Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-10


Islands, Il mere dot on the broad Pa
Toward this dot we headed witt
steadily climbing. Below and behind
of San Francisco Bay, dotted with fer
hillocks.
Even the buildings of the two
Alcatraz guarded the entrance of the
past to its left.
Around us in various directions
were formations of other airplanes.
None came very close. as their pilots
did not wish to interfere with our
concentration on the task in hand.
Just after we cleared the Golden
Gate we could pick up Farailone
Islands, blue in distance and partly
obscured by the haze. These PASSED,
about miles to the south, and now
we had nothing but the open sea
ahead for more than 1900 miles.
Set Course Direct for Hawaii.
The Army Air Corps uses land miles
| instead of nautical or sea miles in
its records and descriptions. and from
Oakland Airport to the island of Maui.
the center of the Hawaiian group. is
just 2,400 land miles.
The fresh northwest wind was blow.
ing, and to get on q direct course we
put our plane on a magnetic heading
OF Z5S degrees, measured the drift and
then directed our course SO that we
knew we were heading directly to-.
ward the Hawaiian group.
! Right here we had to change our
| plan OF measuring drift. We had in.
! tended to use the smoke bomb method.
| dropping smoke bomb to the surface
Oh the sea and then by the simple
method of sighting back over the tail
or our plane determining how far.
! with reference to the smoke bomb on
the surface, we We're drifting before
the wind.
bu- win the morning sun right IN
our eyes. rejecting dazzlingly on the
surface OF the sea. the use of smoke
bombs was impossible.
therefore, we adopted a different
method, that of sighting through the
| window in the floor of the cockpit
dowr on the spume left on the sur.
race by passing waves.
Prepared to Test Radio Beacons.
1t would be too detailed to explaia
precisely how this is done - suffices
10 Sa" that for practical purposes
this measurement with reference IL
waves was effective and helped us on
our course
After measuring our drift we prc.
pared to get directions from the radio
beacons which had already been sent
up d thoroughly tested between thn
Preside in San Francisco and the vii.
lage Of Paia. which lies we'll upon the
slopes of the Island of Maui. facing
tt Pacific Coast
over at Paia we knew that the
Army Signal Corps was doing its
share to direct us by this radio bea.
con. We lowered our antennae to
pick up a signal and tuned in on 1895
meters wave length. Immediately we
picked up beacon signals from San
Francisco, which reassure, us as TO
our direction.
The sun rose higher in the SKI AMI
We drove steadily southwest over the
great circle route. We were flying
between $500 and 1000 feet high at
air speed of 107 miles an hour.
Just outside we saw the gray bulk
OF the Army transport Chateau
Thierry, inbound for San Francisco.
Trouble With Induction Compass.
A little while later we noticed that
our induction compass did not func-
ton. due to a minor defect which
could easily be corrected on the
ground but not in the ar.
rms did not worry us particularly,
but 1t did add one more obstacle to
overcome in holding to our course.
AT the end of the first hour, while
both of us were sitting in the pilots
cockpit listening to the beacon signal
through the head phones, the signals
suddenly cea Sed.
1t was impossible to proceed with
repairing or readjustment of our radio
receiving apparatus. In fact, we were
not sure at first whether the radio
beacon had stopped or whether our
receiver was out Of order. but later we
found it was the receiver.
ABOUT this time clouds were OBJ
served dead ahead, stretching consid-
cradle distance north and south of our
course. 1t was then necessary to
make a decision on whether to fly
below the clouds or above them.
Forced Down to 800 Feet.
Drift measurements being important
at this time, and expecting that there
would be holes through the clouds for
sun observations with our sextant, we
decided to fly below the clouds.
rms brought us down to little be-
low 1000 feet and gradually forced us
down to 800 feet, which was our an.
proXlmate altitude for the remainder
Of that day.
AS the sun had now risen a little
nlgner, further attempts were made
to obtain drift measurements by
means of smoke bombs. The air be.
low the clouds, however, was very
bumpy, causing the tail of our plane
to weave through a large angle.
TE' motion introduced such mac.
curacy that the method was not con-
slider desirable enough to continue.
The wind also was swinging gradually
around to the north and increasing in
force. This caused smoke from the
bomb to lie down on the water. max
IN" 1t difficult to obtain any sight
First Observation in the Sun.
The method of measuring drift
through the window of the floor there.
fore, was continued. Two smoke
bombs had been tried, but due to the
bumpy condition below clouds both
trials were without success. No fur
Their attempt was made during the
remainder Of the flight to use smoke
| bombs
About 800 miles out our first OBJ
servation was taken on the sun with
our air seXtant The position lines
tai regulations all too prevalent and