Evening star., 1922-12-21
Sir: Keith-Sn.ith to
Start Long Jour
=. ,,ey IL, April.
Amphibia;n Type
PIuneWMBeUsed.
Details Fixed.

looked like one of the STORY book"
we'll dressed Britons. as without
| trace Of overenthusiasm. he outlined
q project. which. II completed success
| fully. will furnish data for an i'm
navigation.
He came here on one Of the hnal
trips Of preparation. He has spent
| weeks In the orient, arranging Tor
landing places. and arrived In this
country a short time ago for confer.
ences with experts regarding air
routes and weather conditions.
| VIII Leave in April.
| More than 80 per cent Of the sue
| cessful flights. he says. is In the
groundwork. The plans for landing
and provisioning without loss of time
are items Of first consideration:
clared.. There will be another avia-
tor and = mechanic besides myself. In
the plane. Three men 10 the maximum
Of human freight that we will carry.
You 'ses. and he blew smoke rings
every additionsi person we took on
board we would be Handicapped 1so
pounds. of petrol. Too much Of a
| handicap, eh?'
| The trip will be eastward. Sir
| HelJn Will COuu.
tries as far as Egypt cross the Per-
sian gulf. and strike India. Thence
ne will turn the nose Of his plane
toward China. Japan and the Kurile
Islands will be stops Across the
eastern end Of Siberia, he. intends to
head for the Aleutian Islands and
Alaska. From Alaska he will hop to
Vancouver. and will traverse the air
route above the Canadian Pacific TO
Toronto. A stop in New York will
be made and the flight to England
will be by way of Newfoundland. the
Azores. Portugal and France.
] Weather conditions figure nightly
in the plans The trip must be so
arranged to avoid the monsoons of
India and the typoons Of China and
Japan. To strike one of these storms
means in all probability a speedy and
fatal end of the enterprise.
In talking to Sir Keith one gets q
hunch that his project will 20
through with flying colors. He's no,
what one ordinarily would expect a
knight Of the realm to be. On the
other hand. he is what Americans in
their most complimentary way call
.s,n, "a regular fellow" or a "hrst-class
Plans for Flight.
Gilbert GIcsvenor. president Of the
Geographic society. opened the door
and ushered the interviewer in. A
young chap. clad in quiet blue. with
q soft collar and carelessly arranged
tte-although he did wear spats-
rose from the leather upholstered
armchair. He had a slight slouch
formality. After hearty handshake
follows:
Yes. I've been over in China and
Japan for some eight weeks. planning
the ground work for the flight That's
petrol and provisions. you see and
need them when we want them. That's
a big item. Then. too, from Kams.
chatka to the Aleutian Islands is vir.
gin air. as far as flyers are concerned
Have to be very careful there.
you remember the man who made the
Nome flight. Mr.. Grosvenor very
kindly placed US into communication.
we are planning to hop of from
London during the third week in
France, and then to Rome. From
Rome we Will point our journey to
Athens. and then we are hoping to
| make our next stop ii Cairo. Egypt
| After leaving Cairo our next stop Will
os.r safSsd ga p.1sn Issn ens route zoe. Eee.
-Karachi. Delhi. Calcutta and Ran
| goon: Kankok. Saigon. French 1ndo-
China. Hongkong. ,Foochow. Shang-
hal, Toxic, the Kufile Islands, Kan.
schatka. .Aleutian Islands, Alaska.
to. Toronto; New York.. Halifax, st.
Johns, Newfoundland: the Azores
probably-Portugal, France and back
home to England.
A Three Months Trip.
1 THE trip all told should consume
| about three months. We hope to
reach New York in the latter part OF
Juno and to get home again in early
July. The flight across the Atlantic
south Of 80 degrees N. latitude all the
way. and yet keep north Of 20 degrees
n. So we should have comparatively
steady weather conditions.
we've been getting together q
sort Of Organization through the
| we land to take care OF provisioning
and fuel. According to the climaxel
We fly through we will vary our food
provisions. Our standby. though. will
be chocolate bars and beef cubes
'Ths plane is a vtckers-Vikine
lAmphibian. and, can land on ground
| or water. It IL the same type that
We wsre experimenting with when my
'brother was killed Just outside Of
1
Been in that plane then. except for
the fact that my train was few
| minutes late and he went up without
| me. We never discovered how the &C.
cident took place. The plane Is OF
medium sise. It has = single engine
Sir Keith is . fatalist He saya
that this Is the only doctrine 4 flyer
can subscribe to II he wants to keer
lin tho game and not worry. He Wal
scheduled to go up in the fatal R-ss
ish isles with great loss Of life. Twice
little accidents have prevented him
from entering planes which crashed
Ibringing death to those in them.
He puts his doctrines into his work
HIS brother. STR Ross, Smith. who waa
panion on the round-the-world jour.
Iney which he 10 now planning.
His greatest asset, II appears to An
observer, is that. he doesn't take him
self or the world too seriously. He
younger. and his brother, was two
years younger than, himself, when thu
two Of them placed their mark In
fdeIibly on aviation history by hyin1
from England to Australia. Yester.
day was Sir keith's s thirty..econd
til some relatives cabled him congrat.
ulations here. =.
Confident Of Success.
His attitude bespeaks confidence be.
cause Of the positive absence oi
worry he displays. His enthusiasn
is tempered by Judgment. It. woult
seem to an observer. and his youth II
jcounterbalanced by the experience hi
has had. All in all. he gives an in.
terviewer, the hunch that he is soina
to succeed.