Evening star., 1925-06-19

with increasing confidence
as we watch our two great flying
boats nearing completion-perfect EN-.
bodlments of mans highest achieve
ment in grace, power and speed.
All members of the party are now
getting settled ashore, each man find
ing space as best he can wherever a
bunk or corner is available in one of
the shacks
1t is good to be off the overcrowded
ship. Luckily. l have landed a room
to myself in the hospital, with a com.
Portable bed, sheets, and one of those
marvellous Norwegian stoves which
never go out. My window overlooks
the blue-green edge of a glacier, and
beyond are three snow-covered peaks.
Three Crowns-Svea, Dana and
Nora" so named in the common Ian
guage of the three Scandinavian
superb view of snow and ice and
jagged mountains bathed "a hours a
day in sunlight.
The work of unloading the two air
planes progresses rapidly, beginning
early in the morning in a Snowstorm.
and ending late in the evening under
cloudless. blue sky, with long shad-
ows thrown across the. ice and snow.
The weather continues clear and
cold. Today, April II, 1t is 5 degrees
above zero Fahrenheit. the coolest VIC
have yet felt. All the assembling
work on the planes must be done out
IN the open and the severe cold is a
hardship to the mechanics-F'red
Green, from the Rolls-Royce plant in
Darby, England; Carl Feucht and
Adolph Zinsmayer, from the Dornier
plant in Pisha, Italy, headed by the
technical director of the factory
Heinrich Schulte-Frohlinde
Still, whatever the weather. we
must forge ahead with the assembling.
Speed in our final preparations is now
essential. Algarsson, the Anglo-Ice-
lander, who wants to beat Amundsen
to the North Pole in a blimp, shall
not catch us mapping. We know he is
now at Liverpool, with his ship, The
Iceland, waiting to set sail for SpitZ-
bergen. BY the time he reaches here
we expect to have our planes ready
for the hop-off, and perhaps all ready
at Danes Island or in open water be-
yond if we can find any Amundsen
isn't worried. He feels that his handi.
cap is so great there will scarcely be
race.
Algarsson, we hear, intends to
descend at the pole by means of a
rope ladder, while his blimp flies slow
ly over the earth's upper axis. 1t
sounds like a difficult feat. Amundsen
and Ellsworth, on the other hand
hope to find a suitable landing place
for their planes at the pole, but even
if that should be impossible, they can
take approximate observations from
the travelling airplanes. For either OBJ
servations from the air or from the
ground they are taking along in each
plane regular ships sextant. Ellis
VI iS n oi1
thoroughly mastered this means of
taking observations and will be as
now at Liverpool, with his ship The
his position should his plane alone
reach the area of the pole.
Airplanes Are Called whales"
One of the planes, the N25, is al.
ready on land today with it's motors
partially installed, while the N24's
hull lies on the ice beside the Hobby.
1t is the first opportunity most of us
have had to get some tangible idea of
the planes. This Dornier type of fly
ing machine is called the Wal, Ger.
man for whale, and the general ap-
pearance of the body couldn't be bet.
ter described in any single word-un-
less it were possibly shark.
The type is very seaworthy in ap-
pearance. The motor gondola, with
wings stretching out on either side
stands on top of the hull, with a pro,
peller blade fixed on either end. The
bottom of the hull is ridged like a
rowboat.
There are four separate compart.
ments, Joined by round doorway,
like portfolio. The first compart.
ment is very small, and called the
gunnery or observers cockpit. Then
comes a larger space, the pilots cock
pit. with room for two men. There are
also two driving wheels, enabling
either the pilot or mechanic to take
over control of the machine instantly.
Next toward the rear is the gasoline
compartment. containing 10 great cans
with a capacity Of about 40 gallons