The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1919-05-03
Navy Department Names Avia-
tors for Transatlantic j,
Voyage
BELL1NGER COMMANDS. z..'
ONE OF THREE PLANES
Attempt to Cross the { .san
Will be Made in The Near
Future.

New York, April 28-TIle navy de-
partment announced here tonigHat the
personnel Of the aviation creWsfye.
men to a plane-who will attempt
early next month to cross the Allan
tic in three huge hydro :aeroplanes.
Comndr j. II. Towers, Lieiat. GonindE
a. C. Read and Lieut.. Co1nndr. PSR
L. Bellinger will be the plane ecams
manders, with the first named in gen
eral charge Of the expedition
The airships, the N C-1, N C-3 and
n CA, after a fight from their home
station at Rockaway Point on Long
Island, to a base established by the
navy off the New England coast will
set out together in an attempt to
reach a European destination not yet
made public. It is generally believed
that the planes will touch att the
Azores and again off the Portuguese
coast, there resuning the air cruiSesto
the British Isles.
Officially, it was stated at Rock
away Point, that no land stops would
be made At the Newfound Hand base
and wherever else the machines de-
u, /.
awaiting a resumption Of the Hight
as erection of appliances to haul Sthe
craft out of the water would treq,fne
much time and entail heavy expenses.
The planes, only one Of which IS
now in operation, have span of.;l26
feet and are driven by four high eoi11-
preston Liberty motors. The ": C-3
made a successful trial flight today.
The N C-1-which has been in sarv-
ice, is undergoing alterations, while
the n CA, new machine, is ex-
pected to be ready to take the air$to=
morrow or Wednesday. Command
er Towers, in charge of the fight
stated that until he returned Wed-f
nesday from conference at naEaf
headquarters in Washington he
would be unable to announce. def1nite-
ly the date of departure and the trans
Atlantic route. He said, hoWever;athe
1850 mile fight to Newfoundland
which was not considered part OF the
ocean voyage, would be taken in easy
stages.
For the trans-oceanic fight, he &lid
it was important that the niers keep
within sight Of each other, so as to
communication with the de-
stroyer patrol to be stationed. all the
way across the Atlantic.
Of the patrol vessels, the command
CIR said a number had already sailed
while others would leave with;na
few days. :s-.,3s.-s, - (
SO far, Commander Towers saids
-, ;~h 1,ol fa1l
schedule arranged in detail Feb
ruary "a.
The airships' crews, the cen1maHd-
er said, would include a commanding
officer, navigator, two pilots and 4
radio officer In addition a. reserve
pilot will board each plane for the
trip to Newfoundland to assist in ad-
justing minor defects in the mechan-
ism if any occurs and to meet an
such as illness among the
regular crews.
In addition to the commanders,
Commander Towers announced the
of the expedition as fol-
lows:
Grew No /. Pilot. Comndr. H.. C..
Richardson; pilot, Lieut.. D. H. Nc
,ullough: radio operator, Lieut..
Comndr. r. A. Lavender; engineer.
Machinst L. r. Moore; reserve pilot
engineer. Lieut.. 8. Rhodes
N. y. Mitschener: pilot. Lieut.. ;L.sE.s
stone; pilot. Lieut.. w. Hinton; radio
operator. Ensign H. c. Rodd: .engin-
Ger chief special, Machinist E. H.
Howard: reserve pilot engineer, Lieut..
+. L. Breese. ss,1t-
Crew No. 3. Pilot, Lieut.. Commndr.
NJ. a. Mitschener: pilot. Lieut.. L. p.
3arin: radio operator. Lieut. H. Sadj:
engineer, Chief Machinists
Mate C. /. Kester; reserve pilot emf
,iner MachiniSt E Christensen