Douglas daily dispatch., 1927-06-30


flight. Slightly deafened by the con-
slant roar of their planes three
motors, the requested their visitors
to raise their voices.
! Maitland and Hegenberger then
narrated incidents of their dramatic
adventure calmly, as though merely
discussing some routine, everyday
mission They admitted frankly that
they were pleased with having been
given the trans-Pacific assignment
but pointed out modestly that there
were other pilots and navigators in
the army air corps who undoubtedly
would have performed the task sue
cessfully.
The first question was in regard
to food aboard the Fokker plane, and
drew a laugh from both Maitland
and Hegenberger.
1--WE had water" explained Matt
land. "You see we had ordered some
! sandwiches and had expected to have
some coffee and hot soup in ther-
mos bottles. But when we looked
! for them, we could not find them
If they were in the plane, we failed
to locate them"
! Lieutenant John S. Griffith inter-
rupted to say that he had found
the food in the plane, untouched
Under the plotting board, covered
by tarpaulin were the sandwiches
coffee and hot soup.
When asked for their general i'm
) pressions of the long flight, Maitland
replied, Hegenberger nodding in con-
currence:
my first and outstanding impress
sion is that it is the starting point
| toward more general distribution
and strengthening of military avia-
ton, and an important step in re-
organization of our coast defenses."
"I might add right there" said
\ Hegenberger, "that this flight posi-
! lively was not in the nature of a
Stunt. The most complete arrange
ments possible were made to govern
it."
Asked regarding the extent of de-
Walton from their plotted course
, Hegenberger, the navigator, answered
"We knew where we we're at all
times, or very nearly so. While we
were not exactly on the course every
minute of the time, we were not
very far away from it.
"Our first check as to position was
made with a steamer bound for San
Francisco when we were about 775
miles out I remembered that ]
wrote note to Maitland telling him
that we ought to sight the ship in
about IS minutes. And when we
looked out after awhile, we saw it.
"We ran into a very heavy cross
| wind during the first 500 miles out,
said Maitland, explaining weather
conditions, "but after that the winds
were generally favorable
Later on, the wind was right or
! our tail, and can tell you that was
much more than we had expected
1egenberger added.
while it was daylight" Maitland
continued the explanation, 1--WE flew
about 300 feet above the sea, but
when it was dark we flew at 6
height of 10000 feet, in order thai
Hegenberger might make celestial OBJ
servations, to determine our position.
"We had to fly high to get above
the clouds" said Hegenberger.
When inquiry was made concerning
| the performance of the three motors
that drove the plane, Maitland said:
Fright at the beginning each motor
in turn caused us some anxiety, but
they all Strengthened up finally. About
IL o'clock this morning, one of the
motors apparently became slightly
cooled"
Other inquiries brought out that
there was no moon to aid them, and
that they did not know that Ernest
Smith, who was to have raced them
across the Pacific, had not been able
to take off from the Oakland field
where both planes had been stationed
for the hop off.
Maitland said that he was not
very tired, but certainly would like
some sleep.
He had nothing to say about pos
sibility of return flight, matter
| that was settled later when Wash
| ington dispatch stated that the avia-
tors were not to fly back, and that
their great monoplane was to be left
in Hawaii for inter- island flying.
| IOCSdIOl1lS U1lG IdQlO UCdCO1I SlS1ld1s
sent out to aid them by stations in
San Francisco and Hawaii, Hegen-
berger, technician of distinction
said:
''The radio beam is a success, but
I'VE were unable to make much use OF
it, for the reason that our radio re-
ceiver went out OF commission sew
eral times. Howevcr, when we were
able to use the receiver, the radio
beam signals came in very WELL
| zone OF our motors" remarked
Maitland, 'gave us some trouble. II
sputtered and cut out, and for
awhile we thought we were going
/ to lose it. 1t caused us to settle
from 10000 feet to about 1000 anu
through three or four cloud layers
before it finally picked up"
The explanation was maze, cas-
ually, and with no indication that
possible disaster impended.
Maitland expressed the OPINION
that, the radio signal zone was much
narrower than expected.
"It appeared to me so,'' agreed
Hegenberger.. however, the radio
beam gives promise OF becoming
tremendously valuable. We were able
to get signals when eight or nine
hours on orr cOllrSe''