Evening star., 1926-06-02

work had gone on regularly III NOT
way. The two flying boats ordered and
under construction at the Dornlel
Wallin Works in Pisa. had, during the
Winter. been tested by the two aero
plots, Riiser- Larsen, who was to pilot
the boat called N-35. and DietriChson.
who was to pilot the boat called the
MA
| wonder if my readers are able TO
understand my feelings when | left
Oslo. to 60 to SritzGer"en. this time
i,cinc sure that | should at least he
able to prove that | WAS not hluffer
and that I had been in earnest IN
sueakln~ Of exploring in the Arctic
regions by flying machines
Last Years Lessons Employed.
In spite of the fact that perhaps
some of my readers might remember
the most important things that nap
pened during last years flight. | have
moro to rcnrat several details rather
ampl, in order that people shall un-
iersland tic trdnspolAr flight ms
-.enr. For the expedition that took
rJare last wear in May and June made
the fight in this month no$Slhie. ana
III tho members ot the last years OK
nec;ition understand that The flying
hoa, expedition WAS only prepara-
tion TO the trsrSpolar flight. | nav"
to speak about some ot the reasons
For the first time in the short hlt,
,~l,rio,,s history of aviation it should
he flown a longer distance in the polar
rerinns. Since 1922. when | had com
u,enrel The or.a nZatinl of = polar
t,j.rbt ! had und arSt ood that to realize
e,,cb an enterprise ! had to use
p,arbine not nnlv large enough To
.,rl.,- fuel sufficient To have the mo-
torc running over all the distance from
<ni,1icrcon to Alaska. blI; the ma
chime h.3d 10 bo Of so great lifting ca
,,arit7. ti2at il could CarrT s" mu"h
fuel that even in case at head Wlhds
We should be Hhlo to reach lAnd. Nhd
gradually as | worked ont my pans
fr<t alone. lnter on with my com
radec who know more about prac-
ticaI tvinc than did myself, and the
differcnt questions arose. understood
th,t although there rNiS; sever3
types Of hyn: machines powerful
enoucl, 10 cover the distance from
SnitZbprcen to Alaska and even longer
distances. we always had I" face the
nossihility ot motor ana "'her 'r""
hles. the flying range at tying ma
chine. will always he shorter than
that Of an airShip
Plans Of the Flight Changed.
Therefore. when. during the Winter
of f924-n3. We formulated the plans IN
detail. I soon understood that | had 10
give M my original plan to cover IN
the first hmm all the distance between
the E,1ropean and the American con-
tinent And the Aero Club alluding,
when | entered into negotiations with
tho adm 'nStrator to the fact that II
would ONLY manage the fight on con
dit ion hat we should explore only the
E,,,r,nean side of the North polar
basin I had to resign. and my com
rades and myself decided to work
ONLY for realizatio Of flight over the
said area. But we agreed that this
did not mean we had forever given mp
the idea to go from SpitZbergen to
Alaska by air. 1t only meant that we
had most poned the original plan. and
we considered the flight only as an
examination of the possibilities for
transrolar flight
We had to investigate if 1t was
nossjhlo to make the whole flight in
an airplane or if it was necessary 10
go in an airship. From this point OF
view the expedition last year was
MANNED and carried ont. and every
one uf the experiments we made on
the flight last year from the first day
of the expedition to its last one has
been of great Importance for the flight
recently made. In fact. the tw" eN.
peditions are so intimately connected
that it is difficult to say where the
first finishes and the second starts.
Star Of the 1925 Expedition.
In the first half of April. 1928. the
members of the expedition. the flying
marty as well as the land party. in
two ships arrived at Spitzbergen with
the f1ving boats, material of every
kind. fuel and Oil. and after three or
four weeks of work we were ready to
start
In the last year at this time very
important link in the organization of
the expedition was the embracing
weather service which it was neces-
sary to esta blished so that we could
choose the best day for starting. AS
we'll as the expedition itself. this i'm.
portant auxiliary service was made
possible by one Of the most wonderful
inventions Of the last generation
wireless telegraph. With us went to
Spitzbergen two Norwegian meteorol.
ogists and one wireless operator
trained in receiving weather reports.
And based upon the several hundred
reports that arrived every day the
meteorologists, according to most mod
ern theories on weather and winds in
arctic regions, almost every hour
could inform us about flying condi-
tions over the Arctic basin and advis-
ting when we ought TO start.
According to knowledge due TO ear
lier polar expeditions and theories
formulated in later wears. the month
OF May should he the best one for