The sun., 1919-05-18

his four engines were running without
| a falter. and that his tanks were well
cleared Of the 1850 gallons OF gasoline
with which the plane was weighted at
the start Seaplanes are sober naval
| craft, not designed to soar like giddy
military planes. but Commander Read
took his heavy plane that high 50 that he
might survey the fog beneath which hid
the little island which was to point the
way to Fayal.
Naval officers in Washington disre-
garded the predicament OF the NC-3 and
NC-1 in their celebration OF the nom stop
| flight Of the NC-4 over an unknown
| aerial course to a pin point in the ocean
| 1900 nautical miles away Any craft
| would be fog bound in an Azores mist,
| they said. but the NC-4 had risen above
the limits Of surface craft in speed and
in navigation and established a new and
glorious victory for the navy, a victory
| which would rank with the exploits Of
John Paul Jones off the coast of Britain,
OF Stephen Decatur against the Barbary
pirates and Of George Dewey at Manila.
| A new tradition Of service would be
drummed into the heads Of the middies
at Annapolis. the navy of the future, by
their superiors OF to-day.
They ranked Il with the voyage of
| Columbus. these navy men, and pointed
out to all who mourned that the navy
had not spanned the Atlantic in one
great flight. that Columbus himself had
been compelled to stop at the Azores
! to ref1t on his Journey westward They
said that the names Of the commanders
OF the three ships. Commanders John H.
Towers. Lieut. Commander Albert Cush-
ing Read and Lieut. Commander Patrick
n. L. Bellinger would loom as large as
any hero Of the war, for they had
taken a daring chance-a chance more
risky than the landsman, thinking OF
the twenty-one destroyers, would suspect
In putting to sea on a pair OF wings
and bottom more fiimsy than those Of
the Nina. P!nta and Santa Maria.
Others of the Crews.
| The crews, too. would be the targets
of envious yet admiring glances OF navy
| men and aviators both as long as they
| lived. The men who flew the Atlantic
are, in the NC-4 now safe at Horta,
Lieut.. E. F. Stone, U. s. Coast Guard
Lieut.. Walter Hinton. u. S. N, both
pilots: Ensign H. C. Rodd, U. S. n. r.
F., radio man Lieut.. ]. l.. Breese. U. S.
N r. F., and Chief Machinists Mate f
S. Rhodes. U. g. N. OF the flagship NC-S
Commander H C. Richardson, L. S. n.
and Lieut.. David Mccullough. L. 8. n.
| r. F., pilots; Commander X. A. Laven-
DER, u. 8. N. radio man, and Machlnist
L. r Moore, u. S. n. OF the NC-1.
Lieut. Commander NJ A. Nitscher. U. 8.
N, and Lieut.. l.. T. BARN. U. s. n. r.
F., pilots; Lieut.. q. 81 II. Sandenwater
L. 8. N. r. F., radio man; Chief Ma
chinist's Mate c. I. Kesler. U. g. N, and
Machinist r. Christensen. U. s. N. en-
| gineers.
The NC-3. II will be noted. finally left
| Trepassey with but Eve men aboard.
| Commander Towers could not get her on
the water with her heavy load OF moro
than $4,000 pounds in three trials. 30
the reserve engineer, Lieut.. Braxtoa
Rhodes. u. 8. N, was debarked.
The NC-4. according to q despatch
which came from London, a city which
IS viewing the fight with perhaps as
much interest as Washington and New
York, dropped to the water for a minute