The theocrat. [volume] (Zion City [i.e. Zion], Ill.) 1914-1949, 1919-05-24
First Attempts at Trans
Atlantic Aerial Flight
American Seaplane Reaches Azores
in Safety Australian Aviator
Supposed Lost

The past week has witnessed an event
which will pass into history as one of the
| most epochal of all time - the first attempts
to cross the Atlantic in an Airplane, re-
quiring courage and daring of the highest
order. Probably by the time this article
appears in print, an American plane will
have arrived at Lisbon and the spanning
of the broad ocean depths by air will have
become an accomplished fact
For many weeks the Press has been filled
with accounts of the preparations of Harry
G. Hawker, Australian aviator, and his
| navigator, Commander Mackenzie Grieve,
for nonstop flight from Newfoundland
to the Irish coast, in single-engine Sop
with plane; also his English rival, Fred
erick P. Raynham, who hoped to be the
first across in a Martinsyde plane. Both
hoped to win the $4,000 prize offered by
the London Daily Mail, as well as undying
fame. Weeks have been 1engthening into
| months, and the rival aviators had been
waiting only for favorable weather condi-
tions.
In the meantime, American aviators were
quietly but rapidly pushing forward sys-
tematic and elaborate preparations to cross
Cy oiiOlhSA lOulS, WIIISIl WlIIIC lIOt OnCI uIS3
the opportunity for nonstop flight, ap-
peared in their judgment, to be more safe
and practical
Between 7 and o'clock, on the evening
of May 10, three giant seap1anes, of the
American navy, the NC-3, NC-4 and NC-1,
each impelled by four Liberty motors, rose
from the waters of Trepassey Bay, New
foundland, and headed for the Azores,
where they intended to land the following
day in their flight to Lisbon. This leg of
the cruise, from Rockaway Beach, New
York (the planes home station), to Ply
mouth, England, is the only one requiring
night flying
The total weight of each machine at
| time of starting was 1920 pounds The
airmen all wore waterproof patented fab
| ric suits drawn over their uniforms, with
helmets to which telephone instruments
were attached. The commanders in the
cock pits were able to talk to all members
of the crews simultaneously or Individually
1t is claimed that neither life saving suits
| nor life belts were used, nor were any of
the mems garments artifcially heated.
The course followed by the airp1anes was
patrolled by four battleships and numerous
destroyers stationed Approximately 50 miles
apart. Each was numbered serially from
the starting point these numbers to be visi-
BILE to the flyers. At night the destroyers
displayed brilliantly Illuminated signals.
Thus, vast preparations were taken for the
safety of the aviators.
At o:2O o'clock on the morning of May
II, Washington time, the naval seaplane
NC-4, under Lieutenant Commander Albert
c. Read, attained its first objective in the
transatlantic flight, landing safely at Hor-
ia, Island of Fayal, Azores, having made
the flight of 1850 miles in IS hours and 18
minutes All members of the crew were in
the best of condition, and the plane required
but slight repairs. 1t developed later that
the NC-1 had been forced to descend and,
after being tossed about in the water for
five hours the crew was rescued by the
steamer Ionaa. For more than two days
it was thought that the seaplane NC-3 flag
ship of the squadron, was lost, but on May
1o, she entered Ponta Delgada Harbor un-
der her own power, nearly 90 hours from
the time she had been forced down by fog.
All members of the crew were safe, but
the plane was practically wreck.
At present writing, the NC-4, the only
plane of the expedition fit to proceed, and
regarded in the first leg of the cruise, from
Rockaway Beach to Newfoundland, as the
'1ame duck of the group, is waiting fa-
vorable weather conditions to pass on from
Ponta Delgada to Lisbon, distance of 300
miles. From there it is intended to proceed
to Plymouth, England.