The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1919-05-31
Landed at Lisbon Tuesday AT
ternoon After Successful
Flight From Azores
NAVAL SEAPLANE ES-
TABLIsHEs NEW RECORD.
Flight Was Made in Less Than.
Ten Hour and Was Without
Mishap on Incident
Washington. NAV 27 Blazing

Washington, May 27. Blazing the
way Of the first air trial from the
western to the eastern hemisphere
I the United States navy seaptane NC
I a, under Lieut.. Comndr. Albert Cush-
ing Read,y swept into the harbor al
Lisbor, Portugal today, the first air-
ship of any kind to have crossed the
Atlantic ocean under its own power
and through its natural element.
Taking the air at Ponta Del Gada
Azores at 61S a. m. Washington time
on the last leg Of the trans-oceanif
portion of the voyage from RockawaJ
Beach, l.. L., to Plymouth, Eng, tnt
NC-4 covered the 900 miles in nine
hours and 43 minutes, maintaining ar
average speed Of better than 80 knots
an hour The total elapsed flying time
from Newfoundland to Lisbon was 2G
hours and 4 / minutes.
At the first opportunity the big
plane will continue to Plymouth, ~
nautical miles to the north. Possibly
Commander Read can start tomorrow
fTo the navy department however /:
makes little difference when he
t.completes the journey The great OBJ
ject Of. all the effort lavished on the
undertaking, navigation of a seaplant
across the Atlantic through the all
has been accomplished. Twentieth
| century transportation has reached q
new pinnacle and the United States
navy has led the way.
J. o1c ON h sized that tho
! long delay at the Azores was due te
the weather and to no weakness OF
the machine or its daring crew. nor
| to any failure Of the carefully lad
| plans CT the department to guide the
flyers to their destination. The IA &C.
stroyers strung from Ponta Del Gala
to Lisbon reported with machine like
precision today as the fight progress
ed The plane was never off its course,
and there was no moment when Off
| Gals in Washington did not knoT'
within a few miles where it was in
the air.
To maintain adequate conmunica-
ton for this stage Of the journey the
6estroyers stuck to their posts after
the flying boat had passed, relaying
back to Ponta Del Gada reports from
ships farther eastward. The chain
was not broken until the plane was
safely moored FOR the night near the
cruiser Rochester at Lisbon.
For the next few hundred miles OF
his epoch making journey Command
or Read and his crew will be within
sight OF the Portuguese or Spanish
coast in the sweep northward. Skirt
will head on, across the bay OF Biscay
10 sight Brest. the most westerly
point Of France. Thence direct 10
Plymouth. The destroyerS that will
guide them across the Bay were al
ready IN position tonight provided
with the flares and bombs that have
made the trip safe thus far except for
the fog that forced the other two ma
chimes of the seaplane division. the
NC-1 and NC-3 out Of the fight after
they had safely negotiated virtually
the entire distance from Newfound-
land to the Azores.
Commander Read had with him on
the fight to Lisbon the sane crew as
hat which left Newfoundland on the
NC-4 on May &c. I-ieuts. f. F. Stone
of the coast guard and W. K Hinton
we're the pilots with Ensign r. c..
Rodd as radio operator and Chief Ma
chinist Mate f. S. Rhodes as reserve
pilot engineer. The crew was met at
Lisbon by most members OF the crews
If the NC-1 and NC-3 who had pre-
ceded them on destroyer.
The chart Of the flight as shown by
the reports Of the station ship de-
stroycrs On the NC-s'S progress TO-
day showed how the winds helped her
along. At times Commander Reads
ship apparently was wllirling through
the air 1T Il 90 knot clip; again her
speed fell off to less than 60. only to
pick up agaiG? with other breeZes
Probably the machine overlook and
passed winds that had stirred the NJ
ters about Ponta Gel Gada the day
before preventing an earlier start.
plane at Lisbon reached the navy de-
partment first though a dispatch
from Rrest, France sent by Rear Ad
miral Halstead. commander OF the
American navy forces in French wa
ters. The message was received al
the Otter Cliffs, Me. station and re-
layed to Washington.
Immediately Secretary Daniels ca-
bled congratulations of the depart
ment 20 Commander Read The secre
tary also sent 4 cable to President
Wilson at Paris telling him that
American naval aviators had been
first TO cross the Atlantic. Secretary
Daniels said today no definite plans
for further ransoceanic flight mad
been made. He explained that thc'l
first trip was the beginning Of Sc
ries Of experiments in long distance
flying and that very probably after
defects in naval aircraft. brought to
light during this flight had bee: cor
recjed, another squadron Of seaplanes
would be headed across the Atlantic. ..
Mr. Daniels said he had not decided
whether the NC-4 should attempt to
fly back 70 the United States or be
shipped back.