the northward and worked the ma
| chine up to latitude 50 degrees north
| and into the track followed by ships
sopwith Biplane Picked Up.
ST. JOHNS. N. F.. May 27-rhe
Sopwith biplane. in which Harry
Hawker and Mackenzie Grieve at
| tempted to fly across the Atlantic
| was picked up in latitude 1910 north,
| longitude 29.0S west by the American
ship Lake Charlottesville, according
| to a radio message received BY the
| Furness liner Sachem and relayed