Evening star., 1927-05-22

runway, filled with fuel and all equip
ment aboard, while thousands of per-
sons ran heedlessly over the field,
swamping the efforts of handful of
Nassau County police to keep order.
In vain Clarence ID. Chamberlln,
pilot of the Columbia, sought permits
sion to use the runway for the hop
off. In vain he sought Carl Schorey
of the National Aeronautical Society.
who was to have sealed the plane
barograph and thus make the flight
official.
Bad Weather Reported.
Then came reports of unfavorable
weather and a final blow to Cham
berlin's hopes of flying to France in
the report that Giuseppe NJ. Bellanca,
designer of the Columbia, had severed
all relations with Charles A. Levine,
financial backer of the projected flight
Of the plane to Paris
Chamberl;n, flying suit, helmet and
goggles on, turned to mechanics with
| a despairing gesture, and said:
"Take her back. boys. There won't
| be any flight tonight"
A few minutes before he had de-
| clared:
"I'll start for France at s o'clock
| tonight or never"
"The never" may stand. for Levine
announced that the New York-to-Paris
flight had been indefinitely post
poned."
| Mechanics are Disgruntled.
AS mechanics, disgrur tied at the
many delays, started heeling the
plane over rough ground on the way
back to Curtiss Field. Chamberlin
turned. a cock in one of the fuel tanks
and dumped SO gallons of gasoline on
the ground to tighten the weight
strain of the Columbia's landing gear.
| Then. for safety's sake, to remove
| the menaceof inf1ammable pools. he lit
a match and tossed it into the gaso-
line. Flames shot SO feet into the
air. Dense black clouds of smoke
arose. To many who saw the plane
silhouetted against tn flames it
seemed as if the Columbia had caught
fire. The plane, however. was so Or
Is feet away from the blazing gaso-
line.
to the field to see the take-off rushed
to the Columbia. Calls were sent in
for fire apparatus. An ambulance
came from Mitchell Field and emer-
gency trucks from Curtiss Field and
the Byrd hangar, where the mono
plane America Is kept.
Cannot Keep Order.
Police were unable to keep order.
A fight started between Bellanca
mechanics and jeering spectators.
who had said "the Columbia wasn't
built to fly, anyway"
Although the navigator who was
to take Lloyd Bertaud's place in the
| ooh in "a nj
named, those at the field understood
that Daniel G. Cline. Colonial Air
Transport flyer, had been named for
the post. Like Chamberlin he ap
peared in flying togs.
After the Columbia was safely in
It's hangar at Curtiss Field, Grover
Whalen, vice president of the America
Transoceanic Co., hackers of the
Byrd expedition, issued statement
in which he said that Nassau County
police were quite right in refusing
to grant permission to Chamberlir
to take off from Roosevelt Field.
Calls Incident "Unfortunate."
He characterized it as IAN unfortu
nate incident" and said that unau
thorized persons had appeared at the
field with q plane. He also pointed
out that the Bellanca flyers had beer
permitted to use the field. but only
under certain conditions. (which were
not complied with in this case"
The pilot of the Columbia and the
mechanics who have worked over the
ship for nearly two weeks. ever since
the first scheduled start for France
was delayed by unfavorable weather
were dumbfounded by the retirement
Of Bellanca from the enterprise.
Reports were current at the field
that had the Columbia started ant
reached Paris. it would have flown or
to either Rome or Berlin to show the
world it's capabilities.
Chamberlin Is I'm City.
Chamberlin was in New York City
during the afternoon in conference
with Levine and was loud in hi.