The Cordova daily times., 1920-09-11
THE NOME FLIGHT

In these days of marvels thrillers
 and inventions, one is apt to over- look some really big achievement. So
 it was that the arrival of the four
 U. s. army airplanes at Nome, Aug uset 23, was somewhat lost sight of
 The trip from Mineola, N Y, to Nome, however, about 3,850 miles air
 distance, establishes new record
 in flying and it marks a distinct chapter in the history of transporta- tiOn. The scientists and geOgraphers
 will be interested as Nome is the most northwesterly port and city in
 the United States and has been the outfitting point for many voyagers
 setting out for the Arctic region, while Fairbanks, in the interior of Alaska, is still farther North and
 when the planes stopped at that city they reached a point nearest to the Arctic. In fact, from Fairbanks or from Nome it would be but small matter to hop off for the North pole. The army officers are naturally in- terested as for years an army post has been maintained at Nome, which was considered the very last outpost of civilization, but is now brought into direct touch with the war de- partment at Washington. In an emergency flock of airplanes could descend upon the tundra and be ready for business at short notice. The steamship route to Nome is 2,600 statute miles from Seattle but the air distance is about 2,O00 miles, so it would not be unheard of to hear of machine during the all daylight season of the North flying from Seattle to Nome in 29 hours By starting from Seattle just before sun up, the flyer would have daylight for the entire journey during June and July. Of course the recent trip was merely @ demonstration but the strategists will be interested when studying a flat map of the Arctic regions, which will show that the flyer might hop off from Nome and by crossing crossing from Cape Prince of Wales, U. S. A., to East Cape, Siberia, he could land upon Asiatic soil in several hours By fly ing in a semi-circle over northern Asia, he can cut half the distance from New York to Archangel and Dol L,,4 hoI !, +o1, o;r
 line route the journey to Archangel would be very greatly reduced and the aviator would fly south of the 85th parallel. The air distance from Nome to Archangel is about 500 miles less than from Mineoa to Nome. These observations are mercy state ments as to what might be done in an emergency. Leaving assumptions for the moment, private information re- gently received from a gold mining camp on the sea of Okhotsk, indi- cated the ruthless slaughter of Amer jeans, English and other foreigners by the Bolsheviki horde. When one considers the short distance from Nome, U. S. A., to the heart of the Amur district of Siberia, 2,2O0 miles it is seen how an airplane squadron flying from the vicinity of Nome, might possibly have saved great many of these lives. The actual fly ing time of the army planes from Mineola to Nome was 55 hours. The elapsed time was many days, owing to the long layovers at various stops. With fuel tanks of such cap acity as to increase the distance pos- sfble to be covered without new SUD- ply, the time in actual days could be very greatly reduced and that will no doubt be the next great develop ment.- Railway and Marine News.