Evening star., 1924-07-31
WORLD FLYERS ON
OLD VIKING ROUTE
Iceland and Greenland Mark
Dangerous Last Lap for
Aviators.

The American aviators encircling
the globe have wiped the oil from
their goggles and fastened their he'll
NETS for "A spectacular dash across
the North Atlantic via Iceland. Green
land and Labrador. Covering ap-
proximately 10000 miles in go hours
hylng time, the six airmen who have
carried the Stars and Stripes through
Is countries since leaving Seattle,
Wash. in April, are impatient to
return to the home of the golden
eagle, which is likewise the home of
!, fried chicken and ham and eggs, sans
.whale blubber
Next to the Pacific flight. this
shop" across the Atlantic over the
home of the 1celanders and Eskimos
Is conceded to be the most dangerous
portion of the whole journey.
Popular Interest Great.
Great popular interest is being
shown in this Atlantic flight. For
the first time in history will aircraft
have flown from England, or any
other country, to Iceland and Green
land, and the flights to these
countries will in themselves be
history making events of no less i'm
portance than the daring cruises OF
the Vikings who tackled and padded
their craft across those waters. A
change in the air route has been
decided upon which omits the Faroe
Islands But as they wing northwaro
the flyers will swing in toward these
islands after leaving kirkwall in the
Orkneys, so that If any motors are
/. missing landing can be enecteo
!. and repairs made.
But if everything is going we'll. the
fight will proceed straight on toward
Iceland. $40 miles away. This change
F, In the route is based uuon experience
gained during the flight thus far, 1t
having been learned that contin-
iuous hop" of this distance is not
difficult to make, and with over
20 hours of daylight now existing IN
the northern regious, the margin OF
| safety is wide.
Another change also may be made
by the flight commander, Lieut.
Lowell Smith, after the planes get
near Iceland. and, instead of landing
at the town of Hofn- -Hornafjord
Reyk javiki. where minor base has
( been established by Lieut.. c. E.
Crumrine, who left the United States
month ago for this purpose. At
, of the hi gh test quality and 900 gal
. Ions of airplane oil are stored. await
ing the arrival of the flyers.
SO rapidly has the world flight pro-
Ocean in May, that the officials in
charge of supplies have been swept
off their feet and it will require great
speed now to get oil and gas proper
before the fight arrives. Washing
ton has directed the flyers not to
leave England until about August 1.
and to take their leisure in changing
II la Ia On
toons. and also rest awhile before
starting across the Atlantic, but on
this world flight, the flyers are very
much ION their own and Lieut..
Smith and his comrades may decide
to go on to Iceland when they get
ready and explain" it afterward.
Reports Are Cryptic.
To have attempted to run the flight
from Washington would have been
fatal because no one except those ac-
tually on the flight could possibly
know the best steps to take under
the unusual circumstances met on
such a pioneer flight. Neither have
long and detailed reports been re-
quired by the Washington office.
And. if the flyers had been required
pened along the way. they would
still be somewhere in Asia writing up
treatises and trying to mail them
back.
great many people nave DeSlege>.
the Air Service headquarters
Washington for reports on every
thing that has happened on the
flight; they want most little personal
incidents as we'll as big ones, and
some people even ask off1cialS to
write up detailed authentic stories
of the flight The messages that have
come in from Lieut.. Smith have been
Of very cryptic nature.
Nobody except an aviator could in
it has not always been easy for fly
ers to know exactly what was meant.