Douglas daily dispatch., 1927-07-15
MonopIane
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"will be covered by considerable
cloudinesS. But the sky will BIZ broken
with intervals of clear weather Show
erS will occur occasionally. Winds will
be north to northeast between the
both and 140th meridians, ai)out Is
miles per hour, and from TIE 140th
meridian to Honolulu, mostly eaSterly,
about 10 to Is miles per hour.
This forecast was issued on the ba-
sis of reports received from three YES
sells within 1000 miles of San Francisco
tonight and from dispatches sent in
earlier today by ships beyond that
radius.
Roaring southweStward, over ej'dless
billows of fog, the monoplane piloted
by Ernest l.. Smith and with Emory
B. Bronte as navigator was reported
proceeding nicely on its flight toward
Hawaii late today
Smith and Bronte hoped off from
the Oakland municipal airport at
10:40 a. m. today.
Radio stations on and off were re-
ceiving frequent messages from the
plane. Each told Of fog. 'We Will run
out of it soon, we hope" radioed
Bronte at 2 p. m. The weather bu-
reau here issued aforecast before the
fliers left saying they would not be
out of the fog for "a considerable
distance" out from San Francisco.
Bronte prepared to release two of the
four carrier pigeons he had aboard.
He said he would do that when the
plane reached the 200 mile point out
of San Francisco.
The birds were expected to arrive at
their San Francisco loft tonight. me
other two birds were to accompany
the plane on to Hawaii and N the
event Smith and Bronte fly home
they will release the pigeons 100 miles
off the mainland. Or in case of emer-
gency the pigeons are expected TO be
released to find, if possible, a nearby
vessel
a message received from Bronre later
in the afternoon said that the wire
less receiving set aboard the plane was
out of commission but that dio not
worry Bronte.
Back in Oakland where the plane
took off for it's flight, ANXIOUS ears
were primed for the slightest word of
the fliers' progress Telephones 20 the
flying field we're kept busy by friends
of the two men and calls from spon-
sorS and others connected with the
flight calling radio stations for "any-
thing new.
The army radio beacon system, put
into operation for use by the Smith
plane. was reported working well in
one OF Bronte'S brief bulletins 1t was
not known whether failure Of the re-
ceiving set would effect reception of
the radio signals for the wave length
of messages and beacon work we're
600 and 1925 meters respectively. It
was believed Bronte might be able to
tune in on the higher wave length.
The fllerS were due to gain the bene-
fit of trade winds, boosting them
along about twenty miles an hour
when they reach 500 miles out from
San Francisco. At the rate they were
travelling during the early part of
thei "trip it was estimated ny shoueld
strike the winds about nightfall.
1t all depends on field conditions in
Hawaii as to whether the City of
Oakland is able to fly back home. 1t
has been planned that the plane
should be the first to try 4,8OO mile
round trip hop between Oakland and
Hawaii, remaining on the islands
only long enough to permit 1efueling,
inspection and take Off
But after army officials in Hawaii,
announced that Wheeler field, the
army'S airport 20 miles out OF Homo
lulu, was too short to permit heav-
lily loaded trans-Pacific plane TO take
off, it was suggested that Smith and
Br0nte might land at Wheeler field,
and then hop over to the island of
Kauai where they might take off from
the beach of Barking Sands" the
runway Richard Grace, Hollywood av-
iator, used recently in his attempted
hop off for California.
Decision on return flight was left
to the discretion of the fliers.
Smith and Bronte were face to face
with disaster in their first attempt to
take off this morning. AS they roared
down the runway at 10:3O o'clock the
wheels of the plane struck Slight de-
preston in the ground that caused the
monoplane to Swerve violently to the
right, onto the rough ground adjacent
to the runway. When the plane finally
came to a halt it faced at right angles
across the runway.
1IlOSe VINO saw CEle mlSnap declared
it was miracle that Smith had been
able to keep the plane from crashing.
Smith said that had the spectators
nto been SO close to the runway he
might have pulled out" of the skid
and proceeded with the take off.
The second take off was accomplish
ed without incident. The plane clear
ed the runway at about $500 feet and
labored slowly upward. Smith was
forced to circle over Oakland San
Francisco and the bay some little
while before attaining sufficient al
titude to put him above the log banks
that looned in the west.
There was interesting action at the
airport before the fliers left. Iieuten-
ants Lester j. Maitland and Albert
Hegenberger, who beat Smith to an
Oakland Hawaii hop, appeared on the
field a few minutes before Smith was
scheduled to leave
They wished him and BronCe the
best of luck, gave them son.c advice
on conditions and in so doing delayed
the start about half hour for they
urged the men to take smelling salts
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