Douglas daily dispatch., 1927-05-15
NY. To PARIS
HOP AWAITING
GOOD WEATHER
Search Continued for Miss
ing French AviatOrs; No
Trace Found.
THREE PREPARE
Three Cornered Race to
French Capital May De-
velop Monday.

NEW YORK, May IA. F9-There
was no longer any obstacle tonight
to the first American flight from
New York to Paris being a three
cornered race, but it was not likely
that race would start until Monday,
anyway, and more probably Tuesday.
Unfavorable weather, which for
several days has prevented the mono
planes Spirit of st. Louis and
columbia" from hopping off, has
continued so long that today factory
tests were completed on the mono
plane america" and she was turned
over to the pilots.
So now, as soon as the weather
man decided conditions are good, and
tonight he saw no immediate likeli-
hood on clearing, all three planes
will be ready to rumble down the
long runway at Roosevelt field, climb
into the air and head eastward On
the race for Paris.
AS final preparations for the three
American flights went forward today
the search continued for the two
missing French fliers, Nungesser and
Coli, centering along the bays OF
New FoundIand's wilderness, where q
plane was heard passing last Mon
day. No trace of the fliers was
found, however, nor any indication
at all of what had happeend to them.
The days preparations on Long
Island were featured by the turning
over of the america" to Commander
Richard E. Byrd, and by a minor
accident to the Spirit of st. Louis"
when Charles Lindbergh, its pilot,
swerved in landing to avoid striking
a group of photographers The tail
skid was broken, but mechanics were
able to repair it quickly.
Both the Spirit of st. Louis" and
the America" were in the air during
the day for test flights. Lindbergh
took a mechanic up with him,
crowded into the single seat, and
performed some daring stunts close
above the field. On one of the
Americas" flights, Bert Acosta was
at the controls and this was taken
as further indication that he will be
the third man to accompany Byrd
and George Neville.
If Acosta does go up with Byrd
and if the flight is a race, two men
who recently achieved fame together
will be pitted against each other. 1t
was Acosta who was with Clarence
Chamberlin in the flight above Long
Island which shattered all previous
, records for endurance flying. 1t was
first announced that he would ac-
company Chamberlin in the "Colum-
bia," but later Lloyd Bertaud's name
was substituted.
When the fliers were shown the 4
o'clock weather report today they
all agreed that any attempt within
the next hours was out OF the
question, as the chart showed con-
tinuing fog from the coast to past
mid Atlantic and a storm was brew
ing off the Irish coast.
When Charles A. Levine, president
of the company backing the Cham
berlin -Bertaud flight, was shown the
weather report, he said it showed
conditions to be worse than at any
time during the past ten days. He
saw little likelihood that the flight
could be begun before the middle OF
! the week
On one of the test flights of the
america" Byrd, Neville and Acosta
were all aboard. It was the first
time Byrd had been in the plane
since he broke his wrist in it during
test flight month ago. The plane
made o speed of 12O miles an hour
and was pronounced to be operating
perfectly. Radio tests conducted IN
the air with land stations and ships
indicated that during the flight the
Americas" signals can be picked up
500 miles away. During the day
time and twice that far at night.
! A crowd of several thousand per
sons thronged the field all day and
became so dense that police had To
rope off the runways and hangers
to assure the fliers room to work in
Preparations were made to handle an
even greater crowd tomorrow.
: (COntiOlled On page Eipht)