The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1921-02-12

~ fight ranks with any aerial event
O. attempted anywhere. The bird
81 men few at least 1000 miles
= of virgin territory, without land
(ZO marks or landing fields Ihey
landed fifty times on strange heids, o1ten aiiosl
impossible as landing places.
The British last spring attempted to NY from
Egypt to the cape over the wilds of Africa one
pilot reached the destination, but only aftef ne
had replaced his machine and motors, and a1tef
much delay and Inconvenience.
In the transcontinenta reliability test last au-
tumn Lieut.. Belvin Maynard, the winner, broke
his motor near Omaha, and had to change it en-
tirely before proceeding. Only one Liberty motor
succeeded in making the journey both ways.
Compared to the nonstop flight made by the
Englishman John Alcock, which gained for MIN
recognition from the British government In the
form of knighhood most fliers will agree that the
Alaskan flight is a greater feat. The Alaskan
flight was steady grind of over three months
duration.
The personnel of the expedition was as follows:
Plane No. 1, Capt st. Clair Street, lin command
of expedition Sergt Edmund Henriques, mechani-
clan; No. 2, piloted in turn by First Lieut. CnI-
ford C. Mutt and Second Lieut.. Eric c. Nelson
engineering officer; No. 3, Lieut.. e. ii. Cumrhe'
Photographic officer, Sergt. A. I. Vierra; No T.
Lieut. r. c. Kirkpatrick information officer, Jo-
seph E. English Capt Howard 7. Douglas went
ahead of. the flyers, making preliminary arrange
ments and blazing the TRAIL
Here are some closeup pen pictures secured
from Lieutenant Mutt
1--WE cut across the international line when we
landed at Portal, From Portal to Saskatoon was
the only leg of the journey in which we had
the wind with us We made the 3lO miles III
| three hours and at Saskatoon got our first taste
OF that Canadian hospitality which added so tre-
mendously to the enjoyment of the long Journey
Almost one-third of the population, though Amer-
| can born, are now Canadians in spirit.
| "About 100 miles frem Saskatoon we left the
prairie country. and GOT into a region OF forests
and lakes with rolling hills, some of them 6,zVV
| feet high At Edmonton, Captain Streets ma
| chine had a leak in the gas tank, and we were
held up there for three days. getting that patched
| up' The people at Edmonton are intensely IN
/ terested in aviation means of developing the
| country They talked of getting planes to survey
/ tte Peace river country to the north OF them.
big stretch of arabic land now wholly undevei-
4 oDed. pack mules being the only means OF trans
4 rbrtation The transportation to mines OF the
legion also offered another opportunity Tor avl-
ition to exempIify its usefulness.
III sour first attempt to leave edmonton was I'M
4s,ccassful because Of low-hanging clouds. Taking
;ofa at 900 feet, we had to drop to 3o0 and when
+ about 100 miles out, Street motioned us to re-
4 turn The next day. in spite of stiff wind, we
made the Jump to Jasper park. This is Cana
dian national park 400 miles long by l0O wide,
attending with game and fish. Here we found
ona Of the best landing fields on the whole route.
u Colonel Rogers warden of the park, met us and
courtesies and hospitality Tents were
nroyided for our accommodation with chinese
. coolS in the mess tent. Gas and oil were on the
eo.d and after cleaning up our "busses and get
fling everything in shape for the next day. we felt
decidedly as if we needed a bath. We set out
: expecting to take dip in the. Athabasca river
hut> we're warned that we should find the water
TOO cold; so with guide, we set out for iittle
lake about half mile away which, we were tolo
was a good bathing place. When we were. reaus
for the dip somebody stuck his foot in the water
). FRY the ternperature Well all l. can say is
e tbe Athabasca river is colder than that little
lake was then it's a record-breaker for temper
ature But it was choice OF two evils we were
ready for a bath we either had to get IN the
water and take it, cold as it was, or be Literally
| ata,, nm nv mosquitoes We chose the water l
I Iis imnossihle to conceive the multiplicity AM
faroctv of the mosquitoes in this region; ana IN
aoad IN the very northernmost limit OF our f1igh
They almost block traffic, they are so numerous
and they certainly block progress, preventing wof
at some seasons of the year.
.soon after the hop-of at Jasper, Captai
streets machine caught on fire, caused py the @
,an1,s hainr foo full and overflowing down tn
axb.us,t Aipe Henriques WHO was driving, pu
tha nrane into side slip and was going to ian
i, tha river. but as they descended. the chang
~ balance stopped the flow OF oil ana the ife e
Il tinouished itself. We got into Prince George Jul
ahead Of rainstorrA, and without Street. y
$500, f,ares To aid him in finding the landn
aeld outline of the field was, however, of cours
Indefinite; SO when Street alighted he came
VIII great speed and overshot. rolling out OF Il
. aald into cut-over stretch where he struck
= stump that took off about four feet OF the emu
g he left wing. breaking both main spars and tea
ing All the ribs out also the left half Of his hor
~ -ontal stabilizer and The ailerpn. To get vii
sent TO us in the quickest possible space OF tim
9 . would take eight days from Mather field. saer
y, = mento, Cal, the nearest point available. SO
:. cot busy on the job ourselves, with the help
j. big Swede carpenter who was wonder al