Evening star., 1926-01-22
EIELSON. ARCTIC TRAIL BLAZER.
TO PILOT TRIP ACROSS POLAR SEA
Veteran Named TO Lead
Wilkins Expedition
Next March.
Former Army Airman
Has Flown 10000
Miles in North.
Special Dispatch to The star.

Special Dispatch to The star.
Nt,W YORK. January 22.--tarl r..
F,ielSon. trail-blazer of Ala ska : air
routes. will pilot the fol>krr mono
plane in which Capt. George Hubert
Wilkins. comma nder OF the Detroit
Arctic expedition, will take off from
Point BARROW. Alaska next March on
his flight across the Polar Sea.
II Capt. wilkins sights new land.
Eielson will he Iha codiScoverer. II
Ia nd is not discovered. IL is capt.
Wilkins intention to wing on across
the North Pole in hope Of making a
nonstop flight from barrow I" SpitZ-
bergen. In case this long night is
ma de. "a pit. wilkins will do the navi-
eating and Alaskas mir trail-bIazer
will he in the pilots seat.
Lieut.. Eielson has flown 5000"
miles in the Arctic and near-Arctic.
capt. Wilkins said today. y"
other pilot has flown n third as far
under like conditions He has faced
The fiercrst weather the North has to
offer. has made landings on rough.
unlie hted fields during the Arctic
night and iaS served as his own
mechanic ana risger when ii SNOW
bank was his hangar and the ten
p"rttur" was far below zero.
Experience Praised
'Dlher excellent pilots will accom-
,any the expedition and u know that
| shall disappuint them when | 50 Y
that Lieut.. Eielson will make the
main flight Euj nowhere is there p
man who has his fving experience
in the Arctic. Nowhere is there a
pilot better fitted 10y tempera ament for
the work | have in mimi. Unless he
becomes incapacitated. II viii he he
who Will accompany me
Eieison is a graduate Of the Uni
versirN of North Dakota and has
taken posi- graduate work at George
town University n nd the University Of
Wisconsin. He was born al ilaIIon.
y. OAK. July 20. 1897. Like Capt VIII
kins. he spent his boy hood ira ampine
camping and hunting. lie enlisted
in the United States Army Air Serv-
ice at he outhreak of the World War
and did his first flying ~ Rockwell
Field in California. lie was commits.
stoned first lieutenant
Following the war. he became .
commercial flyer. He organized "A
dozen little compa MES and few
throughout the West and Middle
West. carrying passengers instruct
Ing amateurs and doing stunts He
SaNs that during this period ne was
an ''air gypsy" His gypsy" ex-.
perienceS taught him how To choose
new landing fields from the air Il
thinG he had tu do manN times while
he was pioneering among The noun
tain peaks uf Alaska
Made Experimen ntrr.
When the United States Post Office
Department decided In fa23 that the
airplane might solve the de partTnen1 e
Winter problems in Alaska t.ielson
was made air eHperimenter. He boxed
piane at Chicago and Travelled by
rail and steamer 10 f'anba nkS He
found n" competent mecha nice and
rigGers there ma so was required N
a assemble the plane and mount the on
einN by himself. His subsequent ad.
ventures startled the hyins world nd
brought congratulations from prpsi-
dent Coolidge.
There were virtually no Ia andinc
fields near any Of the little Ala ska
towns I" which EielSon intended to
carry the mail. i;ut there were rivers
which offered icewaNs aud valleys
which offered frozen plains. I;oarins
down from cruising heights Eielson
sighted these places and WAS never al
a loss for landing field lie flew
6o. ntD miles and made but one forced
descent. This landing cost him his
only mishap. a broken propeller
Il struck tempera 40 low a :
% degrees below zero Fahrenheit" f" ne
SAYS init ! never had what one
might call trouble with my Liberty
engine. Sometimes. Of course it wa 9
hard 10 start the engine. Ordinarily