Evening star., 1925-09-01
PN-e, No. |, Going Strongly
on 2,100-MiIe Nom Stop
Trip to Honolulu.
SECOND SHIP FALTERS
WHEN OIL LINES BREAK
Is Taken in Tow by Destroyer and
Heads Back to San
Francisco.
By the Associated Press.


SAN FRANCISCO, September l.
The Navy seaplane PN-s, No. /. at
tempting a nonstop fight from San
Francisco TO Hawaii, had completed
half of its journey of 2,10o nautical
miles between and s o'clock this
morning.
Up to that time the plane had made
an average speed of slightly more
than II nautical miles, or a fraction
under 50 land miles. an hour. Early
today 1t was exceeding the speed it
had maintained earlier in its fight
and was making up the time it had
been behind it's schedule
When The plane passed over the de-
stroyer Cory, 500 miles from the
Golden Gate, it was more than a hour
behind its schedule. BY the time It
passed the destroyer Meyer, 500 miles
from the California coast. it had re
duced this to so minutes
The report that the aircraft had
passed the destroyer Doyen and was
speeding toward the airship tender
Langley came from the Doyen at 4:45
O'Clock, 13 hours and 81 minutes after
the plane had left Point Bonita, at the
entrance to San Francisco Bay, fig
ured as the official point of departure.
Disabled Plane in Tow.
A few minutes after Rear Admiral
William Mofatt, chief of the Naval
Aeronautical Bureau, and Capt s. z.
Moses, flight project commander, had
ordered the mine sweeper Gannett.
with its equipment for hoisting a plane
from the water, to hasten from this
port to the point where the PN-9 No.
and a half after the start, word was
received from the destroyer William
Jones that it had taken the plane in
tow. Comdr. 3. B. Taylor of the Will
liam Jones advised Admiral Moffatt
that he was making seven knots an
hour with the plane and was directed
to proceed slowly toward San Fran.
cisco, while the Gannett continued to-
ward him
Adjustment of the new power plant
In the PB-l plane, the "a 24,000-pound air
craft from a Seattle factory. was be.
ing made today by the expert machin-
lists who yesterday completed its in
stailation and made a short test flight
Every effort was being made to make
the big Boeing plane ready to start to-
morrow afternoon on a fight which it
is now planned will be So miles longer
than that on which the PN-9, No. l,
was still flying. The Boeing aircraft
will be given orders to continue, IL
possible, past the Pearl Harbor land
ing, on the Island of Oahu, TO Nawili-
will, IS miles farther west.
Radio Record Made.
What was declared by the fight
headquarters here to be a record for
radio transmission from a plane was
established last night when the PN-9.
No. /, established wireless communi-
cation with Hilo, from where 1t was
then still 1900 miles distant.
Plane No. was forced down
when the oil pressure lines to both
engines were broken.
The Jones made a 10O-mile run in
four hours to go to the stricken
planes aid.
The commander of the flagship
still pursuing its fight to the Ha-
waiian Islands is Comdr John
Rodgers. Washington, d. c., second
officer of Uncle Sans Navy to learn
to fly. He was a student of the
Wright brothers at Dayton, Ohio, in
1911. Composing his crew are Lieut.
Byron J. Connell of Pittsburgh. Pa;
S. N. Pope, aviation pilot of jackson,
Pa; Otis G. Stantz, chief radio man,
of Terre Haute, Ind, and William
Bollin, chief machinist's mate, of
Richmond. Ind.
AS the flagship approached the
Langley it messaged the mother craft
of the Navy's planes with regards
to old shipmates" and remarked that
the Langley's signals were coming in
weak.