Evening star., 1925-10-15
VALUE OF A|RP[ANE
IN ARCTIC REGIONS
DEFENDED BY BYRD
Leader of Navy Flyers in
North Insists Object Was
Not Spectacular Dash.
PRAISES WORK OF MEN
AMID HARD CONDITIONS
Flew More Than 5000 Miles, But
Had Less Than Four Good
Aviation Days.


planes fought vainly to conquer the
clements of that region, Lieut.. Comdr.
Richard f. Byrd. comma ndins the ma
val aviation section of the Macmillan
Arctic expedition, said before the
Presidents Air Board today that the
idea of the project was not to make
a sensational. spectacular DASH but to
do sane exploring and to advance
gradually toward the objective, put
ting down bases as we went along"
The foregoing statement was de-
signed to answer critics of the eXpedi-
ton who had told the board that it
was failure and was gotten up in
''haphaZard manner"
Avoided Dramatic Situations.
we avoided the dramatic to such
an extent that whenever possible we
reported over the radio the beginning
and result of flights at the same
time. though | believe the public
would have preferred the suspense
and the drama.
Lieut.. Comdr Byrd empha tically
declared there is mo part of the
world that cannot be conquered by
aircraft which also was taken as
defense of criticism that the plane
is worthless and the dog is supreme
in the Arctic. The planes used, he
said, were undoubtedly the best for
this work. They are the best am
phibians in the world, and up there
bo.h wheels and a boat are most de-
sirable. The beaches are rocky and
could not be approached without
knocking hole in the boat. unless
the wheels We're put down. Besides,
We could not have gotten them on the
beach to erect them without wheels
With more time and a little better
season the center of the unexplored
region in the Polar Sea could be
reached with airplanes.
This expedition went out under the
auspices of million of our citizens.
the great. dignified National Geo
graphic Society, and it has been a
great pleasure to be associated with
| it, he declared.
Lieut.. Comdr. Byrd lauded the work
OF the naval personnel on the expedi-
| ton.
Those fellows did not need a COM
ma anding officer to tell them what to
do he said. My hardest job was
to make them get some rest and sleep
They erected the planes in three days
out in the open, exposed to snow
storms and on a very unsatisfactory,
irregular beach. | don't see how they
did ii.
They We're almost superhuman and
! I am proud of them
Flew More Than 5000 Miles.
The witness said the planes flew
more than 5000 miles in the Arctic
and $4,000 square miles of Arctic
! region We're seen by the observers.
Macmillan deserves most of the
credit for the fact that the officers
and men and planes are back safely
And the 10000 square miles covered
is due to the remarkable efficiency
and astonishing spirit of the six avia
| tion officers and men the Navy sent
with me who had to do this under by
| far the worst flying conditions ever
encountered in the history of aviation.
! Aviation conditions were far worse
| than we had anticipated. After our
| first fight out over EllS1nere Land, l
got my men together and told them
that l would never again order any of
them out to fly over that region, but
they were always ready to go and
were eager to volunteer.
We had a very difficult time get
ting through Melville Bay" continued
the witness, 80 when we got to Etah
we had Is days to get the dismantled
planes off the ship, set them up, test
them and do all our work of framing
bases for the polar sea flight and the
fight over the Greenland ice cap.
Almost No Summer.
Winter was chasing close on the
heels of Spring and we had almost no
Summer OF the flying days only
three and three-quarters were good
to-fair flying and one Indifferent.
so over half the time the weather
was dangerous or very dangerous for
flying. l am telling You this to give
YOU an idea of the aviation conditions
in the Arctic. We Gid not see sin
gle landing place in all the thousands
of square miles we covered.
AS far as the water was con-
cerned. the ice began a mile north
Of Etah and filled the sea and all
the bays and f1ords. The Summer ice
cannot be landed on. 1t is very
rough and a plane that landed on it
would be demolished. 1t shifts, how
ever, with the tides and the winds
and occasionally there is a tempo
rary landing place in the water. They
are as scarce as oases in desert
and more welcome. We found a
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