Evening star., 1924-09-05
Continued from First Page.)

ing command, May ., 1t is not over
until he sets his wheels down in Sc
attle
The airmen had been on their jour-
ney but a few days after leaving
Santa Monica, Calf, March II, when
they encountered the first of series
of hardships and hazards. They had
flown to Sacramento on the day of
their official start the next day jump
Ing to Eugene, Greg, and Vancouver,
Wash, and arriving at Seattle March
20. Pontoons were exchanged for
landing gear, and on April they be-
gan 600mle flight to Prince Rupert,
British Columbia, arriving the same
day, and completing the flight with
out incident.
Crash Imminent on Trip.
The world was informed But to
Smith a crash was immine on that
journey. violent snowstorm set
down upon them but the planes went
ahead. The men in the ships could
not wipe the snow from their gog-
giles fast enough; the planes huddled
together close as possible, and even
then it was difficult TO the other
ship. Below was the shore line, with
the water lashing the beach. Smith
scanned the waterfront. expecting any
moment to see one of their number
drop down and pile up the sand.
security of his position.
Il thought l would crash,'' he says.
A man of his experience in the air sell
dom thinks of crashing, but the thoughts
that ran through Smiths mind about
convinced him the time had come. But
they all stuck to the course, the Lib
ertys did not fail and whatever their
thoughts were about flying around the
world when they landed at Prince Rup-
pert. they knew the task was a difficult
one. and they further knew why the
world never had been encircled by air.
Four days later, April 10. they left
for Sitka, Alaska, covering the 800
miles the same day. April 13 they made
the 6f0-mile journey to Seward. en-
countering snow, fog and rain en- route.
After a delay of two days they started
for Chgnik. The airmen flew into an
other violent snowstorm, rain and fog
from Sitka to Seward, Alaska, a dis
tance of 610 miles. but they had by now
become initiated into such disturbances
and continued to fight their way
through.
On April 15. or two days after land
ing at Seward, they took off for CHG
mix, and it was on this leg of the fight
that Maj. Martin became lost. His mo-
tor failed and he put down TO the water
about 20 miles from Chignik. The
other planes continued on to Dutch
Harbor April - and sent back a new
motor to their commander
Delayed Two Weeks.
They pulled the planes out of the wa
ter and remained at that place two
weeks while Maj. Martin installed his
new motor, took off from Chignik and
finally crashed against an Aleutian
mountain and was out of the flight. On
May 2 Smith received his orders desig
mating him commander of the flight,
and Handicapped by absence of much
information of value concerning future
stages of the flight, which had been in
possession of Maj. Martin. the trio OF
planes took the air the following day
for Atka, $50 miles away.
Weather conditions still were bad, as
they had been throughout the Alaskan
and Aeutian fight, and the flight was
held up six days. On May 8, the first
good day, the flyers jumped to Attu, the
furthermost island of the Aleutian
group, and again encountered severe
weather which prevented their leaving
Immediately Up to this point of the
flight the pilots had taken advantage Of
every good day. and on May 19 the
first acceptable day in 10 presented it
self. At 12 :35 o'clock in the afternoon
the planes passed over the final piece
of American soil and headed into the
Pacific Ocean for the Orient
First Plans Miscarry.
Originally, it had been planned to
span the Pacific without a stop, but
heavy winds, rain, snow and mist
drove them north to the Bering
islands AS they TAXED up to the
beach a boat containing bolshevists
came out and met them, asked for
their papers and then told them they
would wire Moscow for permission to
land. They were courteous and will
i,.t 70 n
the airmen spent the night aboard
government fishing boat stationed
in that region to look after the flyers
II they were forced to land and the
next morning, as the motors were
being warmed up. the bolshevists in
formed the flyers that PERMISSION
could not be obtained for their coming
ashore. The flyers Immediately took
the air and headed for Paramuschlro
in the Kurile Islands, Japan.
The American destroyer Ford and
two Japanese destroyers were walt
ing for them. The Ford had sent a
message to Smith at Attu announc-
ing unfavorable weather conditions,
but this was never received as the
nIanes were in the air when it ar
rived. Thus the destroyers were
taken by surprise. May 1S or two
days after arriving at Paramuschira
they started down the kurile Islands
for Japan proper, making 1etorofu,
and Nav 22 they flew to Mnato,
Janan. 90 miles of the 354-mile jour-
ney being through fog and without
sight of land.
Twenty thousand people assembled
on the beach to greet them, but the
flyers never left their planes, stop
ping only long enough to refuel, ana
continued their journey to kasumi-
raura. On this 350-mile flight fair,
weather with
them. Kasumigaura was the closest
pIace they could get to Toxic so
they spent one day and night in the
capital attending official receptions
and receiving the hospitality of jap
anese citizens. 1t was here Smith,
Wade and Nelson, were presented
with gold medals for their accom-
nlishments to date and it was here
Smith informed the donors that the
"mechanics" of the flight were en-
titled to just as many medals as the
pilots
New Motors Installed.
New motors were installed and the
flight continued westward. Another
s5O miles brought the planes to
Kagoshima, their last stop in Japan,
and then came the hop across the
China Sea. The morning of the flight
the wHter was as smooth as glass and
not a zephyr was stirring. Up until
this time Smith had had the least
dificulty of all in getting off the
water, but now the tables turned
against him. He was the hrst to
open UP the motor and taxi at full
speed, making waves for Wade and
Nelson to benefit by, and as they
passed him Smith was to get into
the air from the disturbed water of
those two planes. But an accident
occurred to the pontoonS of the