Evening star., 1927-05-14
THREE-PLANE RACE LOOMS.
Byrd, Chamberlin and Lindbergh
Stand Ready to Start.

NEW YORK, May IA P.-A tri-
cornered air race to Paris loomed as
q greater possibility today as adverse
weather conditions caused further
postponement in the take-of of the
two foremost contenders.
The Weather Bureaus report that
d squalIy condition existed beyond
rnidocean. caused Clarence Chamber
lin and Lloyd Bertaud. to postpone
their flight set for early today.
Meanwhile Comdr. Richard e. Byrd
seemed to be rushing his plans for
hop-off. Capt. Charles Lindbergh.
spectacular Lochinvar out Of the
West. is rarin' to go and Is awaiting
better weather.
Acosta May Get Berth.
Byrd. with a bandaged arm. carried
since the Fokker monoplane America
crashed in test flight a month ago,
had not been expected to hop or Tor
several days at least. but he made
ARRANGEMENTS for the sling to be re-
moved from his injured arm today
There came news, too, that the
America would be turned over TO-DAY
to the American Transoceanic Co.
DdEhEI OI ttAG Aik6liAB NAsAkA eAApe~
pilot would be ANNOUNCED. Bert
Acosta, it was generally believed,
would supplant the injured Floyd
Bennett as pilot. Lieut.. George No
Vile will be the third member OF the
Byrd party.
These developments, with a Wealth
er Bureau prediction that a change
in weather should not be expected
over the week end, led to the opinion
Byrd might catch up with Lindbergh
and the Chamberlin-Bertaud conibina-
tion in preparations.
There was feeling that I4indbergh,
the 25-year-old debonair flyer from the
Missouri National Guard, might do
the unexpected. Stirring aviation cir
cles Thursday by landing here from
San Diego, Calf. in two hops and
record time, he soon had his single
seated Ryan monoplane, the Spirit OF
st. Louis, groomed to continue east
ward without notice.
'sThe very minute the clearing
comes" he said, 'I'll be off and !
don't care whether it's breakfast, sup
per, dinner or the middle of the
night
His plane is at Curtiss Field, Long
Island, with the Bellanca monoplane
Columbia of Bertaud and Chamberlin.
Bertaud intimated that the Spirit OF
st. Louis would not sneak away into
the sky unaccompanied.
1--WE will start when anybody else
starts he said.
Sportsmanship Prevails.
Despite the friendly rivalry Of the
three groups, the spirit of sportsman
ship rules them. Grover Whalen, rep
resentative of Rodman Wanamaker,
chief of Byrd's hackers, offered both
Lindbergh and Chamberlain use of the
carefully graded two-mile runway OF
Roosevelt field, a short distance from
Curtiss Field, for their take-offS. Cham
berlin and Bertaud proffered the young
Missourian their weather maps and
radio and Byrd let him use his charts.
The Ryan and Bellanca planes have
received assurance of aid from the
Shipping Board and Coast Guard. All
Shipping Board vessels will be asked
to report news of the flight immedi-
atelv. Three Coast Guard sea planes
at Gloucester. Mass, have been asked
TO escort the two planes out of
American territory. The Coast Guard
cutter Modoc will lay down a smoke
screen as a guide for the flyers about
$500 miles off New York.
The America and the Columbia both
have been given tests. The America.
which will weigh three times as much
as each of the two other planes, was
taken up by Lieut.. Bert Balchen and
Daniel Kline. who said it performed
perfectly. Byrd watched the fight.
Hope Still Held.
The Bellanca was flown twice by
Chamberlin. The radio generator,
which the aviators had detached be.
fore Nungesser and Coli disappeared
over the Atlantic without a radio
transmitter, has been replaced on the
plane.
Lindbergh meanwhile confined his
attentions to tinkering with his plane
before a crowd that included a num-
fber of admiring young women.
Theories and vague reports today
kept alive a rapidly dwindling hope
for the safety Of Nungesser and Coli
The fifth day in which the French
airmen were overdue in their $500
mile flight from Paris TO New York
saw a slight strengthening of the be
lief that the aviators might be lost in
the Newfoundland wilderness.
In addition to reports that an un-
identified plane had passed over
Harbor Grace and st. Marys Bay
Monday morning came rumors from
! CONTINUED on Page 4, Column a.