Douglas daily dispatch., 1927-08-17
DOUGLAS DAILY DISPATCH WEDNESDAY MORNING AUGUST


the wake of the other planes.
AS the first plane took off word
was radioed out to ships at sea TO DE
on their guard and report sight or
| wireless word of them.
| Two OF these planes are without
radio. The Aloha and the Miss Doran
were depending entirely on their
navigators to guide them safely over
j the ocean. The Golden Eagle and
Woolaroc were equipped to benefit by
the army's radio beacon and could
make their presence known to ships II
necessary.
AS the Aloha sped out to sea marine
observers saw that she flew low over
the water This was in accordance
with Jensen's announced intention. In
his navigator'S cockpit he carried an
old sea captain. Schultcr was conf
dent of his ability to steer a straight
| course with his sextaSlt and other
marine instruments. He urged Jensen
to fly as low over the water as possible
and the latter agreed and was doing so
when last seen. He flew below the
fog.
The otner planes were seeking alti-
tude in an apparent effort to get above
the fog. They had been warned by the
weather bureau that they might ex-
pect fog for at least SO miles out to
sea and that in places the bank would
! drop to the water.
Long after the racers had disap-
| peared into the western fogS crowds
| fingered at the Oakland airport. They
! wanted to See the Oklahoma and
! Dallas spirit take off and interest was
! kept alive by multitude OF rumors
! to the effect that this plane or that
| one was headed back toward the field.
The runway was kept clear OF air.
| planes Throughout the afternoon ana
/ early evening hours in anticipation
| that one OF the Dole ships would seek
refuge for repairs.
The fence that lined the runway
was black with people from the start
| ing point to point well over mile
ltoWard the take-off. Police were Kept
hecticaIly busy dasfing here and there
schooling people off the runway.
1 Near the end of the runway stood
| the Wrecking details, trucks equipped
with steel cables with which to drag
! a wrecked plane off the runway.
AS far as eyes could see the high
ways leading to the airport were block
ed by automobiles coming and going,
moving at q ridiculous crawl. To some
i of the people the flight was over, but
police declared they could see no thin
ming out of the numbers on the flying
field.
The official starting time OF the
four successful planes was announced
as follows; Golden Eagle 1881 p. m.;
kaoha 1924 p. m.; Wollaroc 1896 p.
M, and the Miss Doran 2:03 p m. The
latter's first starting time was at 1888
| p. M
Fourteen ships, naval and mercan-
lille, were charted by the navy de-
partment as being on the lane follow
led by the planes. Land radio stations
were in constant communication with
the vessels and shortly after the air.
men disappeared over the ocean mes
sageS were received in San Francisco
that the Miss Doran was sighted by
the operator aboard the lightShip IL
miles north of the Golden Gate.
Then came word that the Aloha was
sighted by the naval wireless operator
on the Farallone islands 20 miles be-
yond the Golden Gate. Evidence that
Jensen was speeding well on his way
! toward home came when the freighter
Silver Fir reported sighting the plane
i 200 miles out at 2:35 p. m.
The navy was helping protect the
7 airmen against disaster in the case OF
forced landings. Eight destroyers were
on the lane, the La Vallette was about
40 miles out of San Francisco, the
Hazelwood, naval reserve training
ship, was 100 miles outside the gate
The destroyer Meyer of San Diego
was reported about $50 miles out and
1 the Sumner 400 miles westward. All
the ships were ordered TO be near these
positions at noon today
4 Admiral r. j. jackson, commander
of the destroyer division No. SO OF the
Pacific battle fleet, left Honolulu for
Seattle with four destroyerS Saturday
and his flotilla was reported about
midway between the islands and main
land today.
i On the Hawaiian end of the race
United States submarines WEre re-
ported standing ready to dash to sea
in case word was received that one OF
the planes was forced down.
Beside the ships directly on the great
circle along which the planes were to
be piloted about IL commercial YES
sells we're charted as being near enough
to the lane to dash to assistance OF
fallen aviatorS.
Il The army's radio beacon stations in
San Francisco and Hawaii were
monotonously droning out their signals
"a" and "N'' tonight as an aid to the
two planes equipped with the sets de-
signed to receive the beacon. Jack
Frost in his Golden Eagle and Art
Goebel in the Woolaroc were to de-
pend largely on the beacon for guild
ance across the pacific.
4 So long as the navigators Gordon
Scott and W. " Davis could hear the
4 letter "T"' it would be assurance that
the plane roared along the dead CEN
ter of the radio path. The ''IP was
the outcome of the blending of the
other two letters.
The radio beacon system was tested
by LieutenantS Lester j. Maitland and
Albert Hegenberger when they flew
their giant army Fokker from the
mainland to Hawaii, and again by