The Alaska daily empire. [volume] (Juneau, Alaska) 1912-1926, 1926-05-10
BYRD'S DREAM
COMES true IN
ARCTIC FLIGHT
~ " u
Expedition Into Unknown
Regions Has Been Ambi-
ton Sioce Boyl.ood.

NEW YORK, May 10. - When
Commander Richard Evelyn Byrd
set sail from here On April 6, tho
occasion marked the realization of
a dream which had been with him
since boyhood days-an expedition
= of his own into the Arctic regions.
With Kim was Floyd Bennett
chief petty officer in the naval air
service, who flew over 5000 miles
with the commander last year when
the two accompanied the Macmillan
party in the north. He became
Byrds right hand man and the two
of them planned to share the most
dangerous and important work of the
expedition.
Bennett is a man of the greatest
energy, endurance and skill, both as
a navigator and az a mechanic, .
Byrd wrote of him. Il would not
like to be in the Arctic without him
and | would take him before any
other man in the world"
In outlining his plans, the com.
mander said that after reaching
Kings Bay, Spitzbergen, the air
plane would be ready for the flights
while William G. Haines, the United
States Weather Bureau official, stu
died and reported on weather condi-
tiOns
Here the skill of Lieut.. G. o.
Noville of the Vacuum Oil Co, came
into play. Working ont oil problems
and providing mixtures to lubricate
lat low temperatures without becom-
ing thin and at higher temperatures
useless, was his task.
Flights Objective
"The objective of our first flight
Byrd said, will be the first landing
the northernmost known land in the
world. II is at the extreme north
tip CT Greenland, about 400 miles
northwest Of Sptzbergen. The nor
thernmost point of Peary Land is
Cape Morris Jessup, but we are not
particularly interested in it. We will
stop at the first spot on Peary Land
that promises good skiing for the
plane"
After depositing a thousand pounds
he planned to return to Kings Bay
and bring another load before start
ing the attempted flights to and
around the Pole.
From our projected base in Peary
Land it Is approximately 400 miles
to the Pole,' he stated! "lf VIC
reach the vicinity of the Pole, our
instruments will enable us to deter
mine, while in flight, our location
within a margin of 20 miles.
"To make sure that we have reach
ed and passed the Pole, we will
make a wide circle around it. This
circle will be less than 100 miles
in distance. but it will be a complete
circumnavgation of the globe"
! If suitable landing place near
would land before flying back to the
base.
Next we probably will undertake
ione northwestward flight of not
more than 425 miles In search oi
unknown land" he said. after that
we probably will have to return al
once to Kings Bay. 1t would be
highly dangerous to continue flying
much after May Is on account of tht
fog"
= Finely Equipped
| His expedition was described as
tthe best equipped ever sent to the
Polar regions. A three engine FOX
ker plane and a Curtis-Oriole wer'
stored away In the Chantier, tn,
extra one for use in case of an acci
dent to the first Other supplies ant
equipment were assembled afte
much study and review of exper
fences of other Arctic explorers
Fifty five persons were listed a
members of the expedition.
Wanderlust laid hold upon Byr
early in life, but instead of becon
ing its slave, he SO controlled AM
directed himself that his great amb
ltion was achieved--an airplane G,
pedition to the North Pole.
BacEers Of Flight
The same rare gift of persuasio
which won Edsel Ford, John /
Rockefeller jr., and others to SUI
|