Evening star., 1925-04-06
PLANES WILL SEEK
ARCTIC CONTINENT
Expedition Led by Macmillan
to Hunt Out Supposed Land
Mass Near Pole.

Naval aircraft will attempt this
Summer to bridge the vast ice ex-
panse that has so far shut Off from
human knowledge great regions of
the Arctic where a predicted continent
has long lured the toilsome effort of
man by sledge without an answer to
his guess.
On an expedition headed by the
noted explorer, Donald b. Macmillan,
and which has been officially desig-
mated the Macmillan Arctic Expedi-
ton, under the auspices OF the Ma
tional Geographic Society" naval
pilots will bring their craft to the
avail of mans struggle to map the
mysteries of an area of more than a
million square miles lying between
Alaska and the North Pole.
Indorsed by President.
Although not Government project,
the plan has been approved by Secre-
tary Wilbur and Endorsed by Presi-
lent Coolidge and will have the fl
nancial and scientific backing of the
Geographic Society. Decision to at
tempt the thrust into the Arctic was
reached Saturday night and the
s,
to the neglect of all other business.
The naval officers who will accom-
pany Mr.. Macmillan will be granted
extended leave, as has been the case
in previous polar expeditions. and
the entire party will have a private e
status, Notwithstanding that Mr.. Mac
MILAN is a lieutenant commander in
the naval reserve force.
Difference in Plans.
In this respect the expedition will
differ from that projected for the
dirigible Shenandoah last year, but
abandoned. Under that plan the
Shenandoah was to leave from Alaska
and proceed over the same unknown
region and possibly to the Pole. The
hight was abandoned when Presi-
dent Coolidge took the position that
in view OF the expense involved he
would not authorize 1t without ap-
proval of Congress. and the latter
failed to take any action in the
matter.
For the Macmillan expedition two
planes of the Looming amphibian
type will be supplied and the per-
sonnel for them will be selected from
volunteers in the Navy Aviation
Service Although details have not
been completed, at least three off,
GERS and two or three mechanics
will be accepted for the trip, one of
whom will be Lieut.. Comdr. R. E.
Byrd, now with the Navy Bureau of
Aeronautics here, who will be in
charge.
Many OHer Services.
Already "a naval officers, 6 Marine
Corps officers, IL Navy enlisted men
and 2 Marine Corps enlisted men
have offered themselves as pilots or
aviation mechanics for the attempt.
The planes, which the Navy prob
ably will ask the Army Air Service
to provide because naval machines
of the type now under construction
will not be completed in time, will
be of the Looming type and will have
a cruising range of more than 1000
miles, with a speed of more than
120 miles an hour. Mr.. Macmillan be-
lieyes more can be accomplished with
them in Arctic exploration than has
been done in the last century.
The expedition will leave Wiscasset,
Me, about June Is and will pass along
the Labrador coast and Greenland
through Davis Strait in an effort to
establish a flying base at the northern
point of Axel Heiburg land, where the
planes can take off in their attempt
to explore the vast region, which has
baffied the efforts of Peary, Mac
MILAN and others to penetrate, and
determine whether a continent or
| land in any form exists there.
Value of Land.
If land is found, 1t is believed it
| can ultimately be utilized for air
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