Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-08-05
LOSING MATES IN
FOG, LIEUT.. NELSON
GOES /! ALONE
Wade's AIrpIane Is Wreck in
Effort to Salvage 1t
After Descent

LONDON, Aug. 4.-(By the Asso-
ciated Press.)-Ml Sfortune again has
laid harsh hand on the American
army world flight expedition. Two
of the dauntless pilots, Lieut. Lowell
H. Smith and Lieut.. Eric Nelson,
with their mechanics, are at Hoefn
Hornafjord Iceland, ready to con-
tinue on to Greenland. and over the
bleak watery wastes of the north At
lantic to Labrador, but Lieut.. Leigh
Wade and Sergeant Ogden, his
mechanician, are out of the running.
Rescued by a British traWler and
the American destroyer Billingsley
after they had been forced down at
sea by engine trouble on the hop to-
Iceland from kirkwall, in the Ork-
neys, Wade and Ogden stood by help
lessly on the deck of the Y. 5. s..
Richmond and saw steel boom
weighing a ton crash through the
fragile tissue of their plane while
endeavors were being made to hoist
it aboard the vessel.
The wings of the machine had
been damaged seriously in the forced
landing at sea and the two men had
worked for six hours attempting to
make temporary repairs which would
enable them to rise again: The acci-l
dent during the hosting process
after they had boarded the Richmond
sent all their hopes crashing.
Lieut.. Wade and the commander
of the flight, Lieut.. Smith, Nhopped
off from Kirkwall yesterday morning.
to join Lieut.. Nelson, who made the
trip to Iceland alone Saturday after
the three had become separated in a.
fog and the first two had returned
to Houton bay. Smith won through
and Joined Nelson at Hoefn Horna--
ford, although he had a hard fight
during the latter part of the flight,
encountering both rain squalls and
heavy fog banks.
- HOFEN, Iceland, Aug. 2.-(By the
Associated Press. )-LleuteEan Erik
Nelson and Lieutenant John Har-
ding, Jr, his mechanic, had better
luck than their four companions
who started with them from kirk
wall early lii; mornin.; On the first
lap of the honeward eg Of their,
round-the-w world flight. pushing
through the heavy fogs off the OrlS-
ney islands and landing here at $40
o'clock this afternoon.
The other four men-Lieutenan
Lowell H. Smith, and his mechanic
Lieutenant Leslie p. Arnold, and
Lieutenant Leigh Wade and Ser.
geant A. M. Ogden-became separate
ed from Lieutenant Nelson's p1anej
the New Orleans, and fearing a col.
lision in the 1mpenetrable fog turned
back toward Scotland, landing at
the starting point, Kirkwall
The New Orleans covered the disc
lance from Kirkwall-more than SEQ
miles-in eight hours, nineteen mjn4
utes, and tonight is nloored safely
behind the breakwater operating
Hornafjord fro mthe Atlantic, await
ing the arrival of the Boston and
the Chicago.
Nip and Tuck at Start
Nelson lost the others in the fog
soon after they left KirlSwalI. Forced
into spin, he flattened out just
above the surface of the water and
drove on, thinking the others wera
above him. More than an hour later
he sighted Farce Islands and was
able to take his course and carry or.
He first sighted the Billingsley, and
as she was steaming in the coursa
of the flight, he took his course
from her. He followed the same
procedure when he sighted the Reid
and the Raleigh.
1.-The flight was all right after tho
first two hours" Lieutenant Nelson
said, "but it was nip and tuck at
the start"
Lieutenant Harding praised the
new engine installed in the New
Orleans at brough, saying it per.
formed well and gave no cause for
anxiety.
The aviators caught the first sight
of land soon after they passed tho
Raleigh. They had no difficulty in
finding the moorings that had been
prepared for them.
Villagers Give Cheers
Meantime, the villagers, who fof
the past few days have been watch;
ing with much interest the first
American warship to anchor in thu
harbor. stood about the shores oil
the ford. AS the first aircraft ever
to reach Iceland TAXED into the
calm niche in the harbor, they
cheered Justify.
The aviators found plenty Of fog,
but Harding explained that "you
could always get above or below
il" He declared the absence of wind
was helpful and that although the
plane varied from it's course on the
lap between the Billingsley and the
Raleigh, they knew where they
were and were never in danger after
the first tussle with the fog.
THWARTED filters WILL
TRY AGAIN ON SUNDAY
, KIRKWALL, Scotland, Aug. q
By the Associated Press.CThe
American team of round the world
fliers tonight finds itself divided
Lieutenant Erik Nelson spending
the night at Hoefn Hornafjord, Ice.
land, the first stop of the trans
Atlantic route, and Lieutenant Low.
ell II. Smith and his colleague, Lieu.
tenant Leigh Wade, with their ME-
chanics, still at Houton Bay, Kirk
wall, forced to return by the enemy
Of airmen, fog.
The two pairs of aviators turned
back from their attempt to make
Iceland after covering about thirty
miles. But Lieutenant Nelson pushed
through a clear hole in the fog from
ar altitude Of 1906 ieet, to a clear
level, under the fog. ard Smith and
Wade heard Of him again only in
reports from the destroyers Bill
Kingsley and Reid and the cruiser
Raleigh, announcing his spectacu-
lar flight into Iceland waters.
Smith and Wade will attempt to
rejoin Nelson if the reports received
by the cruiser Richmond. whic.l
again is anchoring outside Houton
Bay, allow another trip tomorrow.
Continued on Page 6, Column y